Garnishments in Australian Payroll

Payroll administrators in Australia might have to work with garnishments in Dayforce. There are two general types of garnishments in Australian Payroll: 

Australian garnishment types and descriptions

Type of Order	Description
Child Support	Child support payments. Two kinds of notices can be sent to employers: Notice to Commence Child Support Deductions (subject to PEA considerations) Notice to Pay Money Directly to Child Support Registrar Pursuant to Section 72A (not subject to PEA considerations)
Garnishee Order	A document issued by an appropriate government agency to a third party, such as an employer, for any of the following purposes: To recover overpayments To ensure a debt is repaid To ensure a court-ordered payment is made

The general considerations for garnishments in Australian payroll are as follows:

• PEA, or Protected Earning Amounts, are part of an employee's pay or wages that is exempt from garnishment. The PEA is validated before one or more garnishments are deducted, except for child support deductions made under Section 72A. For more information on PEA and the formula used to determine PEA, see https://www.humanservices.gov.au/organisations/business/services/child-support/child-support-information-employers/deductions/protected-earnings-amount-when-deducting-child-support#a1.
• If an employee has multiple garnishments, Dayforce deducts them in the order of the Court Order Issue Date.
• Garnishments are involuntary post-tax deductions that are deducted before voluntary deductions.
• Allowed garnishments are displayed in Payroll > Pay Run Management in the Preview sub-tab.

The garnishment deduction types available in Australian payroll are as follows:

• A lump sum amount. Usually a one-time post-tax deduction, for example, $223 AUD.
• A periodic amount. For example, a fixed post-tax amount deducted every pay period.
• A cents in dollar amount. For example, 12 cents from every post-tax dollar.

Depending on the garnishment order, PEA might or might not apply.

Garnishments are displayed on pay slips in the Post Tax Deductions section. If an employee has multiple garnishment orders, each of the garnishment orders is shown separately as an entry under Post Tax Deductions on the pay slip.

Garnishments are configured in People by loading the employee record and opening the Payroll > Garnishments screen.

The Garnishments screen displays a table with three control buttons (Add, Copy, and Delete) and the following columns:

• Name: Automatically populated when you select an option in the Type drop-down list (see the Table describing the Properties tab below).
• Type: Type of garnishment (child support or garnishment order). Automatically populated when you select an option in the Type drop-down list.
• Effective From: Start date of the garnishment.
• Effective To: End date of the garnishment, if applicable.
• Order Date: Date on which the garnishment order was issued by the court.
• Date Received: Date on which the court order was received by the employer.
• Active: Indicates whether the garnishment is active and ongoing.

The Garnishments screen also contains a Problems panel with error, warning, or information messages that expands if you save a record that has missing fields or other potential problems.

If the employee has one or more current or past garnishments, they are displayed in the list of garnishments. Some of these fields are populated when you create a garnishment entry for an employee by clicking Add. A blank record opens with two tabs, Properties and Fees.

Fields in the Garnishment Properties tab

Name	Description
General Details
Effective From	Date the garnishment starts.
Effective To	Date the garnishment ends.
Type	Drop-down list with the following two options: Child Support - AUS_CSG Garnishment Order - AUS_GO
Active	Checkbox. If selected, the garnishment is active.
Child Support Under Section 72A	Checkbox. Displays if you select Child Support - AUS_CSG in the Type drop-down. Indicates that the garnishment isn’t subject to PEA considerations.
Garnishment Deduction Type	Drop-down list with the following options: Lump Sum Amount Periodic Amount Cents in Dollar Amount
Order Details
Reference Number	Garnishment reference number.
Court Order Issued Date	dd/mm/yyyy when the court order was issued.
Court Order Received Date	dd/mm/yyyy when the court order was received.
Ordered Amount / Percentage	Amount, or percent, issued in the court order.
Protected Earnings Override Amount	Field in which to enter the amount to override PEA exempt amounts from garnishment. Used in the event a child support garnishment was made under section 72A. The protected amounts are annual legislative updates that are hardcoded in Dayforce. However, you can enter a value to override the amount at an employee level, if required.
Original Balance	Field for the original amount ordered for the garnishment
Priority Number	Field for entering the garnishment priority in the event the employee has more than one garnishment order. These should be ordered according to court order date.
Payee Details
Payee	Drop-down list containing the payees configured in Dayforce. Additional information is available in Third Party Payee Configuration for Australia.
BSB Code	Field for the bank state branch code. Used in conjunction with the bank account number to identify the recipient of a transfer.
Account Number	Field for the bank account number. Used in conjunction with the bank state branch code to identify the recipient of a transfer.
Balances
Deducted TD	Read-only field for the amount deducted for the garnishment to date. Updates automatically as deductions are withheld.
Outstanding	Read-only field for the outstanding amount for the garnishment.
Final Deduction Date	The date that the final deduction is to be made.

Fields in the Garnishments Fees tab

Name	Description
Details
Effective From	Date that the garnishment begins.
Effective To	Date that the garnishment ends.
Court Order Date	Date upon which the court order was issued.
Court Order Received Date	Date upon which the court order was received by the employer.
Type	Drop-down list containing the following options: Garnishment Order Memo Admin Fee - AUS_GO_MEMO_FEE Garnishment Order Post Tax Admin Fee - AUS_GO_FEE When you select a type, the Admin Fee Deduction Type field populates automatically.
Active	Checkbox that indicates if the fee is active.
Ordered Amount	Amount of the fee.
Admin Fee Deduction Type	This field automatically updates when you select an option in the Type drop-down list.