Agency Configuration

Garnishments are involuntary deductions, meaning they are mandatory and usually levied by a Court, State, or Federal Agency. Neither employees nor employers have control over these deductions; however, it is the employer's responsibility to set up these deductions in payroll after receiving a garnishment order.

To begin setting up your garnishment, you must first set up the third-party agency in your HRIS portal.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Start by launching the HRIS Administration module in your Admin portal.

Then, select the Payroll And Setup tab from the left-side menu and click on Agency Configuration.

This will bring up a list of your already-entered agencies. If the garnishing agency has already been entered here, you can move on to adding the deduction and agency to your employee. Otherwise, you can click +Add Agency to set up the agency now.

Referring to your garnishment notice, enter the agency information in the Add Agency dialogue box (scroll down for field descriptions).

Once done, click Create to save your agency. You will now be able to set up individual employee garnishments to this agency from your employee profiles.

Top Tip: If you ever need to edit this agency in the future, you can come back to this screen and click on the Gear icon next to the agency to Edit it.

Add Agency Field Descriptions

Field	Description
Agency ID (required)	Enter a code to identify this agency in the system. This is for internal use only. The Agency ID can be up to 10 alpha-numeric characters. Examples: FTB for Franchise Tax Board CHILD for Child Support Services
Name (required)	Name of the agency. This will appear on the Agency Checks, so be sure spelling and capitalization are correct!
Frequency	Leave this blank as this will be set up on the employee profile.
Created	The date you created the agency in the system. Leave this blank as this will auto-populate when you save the agency.
Current Process Only	This should always be checked unless your agency check does not print every payroll (for example, monthly union dues). This ensures that only payroll items that occurred during the current check date will appear on the check.
Use Warehouse	This should always be unchecked.
Address, city, state, and ZIP	Address of the agency. You should be able to find this in your garnishment order.
Payment method (required)	Drop-down menu that determines the method for payment to the agency. The options are: Check (most common) - If selected, we will print a physical check when you process payroll and send this to you to sign, seal, stamp, and send to the appropriate agency. ACH - Electronic transfer to the custodial parent bank account directly. You will need the agency's routing and account information to set this up. Additionally, if you select this method, keep in mind that you can only use this agency for that particular employee, so make the description very clear. If you select this method, you must enter a value in the 3rd Party’s Acct, 3rd Party’s ABA, and Prenote Date fields. ACH-Child Support - Electronic transfer to the state child support agency. If you select this method, you must enter a value in the FIPS Code field.
FIPS Code	If you selected ACH-Child Support as the Payment Method, you will need to enter the  Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code received from the state. Each state has a unique FIPS code. Otherwise, leave this blank.
Payroll Group	If you selected ACH-Child Support as the Payment Method, use this drop-down menu to select a Payroll Group with employees who are eligible for medical insurance. Otherwise, leave this blank. Note: This is specified here because some states require child support to be tracked. Contact our team if you need to create a new payroll group to contain employees that satisfy this condition.
3rd Party's Account	If you selected ACH as your Payment Method, enter the bank account information provided by the Agency.
3rd Party's ABA	If you selected ACH as your Payment Method, enter the ABA number provided by the Agency.
Prenote Date	If you selected ACH as your Payment Method, you will need to enter a Prenote Date. Generally, we recommend entering January 1 of the current year as your Prenote Date.
3rd Party's Account is a Checking Account	Check this box if the third party's account is a checking account and is not a savings or other type of account.
3rd Party's Account is Personal	Check this box if the third party's account is a personal, and not a commercial or a business type of account.
Suppress SSN	All agency checks print the Employee ID, SSN, Name, Amount, and Misc. Information Notes from the deduction on the check as identifying information for the agency. For security purposes, some clients and agencies do not need or require the SSN. If you want to prevent the SSN from being printed on the check, you can check this box. However, usually, this box will be left unchecked.
Suppress Negative Deductions	This will prevent "negative" deductions from appearing on agency checks. For example, if an employer owes an employee reimbursement for child support because they took too much money the previous period and entered a negative deduction amount this period for the reimbursement, checking this box will prevent that item from showing up on the agency check.
Suppress Reversals	This will prevent reversals from appearing on agency checks. For example, if employee John Smith had a voided check that processed in payroll, any payroll items from that void would be included on their agency check (potentially causing erroneous reimbursements/additional deductions). Checking this box will suppress reversals from appearing on and affecting agency check totals.
Suppress Negative Checks	Checking this box will prevent the system from including any information from negative checks (similar to voids) on the agency check.