GN 02410.224 Electronic Income Withholding Orders

A. Electronic Income Withholding Orders (e-IWO)

Effective February 2012, participating states, courts, and other garnishing entities can send Income Withholding Orders (IWOs) via electronic file to SSA for garnishment of benefits through the e-IWO process.

1. e-IWO accepted by the Court Ordered Garnishment System (COGS)

When an IWO from the electronic file processes successfully, COGS is automatically updated and sends all appropriate notices. Additionally, a copy of the order is automatically stored in the Online Retrieval System (ORS).

2. e-IWO rejected by COGS

If an IWO from the electronic file is rejected by COGS and the reason is for "Name Not Matched," "Case Number Not Matched for Termination (TRM)," or "Other With Termination (T) Order Status Code," then:

•

the rejected order is directed to Paperless and a new Action Control Record (ACR) is created under the CHECK/GARNISH/EIWO/REJECT TOELs and assigned to the appropriate technician to manually input into COGS;
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the Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) is notified of the rejection, informed of the manual input via the reject code they received, and instructed not to forward the IWO to their local field office (FO) or processing center (PC); and
•

a copy of the order is automatically stored in ORS.

All other e-IWO rejections are returned to OCSS for subsequent action.

B. Responding to e-IWO inquiries

Beneficiaries may contact SSA for information regarding e-IWO garnishment cases.

1.
For inquiries to verify information in an e-IWO (e.g., the amount of withholding, the effective date), FO or PC technicians and National 800 Number Network (N8NN) agents can answer questions by accessing the e-IWO in ORS or the Evidence Portal (EP).
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  On the ORS home screen, select “ACCESS BY SSN” under “FOLDER LIST.” Find your case using the claim Social Security Number (SSN) for the garnished beneficiary. For the selected case, choose the notice showing EIWNOT in the REPORT ID field. Access ORS at ORS Production.
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  On the EP home screen, select “ORS-Load” under “Search Results." Choose the notice showing EIWNOT in the REPORT ID field. For more information on EP, see MS 09701.000.
2.
Refer questions to the issuing court or State Distribution Unit (SDU) that involve:
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  access to personally identifiable information (PII); or
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  questions about withholding under an e-IWO (e.g., the garnished beneficiary denies knowledge of a garnishment order).

C. Identifying e-IWO orders in COGS

To identify e-IWO orders in COGS, follow steps 1 through 5 outlined in SM 00832.460. e-IWO case numbers will display as a 10-15 digit number followed by an asterisk and "EIWO."

D. Participating e-IWO states and jurisdictions

The following SDUs can now process by e-IWO with SSA:

Participating State or Jurisdiction	Effective Date of Participation
Arizona	05/22/12
Arkansas	03/04/13
Colorado	08/17/12
Connecticut	02/22/20
Delaware	09/19/15
District of Columbia (D.C.)	06/07/12
Florida	12/16/16
Hawaii	02/22/14
Idaho	10/12/11
Indiana	05/22/12
Iowa	09/19/15
Kansas	08/20/16
Kentucky	03/16/15
Louisiana	09/01/23
Maine	09/19/15
Mississippi	08/25/17
Missouri	02/01/17
Maryland	02/28/15
Montana	11/07/17
Nebraska	02/23/12
Nevada	08/20/16
New Jersey	08/17/12
New York	08/17/12
North Dakota	08/01/16
Ohio	05/05/15
Oklahoma	10/20/11
Oregon	12/09/13
Pennsylvania	08/24/13
Puerto Rico	08/24/19
South Carolina	12/11/21
Tennessee	05/18/13
Texas	05/30/18
Vermont	03/30/23
Virginia	08/21/12
Washington	08/17/12
West Virginia	08/17/12
Wisconsin	02/20/16
Wyoming	06/23/21

E. References

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SM 00832.100 How to Access COGS
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SM 00832.200 COGS Processing of the Garnishment System Menu (OGSM)
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SM 00832.280 COGS Processing of the Order Query (OGOQ Screen)
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SM 00832.460 How to Query a Garnishment Case
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GN 02410.210 Processing Paper Garnishment Orders in the Field Office or Processing Center

To Link to this section - Use this URL:
http://policy.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0202410224

GN 02410.224 - Electronic Income Withholding Orders - 04/09/2025
Batch run: 04/09/2025
Rev:04/09/2025

Program Operations Manual System (POMS)