FTB 7250B ENS is the employee notice inside the California Franchise Tax Board’s wage garnishment package. It tells you the FTB has ordered your employer to withhold part of your pay to cover an unpaid state tax debt, and your employer has 10 days from receiving the order to hand you your copy (typically pages 1A, 1B, and 3).1Franchise Tax Board. Wage Garnishments for Taxes The withholding will continue every pay period until the debt is paid, the FTB withdraws the order, or one year passes from the date your employer received it.2California Legislative Information. California Code Revenue and Taxation Code 18671
How Much of Your Paycheck the FTB Can Take
The garnishment is not a flat percentage of gross wages. Your employer first subtracts federal income tax, Social Security, state income tax, and state disability insurance. What is left is your disposable earnings, and the FTB’s table applies to that figure.3Franchise Tax Board. How Much to Garnish from an Employee’s Pay
The table protects a minimum amount and then caps the take at 25% of disposable earnings above a higher threshold:
- Weekly pay: nothing withheld if disposable earnings are $217.50 or less; between $217.51 and $290.00, only the amount above $217.51 is taken; above $290.00, 25% of disposable earnings.
- Biweekly pay: nothing below $435.00; between $435.01 and $580.00, only the amount above $435.00; above $580.00, 25%.
- Semimonthly pay: nothing below $471.25; between $471.26 and $628.28, only the amount above $471.25; above $628.28, 25%.
- Monthly pay: nothing below $942.50; between $942.51 and $1,256.00, only the amount above $942.50; above $1,256.00, 25%.
Bonuses and commissions count as earnings and go through the same calculation.3Franchise Tax Board. How Much to Garnish from an Employee’s Pay
What You Can Do About It
Receiving the notice does not lock you into the full withholding for the life of the debt. The FTB gives you a few routes, and most of them start with the phone number printed on your copy of the order.
- Dispute the order. If you already paid the tax, or the debt belongs to someone else, call the number on the order. If the FTB confirms an error, it will release the garnishment.4Franchise Tax Board. Help with Withholding Orders
- Ask for a hardship modification. The FTB can lower the amount taken each pay period if you can show the current withholding keeps you from covering basic living expenses. Have your employer’s fax number ready when you call, because the FTB may fax a modified order directly to payroll.4Franchise Tax Board. Help with Withholding Orders
- Check your eligibility online. Sign in to MyFTB to see whether you qualify to request a reduced withholding.4Franchise Tax Board. Help with Withholding Orders
- Ask about a payment plan. Once a garnishment is in place, you cannot use the written installment agreement request (FTB 3567). Call the FTB at 800-689-4776 to discuss whether a payment arrangement can replace the wage order.5State of California Franchise Tax Board. FTB 3567 Installment Agreement Request
If the FTB releases a garnishment that was issued in error and you paid bank fees or similar charges because of it, you can ask to be reimbursed. Write to the FTB within 90 days of the notice date, explaining that the error was theirs, that the charges came from that error, and that you paid them yourself.4Franchise Tax Board. Help with Withholding Orders
If You Already Have Another Garnishment
More than one withholding can hit the same paycheck. Under federal law, child support and alimony are taken first. Tax levies from the IRS or the FTB generally come next, ahead of ordinary creditor judgments.6U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 30 Wage Garnishment Protections of the Consumer Credit Protection Act The combined amount taken across all orders still cannot exceed the federal and state limits. If the stacked withholdings would push past those limits, your employer should contact the FTB.
How Long the Withholding Lasts
The order stays in force until one of three things happens: the balance shown on the order is fully paid, the FTB withdraws the notice, or one year passes from the date your employer received the order.2California Legislative Information. California Code Revenue and Taxation Code 18671 A modification lowers the per-paycheck amount but does not, on its own, end the order. A successful dispute or a payment plan that replaces the garnishment does.
If You Are the Employer Reading This
The same package that produces the employee notice also creates strict duties for the business. You must deliver the employee’s pages within 10 days, complete the acknowledgment that asks for the worker’s status and the first deduction amount, and send the first payment within 15 days of the end of the last pay period covered by the order. Every payment to the FTB should include a copy of the order so it credits to the right account.1Franchise Tax Board. Wage Garnishments for Taxes If the employee has already left, respond promptly with the separation date and the date of the final paycheck.
Skipping the order is expensive. An employer who fails to withhold after being served becomes personally liable for the amount that should have been taken.7California Legislative Information. California Code Revenue and Taxation Code 18672 – Liability of Employer for Withholding Failure The FTB’s penalty chart sets the penalty as the greater of the amount actually withheld or the taxes due from the employee, up to what should have been withheld, with reasonable cause as the only defense.8State of California Franchise Tax Board. FTB Pub 1024 Penalty Reference Chart