Does federal law also limit how much of one paycheck can be taken?

Yes. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1673(a) the maximum part of a workweek's aggregate disposable earnings subject to garnishment is the lesser of 25 percent of them or the amount by which they exceed thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage. Subsection (b) excepts support orders, orders of a United States court with jurisdiction over chapter 13 cases, and state or federal tax debts.

Can an Iowa filer use the federal exemption list?

Under Iowa Code § 627.10 a debtor to whom Iowa law applies on the filing date may not elect the property specified in 11 U.S.C. § 522(d). Section 522(b)(3)(A) fixes whose law applies: the place of the debtor's domicile for the 730 days immediately preceding filing, or, if domicile was not in one state for that period, the place of domicile for the 180 days immediately preceding those 730 days, or for a longer portion of that 180-day period than any other place. Opting out does not displace every federal protection: (b)(3)(A) also preserves property exempt under federal law other than subsection (d), and (b)(3)(C) retirement funds in tax-exempt accounts under the Internal Revenue Code. If the domiciliary requirement would render the debtor ineligible for any exemption, § 522(b) allows electing the subsection (d) property.

One of my earlier cases was dismissed in the past year. What happens to the stay?

Section 362(c)(3) applies where a single or joint case is filed by or against an individual under chapter 7, 11 or 13 and a single or joint case of that debtor was pending within the preceding year but dismissed, excepting one refiled under a chapter other than chapter 7 after a section 707(b) dismissal. The stay 'with respect to any action taken with respect to a debt or property securing such debt or with respect to any lease' terminates with respect to the debtor on the 30th day after the later filing; what else remains stayed, including estate property, is a lawyer's question. Extension requires a party in interest's motion, notice, a hearing completed before the 30-day period expires, and good faith as to the creditors to be stayed, subject to conditions or limitations the court may impose.

What if two or more of my earlier cases were dismissed in the past year?

If two or more cases filed by or against an individual debtor were pending within the previous year but were dismissed, excepting a case refiled under a chapter other than chapter 7 after a section 707(b) dismissal, the stay does not go into effect on the later filing. Within 30 days a party in interest may request one; the court may impose it, after notice and a hearing, only on good faith as to creditors to be stayed. An imposed stay takes effect when the order is entered.

Can my employer fire me because of a garnishment?

Iowa Code § 642.21 provides that no employer shall discharge an individual because the individual's earnings have been subject to garnishment for indebtedness, and 15 U.S.C. § 1674 bars discharge by reason of earnings garnished for any one indebtedness, with penalties for a willful violation. Those provisions address termination, not over-withholding, which § 642.21 separately forbids.

Wages & debt

Wage Garnishment in Iowa: What the Law Says and What Bankruptcy Changes

Iowa caps what one judgment creditor can garnish from an employee's earnings in a calendar year, on tiers tied to expected annual earnings, and federal law separately limits weekly withholding. Filing a bankruptcy petition generally operates as an automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362(a), which commonly halts ordinary wage garnishment, though exceptions, repeat-filing limits and court-ordered relief apply. Support withholding is treated differently.

Key points

Iowa Code § 642.21 caps what one judgment creditor may garnish from an employee's earnings in a calendar year, on tiers set by reasonably expected annual earnings.
That section's first sentence separately incorporates the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act limits, which cap a workweek's disposable earnings and carry their own exceptions.
In Green Belt Bank & Trust v. Van Mill, No. 23–2040 (Iowa Mar. 6, 2026), the Iowa Supreme Court held those state annual caps do not reach money payable to an independent contractor and overruled Cooks, expressly leaving the federal limits undecided.
Filing generally operates as an automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362(a) without a separate order, subject to § 362(b)'s exceptions, repeat-filing limits, and relief granted after notice and a hearing.

If money is already coming out of your paycheck, the first question is which rule is doing the withholding: an ordinary judgment garnishment, a support income-withholding order, or a tax or other administrative collection. Iowa and federal law set different ceilings, and bankruptcy affects them differently.

How much of your pay can be garnished in Iowa?

Iowa Code § 642.21 works as an annual ceiling, not a per-paycheck allowance. The maximum amount of an employee's earnings one judgment creditor may garnish during a calendar year is $250, except as provided in chapter 252D and the support provisions § 642.21 names, including Iowa Code § 627.12, or when those earnings are reasonably expected to exceed $12,000 for the year as determined from the answers taken by the sheriff or the court under Iowa Code § 642.5. Above that point the cap rises by tier. Read alongside the tiers, the statute's lead-in refers to earnings expected to be more than $12,000 while paragraph (a) begins at $12,000 or more; the texts differ and this page does not resolve where the boundary falls. These are per-creditor annual maximums, so they do not tell you what any single payroll deduction will be.

Annual maximum per judgment creditor under Iowa Code § 642.21(1)
Reasonably expected annual earnings	Maximum per creditor per calendar year
Not reasonably expected above the first threshold	$250
$12,000 or more, but less than $16,000	$400
$16,000 or more, but less than $24,000	$800
$24,000 or more, but less than $35,000	$1,500
$35,000 or more, but less than $50,000	$2,000
$50,000 or more	Not more than 10 percent of expected earnings

How do the federal and consumer-credit limits fit with Iowa's annual cap?

The layers measure different things. The first sentence of Iowa Code § 642.21(1) makes disposable earnings exempt from garnishment to the extent the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act provides; that federal ceiling is a weekly one. Where the judgment arises from a consumer credit transaction, Iowa Code § 537.5105 adds its own weekly ceiling, in addition to § 642.21: the lesser of 25 percent of the individual's disposable earnings for the week, or the amount by which those earnings exceed forty times the federal minimum hourly wage in effect when the earnings are payable, with an equivalent multiple prescribed by rule for other pay periods. No court may make, execute, or enforce an order or process in violation of that section. Federal law does not annul state laws that prohibit garnishment or provide more limited garnishment than it allows (15 U.S.C. § 1677).

Does the Iowa annual cap apply if you are paid as an independent contractor?

In Green Belt Bank & Trust v. Van Mill, No. 23–2040 (Iowa Mar. 6, 2026), the Iowa Supreme Court considered whether the limit in Iowa Code § 642.21(1) on what can be garnished from an 'employee's' expected earnings applies to money owed to an independent contractor, and concluded it does not: in that context, 'employee' means employee. The court held those limits apply only to an employee's earnings, found the district court erred in applying them to money payable to an independent contractor, reversed in part and remanded for entry of judgment without applying them, and overruled Cooks. The court also said expressly that the federal garnishment limits incorporated by the section's first sentence were not at issue, and that its references to § 642.21(1) meant only the state-law limitation in the second and later sentences. Its discussion addressed the 2022 statutory text.

The decision does not mean an independent contractor's income can be taken in full: the federal weekly ceiling was not decided, and other exemptions stand on their own terms.

What do Iowa statutes require of creditors and courts?

Garnishment reaches property of the defendant in another's possession, or debts due the defendant (Iowa Code § 626.26). Under Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.304 the officer garnishes persons the plaintiff directs, by a notice served as an original notice forbidding the garnishee from paying debts owed to the defendant and requiring retention of the defendant's property. Where the plaintiff directs the sheriff to take the garnishee's answer, Iowa Code § 642.5 sets the questions and runs two clocks from different events: the garnishee submits answers within twenty-one days of service; the sheriff files them within seven business days of receiving them. A garnishment notice stays effective without another notice until the earliest of the § 642.21 annual maximum being withheld, the writ expiring, the judgment being satisfied, or the sheriff releasing it (Iowa Code § 642.22).

Which income is protected from garnishment under Iowa law?

Under Iowa Code § 642.21 'earnings' means compensation paid or payable for personal services — wages, salary, commission, bonus or otherwise, including periodic payments under a pension or retirement program — and 'disposable earnings' means what remains after deducting amounts required by law to be withheld, not every payroll deduction. Iowa Code § 627.6 lists property a resident debtor may hold exempt from execution, but does not protect categories outright: household goods, one motor vehicle, tools of a trade, and interests in pension and retirement plans each carry a value limit or condition the section states. The same is true of the accrued wages and state and federal tax refunds it exempts, in a bankruptcy proceeding, as of the filing date, in addition to the limits in Iowa Code § 642.21 and § 537.5105.

2026 Iowa Acts, ch. 1115, § 38 separately adds a new § 627.6 subsection for an interest in an account in the FirstHome Iowa program trust under chapter 12L.
Personal earnings are not exempt from an order, judgment or decree for the support of a child (Iowa Code § 627.12) or, where the party in whose favor it was rendered has not remarried, of a spouse (Iowa Code § 627.11).

Which statutory protections may matter when contesting an Iowa garnishment?

Iowa Code § 642.15 lets the defendant in the main action file a suitable pleading in the garnishment proceedings setting up facts showing that the debt or property sought is exempt from execution, or for another reason is not liable for the plaintiff's claim; if the plaintiff joins issue it is tried with the garnishee's liability, and the garnishee is discharged as to any part found exempt or not liable. The notice required by Iowa Code § 642.14A must tell the defendant they have the right to claim funds or property exempt from execution or garnishment and the right to request and have a timely hearing before a judge, and that failing to file a motion or other appropriate pleading may forfeit those rights. Where the garnishment is of earnings an employer owes, Iowa Code § 642.14B directs the employer to deliver that notice with or in lieu of the remaining earnings.

Under Iowa Code § 630.3A either party may apply, on notice as the court directs, for a hearing on the debtor's reasonably expected annual earnings and the applicable § 642.21 limitation; the court also considers, in the interest of justice, whether a greater amount should be exempt.
Where the judgment arose from a consumer credit transaction, Iowa Code § 537.5105 lets the consumer file a verified application to exempt more of their disposable earnings as necessary for the maintenance of the consumer or a family supported by those earnings; the court may stay enforcement temporarily and sets a hearing five to ten days from filing, with notice to the judgment creditor.

How does filing bankruptcy affect an Iowa garnishment?

A voluntary case is commenced by filing a petition with the bankruptcy court, and that commencement constitutes an order for relief (11 U.S.C. § 301). Filing operates as a stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362(a) by force of the statute, without a separate order and without a notice prerequisite; notices matter in practice for getting an employer and a creditor to stop, but they are not what creates the stay. Section 362(a) reaches the commencement or continuation of an action against the debtor that was or could have been commenced before the case, or to recover a prepetition claim; the enforcement against the debtor or estate property of a judgment obtained before the case; and any act to collect a prepetition claim. Subsection (b) lists exceptions, including the withholding of income for payment of a domestic support obligation under a judicial or administrative order or a statute.

Under 11 U.S.C. § 362(c) the stay of an act against estate property lasts while the property remains property of the estate, while the stay of any other act runs until the earliest of case closing, dismissal, or — in a chapter 7 case concerning an individual, or a chapter 9, 11, 12 or 13 case — a discharge being granted or denied. Repeat-filing limits, exceptions and court relief can shorten that protection.
A creditor may request relief from the stay, but the request is not the relief: under § 362(d) the court grants relief on request of a party in interest, after notice and a hearing.
If the § 522(b)(3)(A) domiciliary rule would leave a debtor ineligible for any exemption, § 522(b) allows electing the property specified in subsection (d).

What should you ask a lawyer about an Iowa garnishment?

The statutes above set limits, require notices and preserve a right to raise exemptions, but they do not lay out one step-by-step objection route that fits every case, and the forms and filing mechanics in your district court are not something this page can supply. The notice an Iowa garnishment must carry says in terms that you may wish to consult a lawyer about what it means. Legal aid offices and private attorneys deal with these filings routinely. Bring your pay stubs, the garnishment notice, the garnishee's answer if you have it, and the judgment. If you are weighing bankruptcy, bring the dates of any earlier case you filed, because the repeat-filing rules in 11 U.S.C. § 362(c) turn on them. Ask about the interaction between an Iowa exemption claim and a bankruptcy filing before choosing one.

Which rule authorises the withholding on my paycheck: a judgment garnishment, support income withholding, a tax debt, or something else?
Has this creditor already reached its annual maximum under Iowa Code § 642.21 this calendar year, and what earnings figure is that calculated from?

Frequently asked questions

Does federal law also limit how much of one paycheck can be taken?: Yes. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1673(a) the maximum part of a workweek's aggregate disposable earnings subject to garnishment is the lesser of 25 percent of them or the amount by which they exceed thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage. Subsection (b) excepts support orders, orders of a United States court with jurisdiction over chapter 13 cases, and state or federal tax debts.
Can an Iowa filer use the federal exemption list?: Under Iowa Code § 627.10 a debtor to whom Iowa law applies on the filing date may not elect the property specified in 11 U.S.C. § 522(d). Section 522(b)(3)(A) fixes whose law applies: the place of the debtor's domicile for the 730 days immediately preceding filing, or, if domicile was not in one state for that period, the place of domicile for the 180 days immediately preceding those 730 days, or for a longer portion of that 180-day period than any other place. Opting out does not displace every federal protection: (b)(3)(A) also preserves property exempt under federal law other than subsection (d), and (b)(3)(C) retirement funds in tax-exempt accounts under the Internal Revenue Code. If the domiciliary requirement would render the debtor ineligible for any exemption, § 522(b) allows electing the subsection (d) property.
One of my earlier cases was dismissed in the past year. What happens to the stay?: Section 362(c)(3) applies where a single or joint case is filed by or against an individual under chapter 7, 11 or 13 and a single or joint case of that debtor was pending within the preceding year but dismissed, excepting one refiled under a chapter other than chapter 7 after a section 707(b) dismissal. The stay 'with respect to any action taken with respect to a debt or property securing such debt or with respect to any lease' terminates with respect to the debtor on the 30th day after the later filing; what else remains stayed, including estate property, is a lawyer's question. Extension requires a party in interest's motion, notice, a hearing completed before the 30-day period expires, and good faith as to the creditors to be stayed, subject to conditions or limitations the court may impose.
What if two or more of my earlier cases were dismissed in the past year?: If two or more cases filed by or against an individual debtor were pending within the previous year but were dismissed, excepting a case refiled under a chapter other than chapter 7 after a section 707(b) dismissal, the stay does not go into effect on the later filing. Within 30 days a party in interest may request one; the court may impose it, after notice and a hearing, only on good faith as to creditors to be stayed. An imposed stay takes effect when the order is entered.
Can my employer fire me because of a garnishment?: Iowa Code § 642.21 provides that no employer shall discharge an individual because the individual's earnings have been subject to garnishment for indebtedness, and 15 U.S.C. § 1674 bars discharge by reason of earnings garnished for any one indebtedness, with penalties for a willful violation. Those provisions address termination, not over-withholding, which § 642.21 separately forbids.

By Antonio G. Jimenez, Esq. · Florida Bar No. 21022

Sources verified October 17, 2026 · How we verify

Every figure on this page is drawn from a primary legal source and checked against our canonical legal database before publication. Bankruptcy.law is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.

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