Child Services might ask you to make a Garnishee deduction for an employee because of outstanding amounts or a court order. You may also be requested to make a Child Support Deduction under a Section 72A garnishee notice. Please refer to this information notice from Child Services. The notice will inform you of the amounts to deduct for an employee. There are no Protected Earnings under this notice.
Please also refer to these Services Australia link: Garnishee notice to employers for deductions from salaries or wages
Set up a child support deduction with Tax Certificate Code - Child Support Garnishee.
Choose Setups, Payroll, Deductions, Maintain.
Type a Deduction Code and Description for the child support garnishee deduction.
Set the Tax Status to After Tax and the Tax Certificate Code to Child Support Garnishee.
Select the calculation method in the Type field as:
V = Value if you are setting a set number value.
C = % of Calculated if it is to be a percentage.
📌Note: If you set the Type field value as % of Calculated, it activates the Calculation Basis tab in Deduction Maintenance.
Set a Value Minimum and Value Maximum as required.
If you will be planning to submit the amount using a bank account set up from Employee Super/Other Accounts, Select the option Use Employee Other Accounts. Otherwise, leave the checkbox blank.
Click Accept (F9) to save the entry of the deduction code.
Create a new Employee Super Other Account Code as a type of Bank to link to the deduction code
If you are linking a bank account to the deduction code to pay the child support deduction for every pay (ticking Use Employee Other Accounts as per above), follow the steps below
Select the Location Code and Employee Code required.
Enter a new Account Code that identifies what the code is for e.g.: <employee code> + CS for Child Support.
Set the Account Type as Bank.
Enter an Account Description.
Enter the BSB, Account Number and Account Name.
Click Accept (F9) to save the new account.
Add the Child Support deduction line to the standard pay
Navigate to Payroll, Masterfiles, Employee Standard Pays, Maintain.
Open the standard pay for the required employee.
Add the Child Support Deduction line and set the required Employee Account Code. 📌Note: if the Use Employee Other Accounts checkbox was not selected when setting up the deduction code, the Employee Account code fields will not be visible here and this step can be skipped.
Click Accept (F9) to save the changes to the deduction line and then Finish and click Yes to save the Employee Standard pay. The deduction line is now linked to the employee bank account code, and this line will now be created in the Bank Transfer (ABA) file for payment.
🤓 Tip: Create a payment schedule to help track and manage these types of payments. To learn more about payment schedules, see: How to setup a scheduled payment.
📌Note: Attaché recommends seeking advice from your accountant in relation to the correct liability account/General Ledger posting account to choose. Attaché support cannot provide this advice.
Reporting employees that have a child support deduction
To report on employees with a child support deduction you can use the Standard Pays report (Payroll, Reports, Employee Details/Labels, Standard Pays).
Run the report to screen and then use the Find/Find Next magnifying glass icons or export the report to Excel from the Excel icon.
