What actions will we take after we send you the notice?
20 C.F.R. § 422.410
in effectEffective: 2024-07-01(a) General. (1) We will not send an administrative wage garnishment order to your employer before 60 calendar days elapse from the date of the notice described in § 422.405.
(2) If paragraph (b) of this section does not apply and you do not pay the debt in full or do not take either of the actions described in § 422.405(b)(6) or (7) within 60 calendar days from the date of the notice described in § 422.405, we may order your employer to withhold and send us part of your disposable pay each payday until your debt is paid.
(3) If you request review of the debt or the payment schedule after the end of the 60 calendar day period described in paragraph (a)(2) of this section and paragraph (b) of this section does not apply, we will conduct the review. However, we may send the administrative wage garnishment order to your employer without further delay. If we sent the administrative wage garnishment order to your employer and we do not make our decision on your request within 60 calendar days from the date that we received your request, we will tell your employer to stop withholding from your disposable pay. Withholding will not resume before we conduct the review and notify you of our decision.
(4) We may send an administrative wage garnishment order to your employer without further delay if:
(i) You request an installment payment plan after receiving the notice described in § 422.405, and
(ii) We arrange such a plan with you, and
(iii) You fail to make payments in accordance with that arrangement for two consecutive months.
(b) Good cause for failing to request review on time. If we decide that you had good cause for failing to request review within the 60-day period mentioned in paragraph (a)(2) of this section, we will treat your request for review as if we received it within that 60-day period.
(1) Determining good cause. In determining whether you had good cause, we will consider—
(i) Any circumstances that kept you from making the request on time;
(ii) Whether our action misled you;
(iii) Whether you had any physical, mental, educational, or linguistic limitations (including any lack of facility with the English language) which prevented you from making a request on time or from understanding the need to make a request on time.
(2) Examples of good cause. Examples of facts supporting good cause include, but are not limited to, the following.
(i) Your serious illness prevented you from contacting us yourself or through another person.
(ii) There was a death or serious illness in your family.
(iii) Fire or other accidental cause destroyed important records.
(iv) You did not receive the notice described in § 422.405.
(v) In good faith, you sent the request to another government agency within the 60-day period, and we received the request after the end of that period.
(3) If we issued the administrative wage garnishment order. If we determine that you had good cause under paragraph (b) of this section and we already had sent an administrative wage garnishment order to your employer, we will tell your employer to stop withholding from your disposable pay. Withholding will not resume until we conduct the review and notify you of our decision.
Source: eCFRURL: https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2024-07-01/title-20.xmlFetched: 7/26/2026