IRS Form 668-W Notice: Wage Levy (Garnishment) Served
A Form 668-W is an active IRS wage levy: your employer has been ordered to withhold a large portion of every paycheck and send it to the IRS — only a small exempt amount reaches you until the levy is released.
What a Form 668-W actually means
This isn't a warning — it's the garnishment itself. Unlike private creditors (capped around 25%), the IRS levy leaves you only an exempt amount based on filing status and dependents; everything above it goes to the IRS each payday. It's continuous until released.
Levies get released fast when you engage: proving hardship, entering an installment agreement, or showing procedural defects (like a missing final notice) are the standard release paths. Employers must comply, so the fix runs through the IRS, not payroll.
If you're the employer or payroll admin holding this form: the 668-W arrives in parts. Keep Part 1, give Parts 2 through 5 to the employee, and have them return Parts 3 and 4 with the completed Statement of Dependents and Filing Status within three work days. Withholding starts with the next payment of wages after you receive the levy and continues every payday until the IRS sends a release (Form 668-D). Compliance isn't optional — an employer who fails to withhold becomes personally liable for the amounts that should have been sent, plus a 50% penalty.
How to recognize a real Form 668-W
IRS collection serves it on an employer or other payer to levy an individual's wages, salary, fees, bonuses, or commissions, or other income such as benefit or retirement payments. The IRS uses two versions, Form 668-W(ACS) and Form 668-W(ICS), depending on which collection function issued it.
- The form number has a suffix in parentheses: 668-W(ACS) or 668-W(ICS). Call the number printed on your copy, not a general IRS line.
- Publication 1494, the table employers use to work out your exempt amount, is mailed with the levy.
- Your copy includes the Statement of Dependents and Filing Status. It replaced the older Statement of Exemptions after the 2017 tax law changes.
- It says the levy continues until the IRS issues Form 668-D (Release of Levy).
What to do, step by step
- 1Fill out the exemption claim (Statement of Dependents and Filing Status) your employer gives you and return it immediately — it raises the amount you keep.
- 2Call the IRS (or get representation) the same week: propose an installment agreement or document hardship for a release.
- 3Check the procedural history — if you never received the final notice (LT11/1058), the levy may be releasable on due-process grounds.
- 4Once a resolution is accepted, the IRS faxes a levy release (Form 668-D) to your employer — usually effective the next payroll.
- 5Address the underlying balance so it doesn't come back.
Illustrative example
Example: getting a wage levy released for hardship
Kevin (an illustrative taxpayer, not a real client) is a warehouse supervisor paid every two weeks. He owes about $14,000 from two years when his withholding was wrong. His payroll office handed him the employee parts of a Form 668-W(ACS) on a Tuesday.
He filled out the Statement of Dependents and Filing Status that night, listing his head-of-household status and two children, and returned it the next morning. The IRS says that if the statement isn't returned within three days, the exemption defaults to married filing separately with zero dependents, usually the smallest amount possible.
Kevin used that time. He called the number on the form with his monthly rent, utilities, childcare, and car payment, and showed that the levy left him unable to cover basic living expenses. That's one of the situations where the IRS says it must release a levy. He agreed to a payment plan he could afford, and the IRS sent his employer Form 668-D. Kevin knew the release didn't erase the balance: the IRS warns that a levy can be reissued if the arrangement falls apart.
Names and numbers are made up to show how this notice typically plays out.
Mistakes that make a Form 668-W worse
- Waiting until after payday to return the Statement of Dependents and Filing Status. The three-day default (married filing separately, zero dependents) applies to every paycheck until a statement is on file.
- Assuming a bonus is protected like a regular paycheck. Exempt amounts are figured per pay period, so if that period's exemption has already been used, the IRS says the entire bonus goes to the levy.
- Not asking about court-ordered child support. If you pay support directly to a former spouse, the IRS says to call the number on the form and ask for release of the funds needed for that support.
- Treating a release as the end of the problem. The IRS says a released levy doesn't mean the balance is resolved, and a new levy can be issued without an arrangement in place.
What happens if you ignore a Form 668-W
The levy keeps taking everything above the exempt amount every payday. It stops only when the debt is paid, you reach an arrangement whose terms don't allow the levy to continue, the IRS finds economic hardship or another release condition, or it issues Form 668-D.
Often comes before a Form 668-W
Can come next
Common questions
How much of my paycheck can the IRS take with a 668-W?+
Everything above an exempt amount set by filing status and dependents — often the majority of the check. It applies every payday until released, which is why immediate engagement beats waiting.
How fast can a wage levy be released?+
Same-week releases happen when hardship is documented or an installment agreement is accepted — the IRS faxes Form 668-D directly to your employer's payroll.
What's the difference between Form 668-W and Form 668-A?+
668-W is the continuous wage levy — it takes part of every paycheck until released. 668-A is a one-time levy on funds a third party holds for you (a bank balance on the day it's served, or a client's payment to a contractor). Both are released through hardship, a payment arrangement, or procedural defects.
What does an employer have to do when a Form 668-W arrives?+
Keep Part 1, hand Parts 2–5 to the employee, and have them return Parts 3 and 4 (the Statement of Dependents and Filing Status) within three work days. Compute the exempt amount from the IRS's Publication 1494 table for the employee's filing status and dependents, withhold everything above it starting with the next wage payment, and send it to the IRS each payday until a Form 668-D release arrives. If the employee never returns the statement, you must use the least favorable exempt amount in the table — which is why returning it fast matters so much to the employee.
How is the 668-W exempt amount calculated?+
From the table in IRS Publication 1494, based on the employee's filing status, number of dependents, and pay frequency — roughly the standard deduction plus dependent allowances divided into per-paycheck amounts. Everything above the exempt figure goes to the IRS. Filing the Statement of Dependents accurately (and promptly) is the one lever the employee controls on day one.
Can I be fired for an IRS wage garnishment?+
Federal law (the Consumer Credit Protection Act) prohibits firing an employee because their wages are garnished for any single debt, the IRS levy included. It's also rarely in anyone's interest — the levy runs through payroll mechanically, and the fastest way out for everyone is the employee getting a release through a payment arrangement or hardship.
Checked against IRS primary sources — see how we source these guides. You can verify any notice directly at IRS.gov. The dates and instructions printed on your specific notice always control.
- IRS: Information about wage levies
- IRS: What if I get a levy against one of my employees, vendors, customers or other third parties?
- IRS: How do I get a levy released?
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