Electronic Income Withholding Order (E-IWO) Overview

The Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement has developed an electronic Income Withholding Order (e-IWO) process that enables you to:

  • Receive your child support Income Withholding Orders (IWO) electronically, and
  • Send acknowledgments to the state indicating whether you are accepting or rejecting the order.

The e-IWO process has proven to be a cost effective and efficient method of handling child support IWOs for employers.

There is no cost for you to participate in the e-IWO program! You can choose one of two options to implement the e-IWO process: the System-to-System interface or the No Programming option (NPO). There is no option for emailing IWOs to your organization.

Please contact William Stuart, 518-399-9241 - william.stuart@acf.hhs.gov

E-IWO Options

Option 1 – System-to-System Interface

If you are a medium to large employer who has Information Technology (IT) resources that can commit to several months of programming this option may be for you.

With this option, IWOs are sent to you in your choice of a flat file format or .XML document. You process the electronic records and make the appropriate update to your payroll system based on the IWO. An image ready

.PDF copy of the IWO can be sent along with your file selection. You create an acknowledgment record, indicating to the state whether the IWO received is accepted (i.e., will be processed and payments sent to the state) or rejected (i.e., employee never worked there, duplicate IWO, etc.).

Based on employer experience, implementation of this option can take 3-5 months.

For more information about this option go to

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/css/resource/e-iwo-software-interface-specification-for-states-and-employers.

Option 2 – No Programming Option (NPO)

If you receive a small number of IWOs per month or do not have IT resources to implement the System-to-System option the NPO is for you. Receiving IWOs and acknowledging them is an easy and straightforward process. This option requires no programming and minimal effort (configuration of a server and directories) is required from your company’s IT department. With this option, you receive an image ready .PDF copy of the IWO and a prefilled acknowledgment as either a fillable .PDF or a MS Excel spreadsheet.

Based on employer experience, implementation of this option can take 2-4 weeks.

For more information about this option go to http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/css/resource/e-iwo-sis-no-programming-option