Unmasking the Matrix!

The Employer Services Team at the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement has created several matrices to assist employers, especially payroll professionals and human resource personnel, as they handle their child support enforcement responsibilities. These matrices contain contact and state-specific information on each topic.

Here is a shorthand guide to determine which matrix may be helpful to you.

State Disbursement Units: Still sending payments to counties? Unsure about where to redirect your payments? Consult our State Disbursement Unit matrix for the correct address for each state’s centralized payment site.

EFT/EDI: Interested in converting those paper checks to electronic payments (as required by CA, FL, IL, IN, MA, OR, PA and VA)? Check out our State EFT/EDI matrix to find the people in each state who can help you get started.

Income Withholding: If your job involves deducting child support from your employees’ paychecks, you need our State Income Withholding matrix. It contains information for all the states: when you must remit, mandatory deductions, and how to allocate when the employee does not have enough disposable income to cover multiple orders for support.

New Hire Reporting: If part of your job is to report newly hired employees to your state agency, you will want our State New Hire Reporting matrix. It contains information on all the states: how to reach them, what new hire reporting data elements they require, and how to send your reports easily and efficiently.

Medical Support: Perplexed by the National Medical Support Notice? You need our State Medical Support matrix. It will tell you whether to deduct child support before the medical support premium and whom to contact in each state for answers to medical support questions.

Lump Sum: Not sure how much or if you should attach an employee’s bonus or severance pay? Consult our State Lump Sum matrix for state contact information and state laws regarding the attachment of lump sum payments.

These matrices are available for downloading from the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement’s web site.

Go to: www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse
Click on: Information for Employers. Look down the menu on the left.
Click on: Federal/State Contact and Program Information