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Tax · United States

IRS Form 668-W — a levy on wages, served on your employer

Form 668-W is the document the IRS serves on an employer to take part of an employee's wages for unpaid taxes — a continuous levy that touches every paycheck until the debt is paid, other arrangements are made, or the levy is released. A protected, exempt amount exists, and there are three days to claim it.

How serious: enforcement closeAlso called: 668-W, 668-W(ICS), 668-W(ACS), 668-W(c)(DO), wage levy, wage garnishment by the IRS

Form 668-W is served on your employer (or another payer), not on you. It orders the employer to send part of your wages to the IRS for unpaid taxes. This is the end of the collection ladder — it comes after a final notice of intent to levy went unanswered.

The levy is continuous: part of every paycheck goes to the IRS until the debt is paid, other payment arrangements are made, or the levy is released.

Not everything can be taken. An exempt amount — based on the standard deduction and your dependents — is protected from the levy. But it must be claimed: the employer hands over a 'Statement of Dependents and Filing Status', and it must be returned within three days.

Who sends it

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) — the United States federal tax authority. The form is served on your employer (or other payer), who must comply with it.

Most people learn of it from their employer or HR, who hands over the employee copies of 'Form 668-W, Notice of Levy on Wages, Salary and Other Income' with a 'Statement of Dependents and Filing Status' to fill in. The paycheck shrinks starting a following pay cycle, and Publication 1494 tables for the exempt amount are attached.

The deadline

3 days to complete and return the Statement of Dependents and Filing Status that your employer gives you ('Your employer will provide you with a Statement of Dependents and Filing Status to complete and return within three days' — IRS wage levy page)

Three days. The employer provides a Statement of Dependents and Filing Status, and it is to be completed and returned within three days of the day the employer hands it over. That statement sets the protected, exempt portion of each paycheck.

If you do nothing

If the statement is not returned within three days, the exempt amount is figured as if you were married filing separately with no dependents — zero — the minimum possible protection, maximizing what is taken from each paycheck. The levy itself continues each pay period regardless, until other arrangements are made, the overdue amount is paid, or the levy is released.

Compute your date

The rule above is what the law sets. Put in the dates on your own letter and it becomes a date.

That date is on the envelope or the delivery stamp, not in the letter — enter it and we count the deadline for you.

How it escalates

  1. 01The exempt amount is computed at the minimum (married filing separately, zero dependents), so the maximum share of wages is seized.
  2. 02The employer must comply: employers generally have at least one full pay period after receiving the form before they are required to send funds from wages to the IRS; after that, part of the wages goes to the IRS each pay period.
  3. 03The levy continues until the debt is fully paid, other payment arrangements are made, or the IRS releases the levy.

Your options, procedurally

  • The Statement of Dependents and Filing Status can be returned within 3 days to claim the correct exempt amount.
  • Other payment arrangements can be made with the IRS (installment agreement, Offer in Compromise) — this ends the levy.
  • The overdue taxes can be paid in full — when all the tax shown on the levy is paid, the IRS issues Form 668-D, Release of Levy / Release of Property from Levy.
  • A levy release can be sought through the IRS — release is one of the ways the withholding ends.
  • Free help exists: the Taxpayer Advocate Service and Low Income Taxpayer Clinics.

How to respond

Response types

  • Ask for clarificationStatement of Dependents and Filing Status (the employee copies of Form 668-W) · IRC §6334(d) (amount of wages exempt from levy), applied through the Publication 1494 tables the IRS mails with the levyForm: Statement of Dependents and Filing Status — the parts of Form 668-W(ICS)/668-W(ACS)/668-W(c)(DO) given to the employee
  • Ask for more timeRequest for release of levy — economic hardship (IRC §6343) · IRC §6343(a)(1)(D) — the Secretary shall release a levy where 'the Secretary has determined that such levy is creating an economic hardship due to the financial condition of the taxpayer'; §6343(e) requires release of a wage levy on agreement that the tax is not collectibleForm: No dedicated form; the IRS ordinarily supports it with a collection information statement (Form 433-A for individuals, 433-F for the streamlined version, 433-B for businesses)
  • Ask for instalmentsInstallment Agreement Request / other payment arrangements · IRC §6159 (instalment agreements); IRC §6343(a)(1)(C) requires release of the levy where an agreement under §6159 is entered into, unless the agreement provides otherwiseForm: Form 9465, Installment Agreement Request (or the Online Payment Agreement application)
  • File the objectionCollection Appeal Request — Collection Appeals Program (CAP) · Administrative appeal to the IRS Independent Office of Appeals under the Collection Appeals Program (IRM 8.24.1 / 5.1.9); it is not the statutory CDP hearing under IRC §6330, whose 30-day window ran from the earlier Final Notice of Intent to LevyForm: Form 9423, Collection Appeal Request

Where and how

  • Hand the completed Statement of Dependents and Filing Status back to the employer/payer
  • Telephone — the number printed on the Form 668-W
  • U.S. Mail / fax to the IRS office or employee shown on the levy
  • IRS Online Payment Agreement / Online Account

What makes it count

The Statement of Dependents and Filing Status goes back to the employer within three days — that clock is the one that costs money, and it is not extended by anything sent to the IRS. Written filings to the IRS are timely on the U.S. postmark (IRC §7502) and certified mail, return receipt requested, is the proof of delivery; but the practical rule with an active wage levy is that speed beats formality — call the number on the levy first, since every pay period that passes is money already gone. Keep a copy of the completed Statement and get a dated acknowledgment from the employer, because the exempt amount cannot be reconstructed later.

Common questions

Why did my employer get this instead of me?

The form is served on the employer (or other payer), who must comply with it. Employees usually learn of it from HR, who hands over the employee copies together with the Statement of Dependents and Filing Status.

Can the whole paycheck be taken?

An exempt amount, based on the standard deduction and your dependents, is protected from the levy. But it must be claimed by returning the Statement within three days — otherwise the exempt amount is figured at the minimum: married filing separately, zero dependents.

How does the levy end?

When the debt is fully paid (the IRS then issues Form 668-D, Release of Levy), when other payment arrangements are made, or when the IRS releases the levy.

Is this a one-time deduction?

No. The levy is continuous: part of every paycheck goes to the IRS each pay period until the debt is paid, other arrangements are made, or the levy is released.

Sources

Facts verified against the sources below on 28 August 2026.