Child support and protected net earnings

If you’re deducting child support from an employee's pay, the maximum amount of child support you can deduct is 40% of their net earnings (after tax). This is called ‘protected net earnings’. Protected net earnings are usually only affected if you’re paying an employee less than their usual pay, for example, if they take unpaid leave.

Protected net earnings only apply to child support. You should still make other deductions in full, even if these add up to more than 40% of your employee’s pay.

More about protected net earnings is in the IR335 - Employer’s guide.

If the child support deduction we’ve asked you to make is more than 40% of your employee’s net pay, you should only deduct 40% of their net pay amount. We will arrange with your employee to pay the balance, so you do not need to make up the missing amount in future pays.