Well the day has finally come when all the states (except South Carolina) are now offering electronic Income Withholding Orders or e-IWO. What exactly is an e-IWO and how does it differ from getting ch
ild support orders on paper? Very simply, by using the e-IWO employers receive their Income Withholding Orders (IWO) for child support electronically as a pdf file rather than through the snail mail on paper. This saves a lot of time and expenses on the side of the state. But the employer also gets to acknowledge the receipt electronically which saves time and money on that side as well. In addition, the same portal also allows the employer to report terminations and lump sum payments electronically, again saving time and money.
All you need to do to partake in this system is to implement the e-IWO in one of two ways. For large (I mean really large) employers with thousands of child support orders you could set up a system-to-system process. This obviously is going to take a lot of programming and time. But if you are a smaller employer with maybe only dozens of child support orders or less you could set up the No Programming option. This is just like setting up your phone really. You just set up the port etc. and then begin receiving the IWOs. Takes just a few weeks but well worth it in terms of time and money saved.
Want more info before making the plunge to electronic then check out the Office of Child Support Enforcement’s website on e-IWO. There you will find all the info you need on setting up the different systems as well as FAQs. Want to speak to someone directly about the program. By all means contact William Stuart @william.stuart@acf.hhs.gov. Bill will be glad to answer your questions, give you back ground info and even give you info on other employers, who are just like you, so you can speak with them about the system.
Electronic is the wave of the future for payroll so don’t be left out and holding the paper form when everyone else is going paperless with their IWOs. The system is up and running so now is the time to check it out and start using it.
