FTB 2905

An Earnings Withholding Order for Taxes (EWOT, FTB 2905) is the FTB’s wage garnishment for past-due income tax: it legally requires your employer to withhold part of each paycheck and send it to the FTB until the balance is paid in full or the FTB releases the order. Your employer must give you your copy within 10 days of receiving it, and can be held responsible for the balance for not complying. A sibling order aimed at bank accounts and other assets exists — the Order to Withhold for Taxes (FTB 2900), which takes 100 percent of the assets available or the entire balance due, whichever is less — and a Continuous Order to Withhold (FTB 2910) that attaches to payments owed to you for 12 months.

“We have ordered your employer to withhold part of your wages every pay period until the balance is paid or we release the order. Your employer is required to comply. Only we can change the amount — if the withholding needs adjusting, that request comes to us, not to your payroll office.”

The employer sends the first payment within 15 days after the pay period and keeps sending until the balance is paid in full or the order is released; the amount withheld is set by the FTB’s payment tables from your pay period and required deductions, and only the FTB can adjust or modify it — for an EWOT that request can be made through a MyFTB account.

• The order pages your employer hands you — by rule, within 10 days
• Recent pay stubs showing what is being withheld
• Your current balance and order status, both visible in a MyFTB account
• Any earlier FTB collection notices for the same balance

• Verifying the balance behind the order is right before anything else
• Requesting a modification of the withholding amount through the FTB
• Resolving the underlying balance so the order can be released rather than merely endured
• Coordinating with your employer so compliance on their side doesn’t over- or under-withhold