How to seize a worker’s wages

It is expected not to know the process to seize a worker’s salary if you have never had to do it before. The company usually receives the notification of a worker’s seizure and is responsible for seizing the amount claimed.

But be very careful; not all of the salary can be seized. Certain sections established by law delimit the percentages of the seizure. The company must not only retain the amount but must also pay it into the court account.

Usually, the amount to be seized cannot be paid in a single payment, so it must be seized every month until the original debt is paid.

Net salary

It must be considered that to calculate the seizure; we cannot do it on the gross salary. The withholdings and social security contributions must be made first.

Once the net salary is obtained, we must apply the quotas established by law. But what does the law say about salary seizures?

The SMI (Minimum Interprofessional Salary) cannot be touched

This point is critical. It is forbidden to seize the SMI of a worker. It is logical since if the entire salary was seized, it would not make sense to continue working.

From there, some embargo sections will be established that must be met without excuses. That is, depending on how much you earn, more or less will be seized. But how do the embargo sections work?

Salary seizure sections

In this case, five sections and an excess are proposed. The embargo will be applied as follows:

• Section 1: SMI (0% embargo)
• Section 2: between 1 and 2 times SMI (30% on the second SMI)
• Section 3: between 2 and 3 times SMI (50% on the third SMI)
• Section 4: between 3 and 4 times SMI (60% on the fourth SMI)
• Section 5: between 4 and 5 times SMI (75% on the fifth SMI)
• Excess Section: The remainder greater than five times SMI (90%)

The percentages of the sections cannot be altered because they are those established by law. But be careful, we are only talking about salary remuneration; what happens with allowances, compensation, etc.?

Allowances and compensations

This point is much simpler than the previous one. All allowances and compensations must be seized. There is no more to it; if a worker has 500 euros in allowances, he cannot collect them.

No percentage or brackets must be applied. Don’t forget, brackets and percentages are only for salary payments. But wait, what about extra payments?

Extra payments

Without a doubt, it’s another headache, but it shouldn’t worry you too much. The same thing must be applied as the worker’s salary payment.

There are several methods of paying extra payments. You must apply the percentage monthly or every six months according to the net payment amount.

They can be added to the annual total and then divided according to the payments made to the worker. As long as you comply with the law and pay what you owe, you will not have any problems.

Conclusions

As you have seen, seizing a worker’s salary is relatively easy. You must always apply what the law dictates to save yourself from problems and seize without problems. We give you some advice to keep in mind:

• The company is responsible for carrying out the seizure.
• The SMI cannot be seized.
• If more than one seizure arrives, you must wait for the first one to finish paying.
• The seizure calculation is made on the net salary.

Now you know all the secrets to seize a worker’s salary and comply with current legislation. Have we helped you? Do you still have any questions about how to seize a worker’s salary?

If you need to know more, you can consult our Tax Advice service.