Im on default offset for student loan so department of education garnished me ,which mean my salary literally went 50/50 between me and debt collection

[yara]

where irs hold my w2 return and my employer split my check between me and debt collection,so when I filed for taxes I claimed the gross income is just the total of my actual checks ,its like out of 49k ,my checks total was 29k,is that wrong its like why should I claim high income where my total checks was 29k and worse they said these checks where garnished which mean they don't count as payment to get off the offset defaulted loan with all said this money barely touch mean reduce my loan principle

[Hal_Al]

Box 1 of your W-2 is your reportable wage income.