Free pay stub template

How to fill it in

Work top to bottom. Identify the two parties and the exact period, enter the earnings, then each deduction, and let the summary reconcile to the net pay you actually sent. The one rule that matters: the net pay line has to equal gross pay minus every tax and deduction above it, and it has to match the check or deposit the employee received.

• Enter the employer's legal name and address and the employee's name and payroll ID.
• Set the pay period start and end dates, the pay date, and how the employee was paid.
• Fill in the earnings: regular hours times the rate, any overtime, and any bonus or commission, to get gross pay.
• Enter the tax lines: federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, and state or local tax.
• Add any other deductions, such as insurance premiums or a retirement contribution.
• Check that gross pay minus total taxes and deductions equals the net pay you issued, then carry the year-to-date totals forward.

What a wage statement has to show

There is no single federal list, because the Fair Labor Standards Act does not require a statement at all. It requires the employer to keep the underlying payroll records, which per the Department of Labor (Fact Sheet #21, 29 CFR Part 516) include hours worked, the pay rate, straight-time and overtime earnings, all additions to and deductions from wages, total wages per period, and the pay date and period covered. The detailed content rules come from the states. California sets the fullest list: Labor Code 226(a) requires nine items on every wage statement, which is why this form mirrors them. Those nine are gross wages earned, total hours worked (for non-exempt employees), any piece-rate units and rate, all deductions, net wages earned, the pay-period dates, the worker's name and the last four digits of the Social Security number or an employee ID, the employer's legal name and address, and all hourly rates in effect with the hours worked at each. Build to a list like that and your stub will satisfy nearly any state.

Reading the tax lines

Three federal taxes come out of almost every paycheck, and they behave differently. Federal income tax is withheld based on the worker's Form W-4 and the IRS tables, so it varies with pay and filing choices. The other two are FICA and are set by statute at flat rates. Social Security is 6.2 percent of wages, paid by the worker and matched by the employer, but only up to an annual wage base that the Social Security Administration resets each year; for 2026 that base is $184,500, so earnings above it are not subject to the Social Security portion. Medicare is 1.45 percent with no wage cap, also matched, plus an extra 0.9 percent Additional Medicare Tax taken from the worker on wages over $200,000 in a year. On top of those sit state income tax, where your state has one, and sometimes a local or city tax. Everything after the taxes, the health premium or the 401(k) line, is a separate category of deduction, not a tax.

Gross pay, net pay, and year to date

Gross pay is the full amount earned for the period before anything is removed. Net pay, often called take-home pay, is what is left after every tax and deduction, and it is the number that matches the check or deposit. The gap between the two is routine and often large once income tax, FICA, and benefit deductions are added up. The year-to-date columns are the part people overlook, and they matter. Each line, gross, each tax, each deduction, and net, carries a running total from January 1 through this pay date. Those figures are what an employee uses to sanity-check a W-2 at year end and what a lender or landlord looks at to gauge steady income, so keep them accurate from the first stub of the year rather than trying to reconstruct them in December.

Do employers have to provide a pay stub?

It depends entirely on the state, because federal law does not require one. The states fall into a few groups. A small number have no wage-statement law at all, so an employer there is not legally required to hand over a stub, though keeping the FLSA records and issuing one anyway is still the sensible practice; commonly cited no-requirement states include Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee. Most states are access states: the employer must give the employee a statement of their pay each payday, on paper or electronically. A few, including Delaware, Minnesota, and Oregon, let electronic stubs be the default but require the employer to let an employee opt for paper or print one. California goes furthest, requiring a detailed itemized statement under Labor Code 226 and backing it with penalties: a knowing and intentional violation runs $50 for the first pay period and $100 for each one after, up to $4,000 per employee, plus costs and attorney's fees. Classifications and details shift, so check your own state's wage-payment rules before deciding a stub is optional.

Do not use this to fake income

This form exists to document wages that were actually paid. It is not a way to manufacture proof of income you did not earn, and using it that way is a crime, not a gray area. Filling in invented figures to get a mortgage, a car loan, or an apartment is fraud. Submitting a fabricated statement on a loan application can be charged as making a false statement to a lender (18 U.S.C. 1014), bank fraud (18 U.S.C. 1344), or wire fraud (18 U.S.C. 1343), each a federal felony with serious prison exposure, and it also exposes you to civil liability to whoever relied on it. Landlords, lenders, and background-check services routinely verify stubs against bank deposits, employer records, and tax transcripts, so a faked one tends to fall apart on the first check. If you need to prove income you genuinely have, ask your employer for your real records or use an employment verification letter instead.

Issuing it on paper or online

A pay stub does not need to be signed, notarized, or witnessed; it is a record the employer issues, not a contract the two sides negotiate. You can print it and include it with a paper check, or send it electronically with a direct deposit, and an electronic wage statement is valid in most states as long as the employee can access and print it. California, for example, allows electronic statements provided the employee can readily access and print a copy. Whatever the format, keep a copy. The FLSA requires payroll records to be retained for three years and the supporting wage-computation records for two, and some state laws set their own retention periods, so a stub is part of the record you are expected to be able to produce later.

Common mistakes to avoid

A few errors show up again and again. The most common is a net pay figure that does not actually equal gross pay minus the listed deductions, usually because a line was rounded or missed; always reconcile the summary to the real payment. Dropping or resetting the year-to-date totals mid-year is the next one, and it breaks the W-2 reconciliation at year end. Showing a full Social Security number instead of the last four digits is a privacy problem and a violation in states like California. Labeling a pre-tax deduction as a tax, or vice versa, throws off the employee's tax picture. And forgetting to show total hours and the rate for a non-exempt employee leaves out items that several states specifically require.