What information is on a pay stub? The 11 things a complete stub shows

A complete pay stub answers every question a reader might have about one paycheck. Here are the eleven pieces of information it should show, in the order they usually appear.

1. Employer name and address

The legal name of the business paying the wages and its address. Larger employers also show an employer identification number, usually masked.

2. Employee name and identifier

The employee's name, and usually an employee ID. Some stubs show the last four digits of the Social Security number. A full SSN should not appear on a stub.

3. Pay period

The start and end dates of the work being paid for. A biweekly period covers fourteen days; a semimonthly one runs from the first to the fifteenth or from the sixteenth to month end.

4. Pay date

The date the check was issued or the deposit made. Year-to-date totals and tax years follow the pay date, not the period.

5. Hours worked and rate of pay

For hourly employees, regular hours and the hourly rate, plus overtime hours and the overtime rate if any. For salaried employees, the salary for the period. Many state laws require hours and rates on hourly employees' statements.

6. Earnings by type

Regular pay, overtime, bonus, commission, tips, holiday pay, sick pay and any other earnings, each on its own line with a current and a year-to-date amount.

7. Gross pay

The total of all earnings before anything is deducted.

8. Taxes withheld

Federal income tax (FIT), Social Security, Medicare, and state and local income tax where they apply. Each line shows the current amount and the year-to-date amount. See what FIT means.

9. Other deductions

Pre-tax items such as retirement plan contributions, health insurance premiums and HSA contributions, then after-tax items such as Roth contributions, union dues or garnishments. The stub should say which are pre-tax.

10. Net pay

Gross pay minus all taxes and deductions: the amount actually paid. Usually printed in bold or in a highlighted row.

11. Year-to-date totals

Every line above should have a YTD column, and the stub should show YTD gross, YTD deductions and YTD net. This is what lenders use to check annual income. Read what YTD means.

What "recent pay stubs" means

When a lender, landlord or agency asks for recent pay stubs, they mean the newest consecutive ones, usually two to four, covering the last thirty to sixty days. They check that the pay date is current, that the employer matches your application, and that YTD gross supports the income you stated. Older stubs do not help because the YTD figure is out of date.

Pay stubs that are missing information

A stub that shows only gross and net pay, or omits the pay period, is a weak record. Employers who run payroll by hand can use our pay stub templates, which include every line above, or the pay stub generator, which calculates the taxes and fills in the year-to-date column.

See the eleven items on four sample pay stubs