A pay stub is the record an employer gives with each paycheck that shows how the pay was worked out: gross earnings for the pay period, each tax and deduction taken out, the net amount paid, and running totals for the year so far.
The same document goes by several names: paycheck stub, check stub, pay statement, pay slip, earnings statement, wage statement or payroll stub. On a paper check it is the detachable part. With direct deposit it is usually a PDF in the employer's payroll portal (see how to get pay stubs with direct deposit).
In brief. A pay stub explains one paycheck: header, earnings, deductions and net pay, each with a current and a year-to-date amount. Small employers and self-employed people can make one with a free generator.
What a pay stub shows
A pay stub shows who was paid and for which period, what they earned, what was taken out, and what was paid. Every stub has the same four parts, whatever the layout.
- Header. The employer's name and address, the employee's name and often an employee ID, the pay period start and end dates, and the pay date.
- Earnings. Regular pay (hours times rate, or the salary for the period), overtime, bonuses, commissions and tips, each with a current amount and a year-to-date amount.
- Deductions. Federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, state and local income tax where they apply, then benefit deductions such as health insurance and retirement contributions.
- Net pay. Gross pay minus total deductions: the amount deposited or written on the check.
Our pay stub examples show four completed stubs with every line explained. For a checklist of every item, see what information is on a pay stub.
What a pay stub looks like
Here is a completed biweekly stub for an hourly employee in Georgia, made with our generator. The four parts above run top to bottom.
- Top: the employer, the employee with an ID, the pay date, the period covered and the pay frequency.
- Earnings table: hours, rate, the current amount and the year-to-date amount for each type of pay, then gross pay.
- Taxes table: federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and, here, Georgia income tax, each with current and year-to-date columns.
- Summary strip: gross pay, total taxes, other deductions and net pay, the amount that reaches the employee.
Layouts vary by payroll provider. Some print the taxes and deductions in one column, some add paid time off balances, and a deposit advice adds the bank account the money went to. The information is the same.
Put the same stub on a chart and the shape of a paycheck is clear: about four fifths of gross pay reaches the employee, federal income tax is the largest single line, and the two FICA taxes together take 7.65%. Our gross pay vs net pay guide walks through each step.
Why pay stubs matter
For the employee, the stub is the proof that wages were paid correctly and taxes were withheld. Lenders, landlords and some government programs ask for recent pay stubs as proof of income, usually alongside a bank statement (see bank statement vs pay stub).
The year-to-date figures help check the W-2 in January. A stub only counts when it records a real payment; our guide on whether pay stub generators are legal explains where the line sits.
For the employer, the stub is part of the payroll record. Federal law requires employers to keep accurate records of hours worked and wages paid (DOL Fact Sheet 21 on FLSA recordkeeping).
Many states also require that employees receive a statement of earnings and deductions with each payment, on paper or electronically.
There is no single federal list of those statement rules; each state sets its own in its labor code, alongside the payday requirements summarized in the Department of Labor state payday table.
For the self-employed, there is no employer to issue a stub. Contractors document their own income with an earnings statement based on the payments they received. Our 1099 pay stub generator creates one.
The federal lines on every stub
Three deductions appear on almost every employee stub in the United States.
- Federal income tax, often abbreviated FIT or FWT. The amount depends on wages, pay frequency and the employee's Form W-4, using the tables in IRS Publication 15-T. See what FIT means on a pay stub.
- Social Security, sometimes labelled OASDI or FICA SS. The employee pays 6.20% of wages up to the annual wage base of $184,500 for 2026 (the SSA contribution and benefit base).
- Medicare, sometimes labelled FICA Med or HI. The employee pays 1.45% of all wages, with an extra Additional Medicare Tax on wages above $200,000 in a year (see IRS Topic 751).
Current vs year to date
Each line has two amounts. Current is this pay period. YTD (year to date) is the total since January 1. The YTD column is what lenders look at to judge annual income, and it is what should match the W-2 at year end. Read what YTD means on a pay stub.
Pay stub vs paycheck vs W-2
These three get mixed up because they all show wages. They are different documents with different jobs.
| Document | What it covers | Who issues it | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paycheck (or direct deposit) | The payment itself, one net amount | Employer | Every pay day |
| Pay stub | Breakdown of that payment: gross, each tax and deduction, net, year-to-date totals | Employer, or the worker if self-employed | Every pay day, with the payment |
| W-2 | Whole year: total wages and tax withheld, as reported to the IRS | Employer | Yearly, by January 31 (IRS due dates) |
A payslip is the same thing as a pay stub. The word is common in the UK (see the GOV.UK payslips page), Australia and India; in the United States, pay stub, paycheck stub and check stub are the usual names.
How to make a pay stub
Employers with payroll software get stubs automatically. Small employers who run payroll by hand, and self-employed people who need a record, can create one in a few minutes:
Open the free pay stub generator
Enter the company, the employee, the pay and the state. The generator calculates federal, Social Security, Medicare and state tax for the current year and produces a PDF with no watermark. If you prefer a file to fill in yourself, the pay stub templates come in Word, Excel and PDF.
