What Goes on a Pay Stub and Why Each Field Exists

A pay stub is a detailed receipt for compensation. It serves both the employee who needs to verify their pay and the lender or landlord who needs to verify income. Every field has a specific purpose and regulatory requirement.

Required fields

A compliant pay stub typically includes:

Employee information:

• Employee name and address
• Social Security number (usually last 4 digits only)
• Employee ID

Pay period information:

• Pay period start and end dates
• Pay date
• Pay frequency (weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, monthly)

Earnings:

• Regular hours and rate
• Overtime hours and rate
• Gross pay

Deductions:

• Federal income tax withheld
• State income tax withheld
• Social Security tax
• Medicare tax
• 401k/retirement contributions
• Health insurance premiums
• Other deductions

Totals:

• Current period gross, deductions, and net
• Year-to-date gross, deductions, and net

Year-to-date tracking

YTD figures are critical for tax planning and loan applications. Lenders use YTD gross income from pay stubs to verify income. The IRS uses YTD tax withholding to assess whether you will owe or receive a refund.

function calculateYTD(payStubs) {
  return payStubs.reduce((ytd, stub) => ({
    grossPay: ytd.grossPay + stub.grossPay,
    federalTax: ytd.federalTax + stub.federalTax,
    stateTax: ytd.stateTax + stub.stateTax,
    socialSecurity: ytd.socialSecurity + stub.socialSecurity,
    medicare: ytd.medicare + stub.medicare,
    netPay: ytd.netPay + stub.netPay
  }), { grossPay: 0, federalTax: 0, stateTax: 0, socialSecurity: 0, medicare: 0, netPay: 0 });
}

For creating properly formatted pay stubs with all required fields and calculations, I built a creator at zovo.one/free-tools/pay-stub-creator. Enter the employee and pay details, and it generates a professional pay stub with current period and YTD figures.

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I'm Michael Lip. I build free developer tools at zovo.one. 500+ tools, all private, all free.