What goes on a pay stub? The lines, and the states that require them

What a pay stub is

A pay stub is the statement that goes with a paycheck. It shows what the worker earned, what you took out, and what is left. Some states call it a wage statement or an itemized statement. It can be the tear-off part of a paper check, a separate sheet, or a page in a payroll app.

The worker uses it to check the math. You use it as a record of what you paid. It is the one place where gross pay, withholding, and net pay sit side by side for a single payday.

Does federal law require a pay stub?

No. The U.S. Department of Labor, or DOL, answers this on its Fair Labor Standards Act questions page. The FLSA is the federal wage-and-hour law. The DOL says the FLSA does not require an employer to give employees pay stubs. It does require accurate records of hours worked and wages paid.

So the federal duty is the record, not the stub. DOL Fact Sheet 21 lists the records to keep for each worker who is not exempt from overtime. A pay stub that prints most of those items is the easy way to keep them.

• Full name and Social Security number
• When the workweek starts, hours worked each day, and total hours each workweek
• How the worker is paid, such as by the hour or by the week, and the regular hourly rate
• Straight-time earnings, and overtime earnings for the workweek
• Additions to wages and deductions from wages
• Total wages for the pay period, the payment date, and the pay period it covers

Fact Sheet 21 also lists home address, birth date if the worker is under 19, sex, and occupation. Those belong in your records, not on the stub. It says to keep payroll records for at least three years, and time cards and other records the pay math is based on for two years.

What goes on a pay stub, line by line

A clear stub has the same parts in every state. Your state may require more. This is the core.

Most payroll stubs also show year-to-date totals. Those running totals make the January Form W-2 easier to check. How to file W-2 forms covers that form.

The deductions, explained

The middle of the stub is the part workers ask about. These are the usual lines.

• Federal income tax. The amount comes from the worker’s Form W-4 and the IRS tables. The IRS is the Internal Revenue Service.
• Social Security tax. This is often labeled OASDI or FICA. It is 6.2 percent of wages, up to the yearly cap.
• Medicare tax. This is 1.45 percent of wages, with no cap.
• State income tax, in a state that taxes wages, and sometimes a city or local tax.
• Other deductions the worker agreed to, such as a health plan share or a retirement contribution.

What is withholding tax explains each tax line and the states that do not take income tax. The employer’s matching Social Security and Medicare share is not a deduction from the worker. Many stubs show it in a separate box for information. Employer payroll taxes percentage covers that share.

California

California requires a stub on every payday. The Labor Commissioner’s paydays questions page explains Labor Code section 226(a). It says the stub can be a detachable part of the check or a separate writing. It must show:

• Gross wages earned
• Total hours worked, except for a salaried worker who is exempt from overtime
• For piece-rate pay, the number of pieces and the rate
• Each deduction. Deductions the worker asked for in writing may be combined as one item.
• Net wages earned
• The start and end dates of the pay period
• The worker’s name, and only the last four digits of the Social Security number or an employee ID number
• The employer’s legal name and address
• Each hourly rate in effect during the period, and the hours worked at each rate

Note the Social Security number rule. A California stub must not print the full number. The California page covers the state payroll tax account the deductions on the stub are paid into.

New York

New York requires a wage statement with every payment of wages. New York Labor Law section 195(3) lists what it must show:

• The dates of work the payment covers
• The worker’s name and the employer’s name
• The employer’s address and phone number
• The rate or rates of pay, and how pay is figured, such as by the hour, shift, day, week, salary, piece, or commission
• Gross wages, deductions, and net wages
• Any allowances claimed toward the minimum wage

For a worker who is not exempt from overtime, the statement must also show the regular hourly rate, the overtime rate, and the number of regular and overtime hours worked. The New York page covers the state accounts and the state withholding form.

Oregon

Oregon writes the longest list of the three. ORS 652.610(1) says the statement must be itemized enough to show:

• The date of the payment, and the dates of work it covers
• The worker’s name
• The employer’s name and business registry number or business identification number
• The employer’s address and phone number
• The rate or rates of pay, and whether pay is by the hour, shift, day, or week, or by salary, piece, or commission
• Gross wages and net wages
• The amount and purpose of each deduction
• Allowances, if any, claimed toward the minimum wage
• For a worker who is not a salaried, overtime-exempt worker, the regular and overtime rates, the hours worked at each, and the pay for those hours
• For piece-rate pay, the piece rates, the pieces done at each rate, and the pay at each rate

The Oregon page covers the state accounts, including Paid Leave Oregon.

Other states

Many other states have their own pay stub rule. The items, the format, and whether an electronic stub is allowed vary. Your state labor office has the list. The DOL keeps a directory of state labor offices.

When the rule is unclear, print the core lines above. A stub with dates, hours, rates, gross pay, each deduction, and net pay covers what the federal record needs.

The state pages on this site cover the tax accounts behind the deductions, not the stub law. Use Texas and Florida as examples of states with no state income tax line on the stub. The federal lines still apply.

Making the stub

You can build a stub by hand in a spreadsheet. Can I do my own payroll? walks the math for each payday. Payroll software can print a stub with each run. Check that its stub shows every item your state lists, beyond the federal pieces.

The methodology page grades how much state paperwork software takes off your desk. Gusto is one plain link. Patriot is the other service on this site.