Key takeaways
- Gross pay is what you earned; net pay is what you receive after taxes and deductions.
- Social Security is withheld at 6.2% on wages up to $184,500 in 2026, and Medicare at 1.45% on all wages.
- Pre-tax deductions such as 401(k) contributions and cafeteria-plan health premiums lower your taxable wages, but 401(k) deferrals still count for Social Security and Medicare.
- Year-to-date (YTD) columns are the fastest way to spot mistakes and to check your W-2 in January.
- Creating a fake or altered pay stub to show a lender, landlord or agency is fraud.
The parts of a pay stub
Layouts vary by payroll provider, but almost every pay stub has the same building blocks. Read it from top to bottom and it tells one story: what you earned, what came out, and what was left.
- Header: employer name and address, your name, employee ID and sometimes the last four digits of your Social Security number
- Pay period and pay date: the dates the work covers and the date you were paid
- Earnings: hours, rates and amounts for regular pay, overtime, holiday, PTO, bonus, commission and tips
- Pre-tax deductions: retirement contributions, health, dental and vision premiums, HSA or FSA contributions
- Taxes: federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, state and local income tax, and in some states disability or paid leave insurance
- After-tax deductions: Roth 401(k), union dues, garnishments, charitable giving
- Net pay: the amount deposited or paid by check, often split across accounts
- Year-to-date totals: running totals for the calendar year next to each current amount
Earnings: gross pay
Gross pay is your total pay before anything is taken out. For hourly workers it is hours times rate for each type of pay. For salaried workers it is the annual salary divided by the number of pay periods: 52 for weekly, 26 for biweekly, 24 for semimonthly and 12 for monthly.
Check the hours first. If you worked overtime, it should appear as a separate line. Under federal law, covered non-exempt employees must be paid at least one and a half times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. Some states add daily overtime rules.
Free toolOvertime pay calculatorTaxes withheld
Federal income tax withholding depends on your gross pay, pay frequency and the Form W-4 you gave your employer. Two people with the same salary can have very different withholding. If too little or too much is coming out, submit a new W-4; the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator helps you fill it in.
Social Security and Medicare together are called FICA. Social Security may appear as "OASDI" or "SS" and is 6.2% of wages up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500. Once your year-to-date wages pass that, the line drops to zero for the rest of the year. Medicare, sometimes "MED" or "HI", is 1.45% on all wages, plus an extra 0.9% that your employer withholds on wages over $200,000 in the year.
State and local income tax lines depend on where you live and work. Some states have no wage income tax. A few states also withhold for disability or paid family leave programs; these appear with state-specific codes such as SDI.
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| FIT / FWT / Fed W/H | Federal income tax withheld |
| OASDI / SS / FICA-SS | Social Security tax, 6.2% |
| MED / MEDI / FICA-MED | Medicare tax, 1.45% |
| SIT / SWT | State income tax withheld |
| LIT / CITY | Local or city income tax |
| SDI | State disability insurance |
| 401K / 403B | Pre-tax retirement contribution |
| ROTH | After-tax Roth retirement contribution |
| MED125 / Sec 125 | Health premium paid through a cafeteria plan |
| YTD | Year-to-date total |
Pre-tax and after-tax deductions
Not every deduction affects your taxes the same way. Traditional 401(k) contributions are not subject to federal income tax withholding when you make them, but they are still wages for Social Security and Medicare. For 2026, the employee contribution limit for a 401(k) is $24,500.
Health, dental and vision premiums paid through an employer cafeteria plan (Section 125) are generally exempt from federal income tax and from Social Security and Medicare. That is why your stub may show different taxable wage amounts for income tax and for FICA.
After-tax deductions, such as Roth 401(k) contributions, come out after taxes are figured, so they do not lower your taxable wages.
Worked example: a biweekly paycheck
An employee earns $52,000 a year, paid biweekly, so gross pay is $52,000 ÷ 26 = $2,000. They contribute 5% to a traditional 401(k) and pay $75 per paycheck for health insurance through a cafeteria plan. The income tax figures below are illustrative; yours depend on your W-4 and state.
Wages for Social Security and Medicare are $2,000 − $75 = $1,925, because the 401(k) contribution still counts. Social Security is $1,925 × 6.2% = $119.35 and Medicare is $1,925 × 1.45% = $27.91.
Wages for federal income tax are $2,000 − $100 − $75 = $1,825. Withholding on that is shown as $150 here for illustration.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gross pay | $2,000.00 |
| 401(k) at 5% (pre-tax) | −$100.00 |
| Health premium, Section 125 (pre-tax) | −$75.00 |
| Federal income tax (illustrative) | −$150.00 |
| Social Security, 6.2% of $1,925 | −$119.35 |
| Medicare, 1.45% of $1,925 | −$27.91 |
| State income tax (illustrative) | −$60.00 |
| Net pay | $1,467.74 |
How to check your stub for mistakes
Errors happen, especially after a raise, a new benefit election or a move to another state. A few minutes each payday can catch them early, when they are easiest to fix.
- Compare hours with your own timesheet, including overtime
- Confirm the pay rate matches your offer letter or latest raise
- Recalculate Social Security and Medicare from the FICA wages shown
- Check that the state matches where you live and work
- Confirm benefit deductions match what you chose at enrollment
- Watch the YTD totals: they should grow by the current amounts each period
- Keep your last stub of the year to compare with your Form W-2
Pay stubs are records, not proof you can make yourself
A pay stub is a record your employer's payroll system produces. Lenders, landlords and agencies often ask for one, but many also verify income directly with the employer, through tax transcripts or through bank deposits.
Small business owners can use a pay stub generator to give employees a clear record of real payroll they ran. Making a stub for pay that was not actually earned, or altering one, and presenting it to a lender, landlord, employer or government agency is fraud and can lead to criminal charges, lost housing or a cancelled loan. If you are self-employed and need to show income, use your tax returns, Form 1099s, bank statements or a profit and loss statement instead.
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