Paycheck 101: How To Read a Pay Stub

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Your paycheck stub serves as proof of income and government agencies, lenders and landlords often request them to verify your earnings. A pay stub contains all your income information, so it’s a great tool for tracking your salary, the taxes you’ve paid, insurance premium amounts, health savings accounts, bonus information, vacation and overtime pay. It’s important to save your pay stubs in case you need them for anything that requires income verification.

Read: What To Do If You Owe Back Taxes to the IRS

What Is a Pay Stub?

Your pay stub is the part of a paper paycheck that you keep after you cash or deposit the check. Typical information that appears on your pay stub includes the number of hours you worked during the pay period, the gross and net amounts you earned, a breakdown of federal and state income taxes you paid, any employment tax and a list of tax deductions.

It’s good to keep an eye on your pay stubs. Verify that each contains your correct name, tax deductions, Social Security number, vacation balance and pay rate. In addition, you should make sure your benefits deductions — including your dental and health insurance and 401(k) plan — are accurate so that you can confirm you’re properly enrolled.

How To Read Your Paycheck: Quick Take

The different numbers on your paycheck might seem mysterious if you don’t know what they represent. Here’s a full breakdown of a pay stub so you can understand exactly what to do with your paycheck:

1. Employer/Company Address: The name and address of your employer
2. Employee No.: Your unique ID number at your place of employment used by payroll managers instead of your full name
3. Employee Name: Your name
4. Social Security No.: Your Social Security number
5. Period Beg.: Date the pay period began; “Beg.” stands for “beginning”
6. Period Ends: Date the pay period ended
7. Check Date: The date the check was issued
8. Earnings: The type of income you received, which can include regular pay, overtime pay or other types of wages
9. Hours: The number of hours worked during the pay period if you are an hourly employee — left blank for salaried employees
10. Rate: The hourly rate and number of hours worked if you’re an hourly employee, as well as any bonuses or commissions for the pay period
11. Current Amount: Amount you’ve earned during the pay period before withholding and deductions
12. Withholding/Deductions: Federal and state taxes taken from your gross earnings for inclusion on your W-2, including Social Security, Medicare and W-2 withholding tax
13. Current Amount: An itemized list of withholdings and deductions for the pay period
14. Year to Date: The period starting from the beginning of the year to the present; the figure represents your itemized deductions during that time period
15. Current Amount: Your gross earnings during the pay period before any withholding and deductions have been taken out
16. Current Deductions: Amount of deductions — possibly including 401(k) or other retirement savings plan contributions — taken out during the pay period
17. Net Pay: Amount of take-home pay, or your pay after tax, after all deductions have been taken out
18. YTD Earnings: Amount of total earnings for the year to date, from the first of the calendar year up to and including the pay stub’s pay period
19. YTD Deductions: Amount of your total deductions from the first of the calendar year up to and including the pay stub’s pay period
20. YTD Net Pay: Amount of total net pay earnings from the first of the calendar year up to and including the pay stub’s pay period
21. Check Number: The check number for the specific payment

Gross Pay vs. Net Pay

You might be confused about the difference between your gross earnings and net pay. Gross pay is the total amount of income you earned during a pay period, which is typically one month or two weeks. Gross pay doesn’t factor in your tax withholdings, like federal income tax.

Net pay is the amount of take-home pay you get after all your taxes and withholdings have been deducted, which includes your federal tax deductions. In other words, net pay is the actual amount of money that you deposit in the bank.

Save Your Pay Stubs

If you need more help reading your paycheck stub or if a particular calculation doesn’t seem correct, get assistance from your HR department on such things as federal laws, retirement plans or even the Federal Insurance Contributions Act. Your pay stub contains important pieces of information and you should understand each piece. It’s also crucial that you check your stub to make sure it’s accurate — and let your employer know if there are any mistakes.

Final Take To GO

Although companies print different kinds of paychecks depending on what the employee receives, the law requires they all contain certain information. Pay stub abbreviations can be confusing, so be sure you’re familiar with all of the details so you can better track your money, how you are getting paid and how it’s allocated.

Barri Segal contributed to the reporting for this article.

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