How to read a check stub?
Are Check Stubs Required by Law?
There's no federal law that mandates companies have to provide their workers with a check stub. However, many states have laws that require some form of written pay statement.Here are the states that require written or printed check stubs to be given to all employees:- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Iowa
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- New Mexico
- North Carolina
- Texas
- Vermont
- Washington
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Florida
- Georgia
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- Ohio
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New York
- North Dakota
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- Utah
- Virginia
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
How Do You Read a Check Stub?
Here are the various elements to a standard check stub:- EMPLOYEE NAME AND ADDRESS: The full name of the individual getting paid.
- COMPANY NAME AND ADDRESS: This is your company's name and address. You can add its phone number here if you want.
- IDENTIFYING INFO: Some businesses include an employee ID or Social Security number on the check stub to provide additional identification of the employee.
- PAY TYPE: This indicates if the worker was paid by the hour or is salaried.
- PAY DATE: The date on which an employee receives a check is the pay date. Companies often pay their employees on a regular schedule, such as every Friday.
- PAY PERIOD: The pay period is the timeframe an employee gets paid for. For example, a biweekly pay schedule means the worker gets paid every two weeks.
- HOURS WORKED: The hours worked is the time the employee spends doing his job. This varies for hourly employees. For salaried employees, a paycheck will usually cover all work completed within a 40-hour workweek.
- PAY RATE: The pay rate is what an employee makes per hour. For example, an hourly worker might earn $15 an hour for a 35-hour workweek. This means $15 is the pay rate.
- EARNINGS: Another word for earnings is gross wages. This is the full amount of money owed to an employee before expenses like taxes and deductions are taken out. Usually, workers can see not only the wages earned in the pay period covered by the check but also year-to-date information.
- WITHHOLDINGS: These are withholding for things like federal, state, and local taxes and Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax.
- These taxes will later show up on an employee's W-2 for tax filing purposes.
- DEDUCTIONS: Deductions are items a worker can choose to get deducted from his pay. An employee can choose to deduct contributions for a 401(k) or pensions, a healthcare savings account, or other benefits. Deductions held pre-tax (from gross income) have the advantage of not being included in tax calculations.
- NET PAY: Net pay is what a worker gets to take home after taxes, deductions, and other withholdings.
- EMPLOYER TAXES: The employer pays some taxes that the employee doesn't have to, such as the Federal Employment Tax Act. As a result, some businesses include an employer tax section on their pay stub.
- EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS: Employer contributions show how much the employer contributes towards benefits like retirement and healthcare.
- ACCRUED VACATION TIME: Some companies have a section that includes an employee’s accrued vacation, sick days, or paid time off.