A pay stub — also called a pay statement or earnings statement — is the receipt for one pay period: gross pay (everything you earned), deductions (taxes and benefits taken out) and net pay (what actually reaches your bank account). Read it in three blocks — earnings, taxes, deductions — and then check the year-to-date (YTD) column, which is the version of the same numbers your employer reports on your Form W-2. For a $1,500 weekly paycheck with a standard W-4, a stub shows $93.00 of Social Security, $21.75 of Medicare and $160.19 of federal income tax, leaving $1,225.06 of net pay.
The five blocks every pay stub has
- Header — employer name and address, your name and employee ID, the pay period start and end dates, and the pay date. If the pay period dates are wrong, every other number is unreliable.
- Earnings — regular hours at your rate, overtime, tips, bonuses, commissions and paid time off.
- Taxes — federal income tax withholding, Social Security, Medicare, state income tax and, where applicable, city or county tax.
- Deductions — pre-tax items (traditional 401(k), health insurance premium, HSA/FSA) and post-tax items (Roth 401(k), garnishments, union dues).
- Net pay and YTD — the deposit amount, plus year-to-date columns for gross, each tax and each deduction.
What each tax line actually is
| Stub line | What it is | 2026 rate or limit |
|---|---|---|
| Federal income tax (FIT / FITW) | Withheld from your wages according to your Form W-4 | Set by the IRS Pub. 15-T percentage method |
| Social Security (OASDI) | 6.2% of wages up to the annual wage base | First $184,500 of wages → $11,439 maximum |
| Medicare | 1.45% of all wages, with no cap | 1.45% |
| Additional Medicare | 0.9% surtax above a threshold | Wages over $200,000 |
| State income tax | Your state’s brackets | Varies; no wage tax in Texas, Florida or Washington |
| Local tax | City or county income tax | Varies, e.g. New York City residents |
Three rules make sense of that column:
- Only Social Security has a wage base. Once your YTD Social Security wages hit $184,500, that line stops for the rest of the year and your take-home pay goes up. It is not a payroll error, and the most an employee contributes in 2026 is $11,439.
- Medicare never stops. There is no wage base limit, so 1.45% comes out of every dollar all year.
- The 0.9% surtax is per year, not per paycheck. Employers must withhold it once wages paid in a calendar year exceed $200,000, regardless of filing status.
Worked example: a $1,500 weekly pay stub
| Stub line | Amount | How it is figured |
|---|---|---|
| Gross wages | $1,500.00 | Pay for one weekly period |
| Social Security | −$93.00 | 6.2% × $1,500.00 |
| Medicare | −$21.75 | 1.45% × $1,500.00 |
| Federal income tax | −$160.19 | Pub. 15-T percentage method |
| Net pay | $1,225.06 | Gross minus all deductions |
The federal line is the one nobody can reproduce by hand, so here is the arithmetic: annualize the wage ($1,500 × 52 = $78,000), subtract the 2026 standard deduction for a single filer ($16,100), which leaves $61,900 of taxable income. The 2026 brackets give 10% on the first $12,400 ($1,240), 12% on the next $38,000 ($4,560) and 22% on the remaining $11,500 ($2,530) — $8,330 for the year, or $160.19 per week.
That is an effective rate of 10.7% of gross for federal income tax alone, even though the top dollar is taxed at 22%. Add FICA and the stub keeps $274.94 out of $1,500. Run your own numbers with the federal paycheck calculator, or pick your state to add the state line: California, Texas, Florida or New York.
Gross, taxable and net are three different numbers
| Line | $1,500 weekly example | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Gross wages | $1,500.00 | Everything earned in the period |
| Taxable wages | $1,500.00 (lower if you have pre-tax deductions) | The income the withholding math runs on |
| Total deductions | $274.94 | FICA $114.75 + federal $160.19 |
| Net pay | $1,225.06 | What hits your bank account |
| YTD columns | Grow every period | The same totals your W-2 reports at year end |
A pre-tax deduction such as a traditional 401(k) contribution or a health insurance premium is removed before income tax is calculated, so it reduces the taxable wage line and costs you less than its face value. A post-tax deduction does not reduce taxable wages. That is why two coworkers with the same salary can show different taxable wages, different withholding and different net pay on identical-looking stubs.
The YTD column is the part most people ignore
- YTD Social Security wages — compare them with the $184,500 wage base. Halfway through the year for a six-figure earner, the Social Security line legitimately goes to zero.
- YTD federal income tax — this is your prepayment for the year. Too high means a refund; too low means a balance due and possibly a penalty.
- YTD net — add up your own paychecks; if the totals disagree, ask payroll in writing rather than waiting for the W-2.
What your employer is required to record
The employer-side counterpart of your stub is defined by federal recordkeeping rules. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, a covered employer must keep records that include the employee’s name and Social Security number, hours worked each day, total hours worked each workweek, the basis on which wages are paid, the regular hourly rate, straight-time and overtime earnings, all additions to or deductions from the employee’s wages, total wages paid each pay period, and the date of payment and the pay period covered.
Two timings are worth knowing: payroll records must be preserved for at least three years, and the records behind the computation — time cards, wage rate tables, work schedules — for two years. Federal law requires no particular form for these records, which is why every company’s stub looks different; some states add their own requirements about what the statement itself must show.
A five-minute audit of any pay stub
- Check the period and the units paid. Wrong hours or a missing week is the most common error, and it compounds silently.
- Verify overtime. FLSA-covered, non-exempt employees must be paid at least one and a half times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek.
- Recompute FICA. Social Security is 6.2% and Medicare 1.45% of gross, until YTD wages cross $184,500.
- Check the federal withholding. Annualize the period gross, subtract the 2026 standard deduction ($16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly) and apply the brackets — or let the calculator do it.
- Reconcile YTD. If your own record of net deposits and the stub’s YTD net differ, ask for a written breakdown.
Pay stub vs. Form W-2
The stub is per period; the W-2 is the annual summary of the same boxes — total wages, federal income tax withheld, Social Security and Medicare wages and tax withheld. Your last stub of the year and your W-2 should agree on every one of them. When they don’t, ask payroll for a corrected W-2 rather than assuming the IRS has the wrong number: Social Security and Medicare benefits are computed from the wages reported on the W-2.