A payroll check stub is a piece of paper detailing an employee’s payment information for a specified pay period. It shows gross income (before taxes), net income (after taxes), and any applicable deductions. It gives payment information for a specific pay period, but it also offers year-to-date payment information.
In a digital world where it’s easy to store and access information online, more businesses are choosing to stop providing printed check stubs to employees. But, knowing how to access this information is very important. Reviewing it regularly can help you spot and correct inaccuracies. It can also help you see a current snapshot of your tax withholdings so you can make changes as needed. If your employer provides access to payroll information online, they may use accounting software to make it easy for employees to view and download their check stubs. Here’s more on how and why to access your payroll check stub if your employer doesn’t automatically give you a printed copy.
Why Might You Need to Access Your Payroll Check Stub?
There are many potential reasons you may want to access your payroll check stub. For example, checking it after a recent raise can help ensure you’re getting the pay increase promised to you. Here are some additional reasons you should know how to access and review your payroll stub:
Keep Track of Deductions Taken From Your Paycheck
Deductions refer to money taken automatically from each paycheck. They may include tax withholdings, insurance premiums, and retirement contributions. It’s important to check these numbers regularly and make sure they look correct. If any of these numbers look off or if you see any deductions you don’t recognize, talk to your payroll department representative right away.
Make Sure the Right Amount Is Being Withheld for Taxes
Your tax withholding is the amount of tax money your state or federal government automatically takes from each paycheck. The amount withheld is primarily based on your income and your tax filing status. You can check your withholding amount on your pay stub. You should plan to do this regularly, especially after a major life event or change in wages. If your refund at the end of the year is larger than expected or if you owe a lot of money during tax season, consider adjusting your withholding.
Check for Inaccuracies in Payment
It’s not unheard of for employers to make payroll mistakes. If you’re not regularly reviewing your pay information, you might not catch such mistakes.
When checking your stub, look for errors in the hours worked for the pay period, your pay rate, or overtime calculations. It’s crucial to review your payment documents carefully to find any incongruencies so you can take quick action to correct any errors.
How to Read a Pay Stub
If you haven’t looked at your payroll check stub in a while, you may not know how to read it. There’s a lot of information packed into that little form, including:
- General information (such as the employer and employee’s name and address)
- Pay period dates
- Gross wages (total amount of pre-tax dollars earned for the pay period)
- Hours worked for the applicable pay period
- Net pay (total amount earned after taxes and deductions)
- Voluntary (i.e. retirement) and involuntary (i.e. state and federal tax) deductions
Each section of your stub should be clearly labeled so you know what you’re looking at. You should also be able to see your payment information for the current pay period as well as year-to-date.
How to Get Your Payroll Check Stub
Federal law doesn’t require employers to provide pay stubs. However, many states do have pay stub laws. In some states, the employer must hand a printed stub to each employee. In other states, employees only need to have access to this information online. If the company you work for isn’t automatically giving you a printed pay stub, here’s how you can get access to this important document:
Locate It Yourself
Ask your employer where to find your pay stub. Then, log into the employee website you’re given so you can access, review, and download your check stubs. Be careful to do this from a safe location with secure, password-protected internet access.
Go Through Your Payroll Department
If you work at a company with a payroll department, they should be willing to give you either a printed or digital copy of your check stub. It’s best to try to access this information yourself if you’re able to. However, if you have trouble downloading your pay records, feel free to ask for help. Remember that they have other duties to perform as well, so don’t expect them to stop everything they’re doing to respond to you immediately. Instead, give them sufficient time to locate and print or send a digital file of your check stubs to you.
Retrieve the Pay Stub From the Bank
In rare cases, employers may refuse to give employees the payment information they’re entitled to. If this happens to you, you can retrieve your check stub directly from the bank. This works if you receive direct deposit payments into your bank account. In most cases, you submit a request to your bank and they may provide the documentation you require after verifying your identity.
Even though some people view check stubs as obsolete documents, they are just as important to the modern worker as they ever were. Use this information to gain access to your payment documentation and review it regularly for inaccuracies.
