How to Review YTD Totals After Changing Jobs

After a job change, each employer's paystubs show only what that employer paid you, so neither stub's YTD column is your total for the year. To see the full picture, add the YTD figures on your old employer's final stub to those on your new employer's latest stub, one line at a time.

That combined figure is what you compare with your own expectations, and later with the two separate Forms W-2 you will receive. If you want a refresher on what each YTD line contains before you start adding, our explainer on year-to-date paystub totals covers the columns in detail.

Why the new employer's YTD started at zero

Every employer runs its own payroll and keeps its own running totals. Your new employer has no record of what the previous one paid or withheld, so its first stub for you shows current and YTD amounts that are identical.

That is expected, not a missing carryover. The totals combine only on your side: in your own records, and on your tax return, where both employers' W-2 forms are reported together.

There are narrower cases where YTD should continue instead. A transfer between departments, a promotion, or a move to a different location of the same employer usually keeps one payroll record. So can a rehire later in the same year by the same employer. If a stub from one of those situations restarts at zero, it is worth asking the payroll team why.

Finding the right final stub from your old job

The stub you want is the one with the latest pay date from the old employer, which is not always the last regular paycheck.

• A final paycheck after your last day. The last period you worked is often paid on the next regular payday, after you have already left.
• Payouts added later. Unused paid time off, a final commission or a bonus can be paid on a separate check, and each one raises the old employer's YTD.
• Portal access that ends. Many employers switch off payroll portal access some time after you leave, so download the final stubs as soon as they post.

How quickly a final paycheck must be issued is set by state law, not by federal law, and the rules differ between states and sometimes between quitting and being let go. The US Department of Labor keeps a State Payday Requirements table, and the labor department of the state where you worked has the current rule.

Adding the two sets of YTD figures together

The combining itself is simple addition, as long as you keep each line separate.

Illustrative example (made-up figures): an employee worked for a first employer from January through May 2026 and started with a second employer in June. Federal income tax amounts are assumptions. Social Security and Medicare use the 6.2% and 1.45% employee rates in IRS Tax Topic 751, and the second employer's stub is the one dated September 30, 2026.

The table lines up the two stubs and the combined figure for each line.

Two quick cross-checks confirm the addition. Combined Social Security of $3,472.00 equals $56,000.00 × 6.2%, and combined Medicare of $812.00 equals $56,000.00 × 1.45%. When both employers withheld at the standard rates on all wages, those checks should hold to within a few cents.

If the combined gross still looks lower than you expected, the cause is often a gap between jobs, a first check at the new employer that covered only part of a period, or a pay date that fell outside the months you counted. Our article on why YTD can miss your estimate walks through those timing effects.

Social Security withheld by both employers above the wage base

Social Security tax stops once wages reach the annual wage base, but each employer applies that limit only to the wages it pays. Two employers in one year can therefore withhold more in total than the annual maximum.

Illustrative example (made-up figures): an employee earns $120,000.00 from a first employer through June 2026 and $110,000.00 from a second employer from July through December. The IRS lists the 2026 Social Security wage base as $184,500 (Tax Topic 751).

1. Neither employer's wages reach $184,500, so each withholds 6.2% on everything it pays: $120,000.00 × 6.2% = $7,440.00 and $110,000.00 × 6.2% = $6,820.00.
2. Total Social Security withheld across both stubs is $7,440.00 + $6,820.00 = $14,260.00.
3. The most an employee owes on 2026 wages is $184,500 × 6.2% = $11,439.00.
4. The amount withheld above that maximum is $14,260.00 − $11,439.00 = $2,821.00.

IRS Tax Topic 608 says that when more than one employer withheld too much Social Security tax, you may be able to claim the excess as a credit on your income tax return. It treats a single employer that over-withholds differently: that employer should adjust the excess, and if it does not, Form 843 is used to claim a refund.

Medicare works differently because it has no wage base limit, so combined Medicare withholding should simply equal 1.45% of combined wages. The Social Security line is the one to watch when two jobs together pass the wage base.

Retirement deductions across two employers

Your new employer's 401(k) plan cannot see what you deferred at the old job. Its payroll system will usually stop your deferrals only when your contributions to its own plan reach the annual limit.

The IRS says you generally aggregate the elective deferrals you made to all the plans you participate in to decide whether you have exceeded the limit, so tracking the combined total is your job. For 2026 its retirement plan pages list the elective deferral limit for traditional and safe harbor 401(k) plans as $24,500 (checked September 2026). Add the 401(k) YTD from both final stubs, as in the table above, and compare the sum with that figure before you raise your contribution rate at the new job.

In the earlier example, $2,280.00 deferred by September leaves plenty of room. Someone who deferred $15,000.00 at a first employer and then elected $1,000.00 per paycheck at a new job would have $15,000.00 + 9 × $1,000.00 = $24,000.00 deferred after nine paychecks, leaving only $500.00 of room for the tenth. If the IRS cap is exceeded, its guidance says to notify the plan by April 15 of the following year to have the excess distributed.

What to check on the first stubs at a new job

The first two or three stubs from a new employer are where setup mistakes show up, and they are easier to fix early in the year.

1. Confirm that current and YTD amounts match on the first stub, and that the second stub's YTD equals the first stub's YTD plus its own current amounts.
2. Check the pay rate and the pay frequency against your offer. A move from biweekly to semimonthly pay changes the gross on each check even at the same salary, as our comparison of biweekly and semimonthly paystubs shows.
3. Look at federal income tax withholding in light of the new Form W-4 you completed.
4. Make sure state withholding names the state you now work in. If the new job came with a move, our checklist for pay records after moving states midyear lists the lines that usually change.
5. Note when benefit deductions begin, since health premiums and 401(k) deferrals often start a period or two after the first paycheck.
6. File the old employer's final stub with the new stubs, so the combined figures are easy to rebuild at year-end.

Two W-2 forms at the end of the year

After a job change you should receive one Form W-2 from each employer. Each form reflects only that employer's payments, so compare each W-2 with that employer's final stub of the year rather than with your combined figure.

Box 1 on each W-2 will usually be lower than that employer's YTD gross whenever pre-tax deductions were taken, while the Social Security and Medicare wage boxes are affected differently. Keep both final stubs until both forms have arrived and matched, and see our guide on how long to keep paystub copies for what to hold onto after that.

The figures here illustrate how the totals interact and are not tax advice. For your own return, rely on your W-2 forms and IRS instructions for the year, or a tax professional.

Keeping your own records for each employer

If you keep paystub-style records of your pay for budgeting or your own files, keep a separate set for each employer. Each set should carry that employer's name and its own YTD totals, and two employers' figures should never be merged onto one stub.

PayStubGo formats the details you enter into a paystub-style PDF after you choose a template and preview it; it does not verify employment or income. When your figures for one employer are ready, you can make a separate stub for each job and hold the combined totals in your own notes.