Pay Stub Glossary: 98 Payroll Terms and Abbreviations

• GRS
• GROSS
• Gross Earnings
• Gross Wages
• Total Earnings

Gross pay is everything earned in the pay period before any tax or deduction is taken out. It is the total of the earnings block, not the amount paid to the bank.

Earnings blockBottom of the Earnings block, as the total of the rows above it, with a current and a year-to-date column.

Gross pay is the figure every other calculation on the stub starts from. Income tax withholding runs on gross minus any pre-tax deductions, Social Security and Medicare run on their own slightly different base, and net pay is what survives all of it. Because gross is a total rather than an input, a gross figure that looks wrong is usually a wrong rate or a wrong hour count in one of the rows above it. Employment offers and loan forms usually ask for gross, which is why the number people quote rarely matches the one that reaches their account.

• NET
• Take-Home Pay
• Take Home Pay
• Net Earnings
• Net Check

Net pay is what is left after every tax and deduction has come out of gross pay. It is the amount the payment is actually made for.

Earnings blockIts own emphasised row at the foot of the stub, usually below the deductions column and often boxed or shaded.

Net pay is a result, never an input. It follows from gross pay minus pre-tax deductions, minus federal, state and any local withholding, minus Social Security and Medicare, minus anything taken after tax. Two people on the same salary in the same company can show very different net pay because of filing details, benefit elections and the state they work in. When someone says their pay 'went down' without a rate change, the cause is almost always a change in one of those lines rather than in gross.

• REG
• RegPay
• Reg Pay
• Base Pay
• Straight Time

Regular pay is the earnings row for ordinary hours at the ordinary rate, before any premium. It is the largest line in most earnings blocks.

Earnings blockFirst row of the Earnings block, normally showing hours, rate and amount side by side.

On an hourly stub, regular pay is hours multiplied by the rate printed in the same row, which makes it the easiest line on the whole document to check by hand. On a salaried stub the row often shows the period's share of the annual salary with no hours at all, or with a nominal hour figure carried for reporting. Premium hours — overtime, double time, shift differentials — are broken out into their own rows rather than folded into this one, so that the premium portion stays visible.

• OT
• OVT
• OT Pay
• Overtime Pay
• Time and a Half
• OT Hours

Overtime is the premium paid for qualifying hours beyond the standard threshold, most often at one and a half times the regular rate. It is shown as its own earnings row.

Earnings blockEarnings block, directly under Regular Pay, with its own hours, premium rate and amount.

Under federal rules the common trigger is hours worked beyond forty in a workweek, and the premium applies to the regular rate of pay rather than to the base rate alone — bonuses and shift premiums can pull the regular rate above the printed hourly figure. Several states add their own triggers, such as a daily hour threshold. Whether someone is entitled to the premium at all depends on their exempt or non-exempt classification, which is a separate field on many stubs. A stub that shows overtime hours but no separate overtime row is worth asking payroll about.

State note: Daily overtime thresholds and premium rules vary by state — see your state page for the local picture.

• DT
• OT2
• Double Time Pay
• 2x Pay

Double time is a premium of twice the regular rate for certain hours. It is not a federal requirement and appears only where state law, a contract or an employer policy creates it.

Earnings blockEarnings block, as a separate row below Overtime, with its own hours and 2× rate.

Where double time exists it usually attaches to a long daily shift, a seventh consecutive workday, or a designated holiday. Because the trigger is not federal, the same hours can be double time in one state and time and a half in another, and two employers in the same state can treat them differently if one is bound by a collective agreement. On the stub the mechanics are identical to overtime: separate hours, separate rate, separate amount, all folded into gross.

State note: Double-time triggers are set at state level or by contract and differ widely — check your state page and any applicable agreement.

• Hrly
• Pay Rate
• Rate of Pay
• Base Rate
• Hourly Wage

The hourly rate is the per-hour figure the stub multiplies hours by to produce an earnings row. Premium rows use a multiple of it rather than a separate number.

Earnings blockRate column of the Earnings block, printed on the same row as the hours it applies to.

Because the rate is printed next to the hours and the amount, an hourly earnings row is fully self-checking: rate times hours should equal the amount, to the cent. A rate that is correct on the regular row but wrong on the overtime row usually means the premium was calculated from the base rate when it should have been calculated from the regular rate of pay, which can include certain bonuses and differentials. Rate changes that take effect mid-period often produce two regular rows at two rates rather than one blended row.

• SAL
• Annualized Pay
• Annual Salary
• Salaried Pay

Salary is fixed periodic pay that is not calculated from hours. Each stub shows the period's share of an agreed annual figure.

Earnings blockEarnings block as a single row, often with no hours column, or with standard hours shown for reporting only.

The per-period figure is the annual salary divided by the number of pay periods in the year, which is why the same salary produces a different number on a monthly stub than on a biweekly one. Being salaried is not the same as being exempt from overtime: the two are separate tests, and salaried non-exempt employees do earn the overtime premium. A salaried stub that shows a reduced amount for a period usually reflects unpaid leave or a mid-period start rather than a rate change.

• BON
• Supplemental Wages
• Bonus Pay
• Incentive Pay

A bonus is a one-off payment added to a period's earnings. It is taxable wages, and it is often withheld on differently from ordinary pay.

Earnings blockEarnings block as its own row, usually with an amount but no hours or rate.

Employers may treat a bonus as ordinary wages for the period, which pushes the whole period into a higher withholding band and can make the tax lines look alarming, or they may apply the flat supplemental withholding rate to the bonus alone. The two methods produce different withholding on the same bonus, and neither changes the final tax owed for the year — only the timing. A non-discretionary bonus tied to production or hours can also raise the regular rate used for overtime in the weeks it covers.

• COMM
• Commission Pay
• Sales Commission

Commission is earnings calculated from sales or production rather than from hours. It appears as its own earnings row alongside any base pay.

Earnings blockEarnings block, as a separate row below regular pay, typically amount-only.

Commission is ordinary taxable wages and runs through the same withholding as any other earnings, though employers sometimes apply the supplemental method where it is paid separately from a regular cheque. Where an employee has a base rate and commission, the commission can raise the regular rate used for the overtime premium in the period it is attributed to. Draw arrangements complicate the picture further: an advance against future commission shows as earnings when paid and as a recovery deduction when earned back.

• TIPS
• TIP CR
• Reported Tips
• Allocated Tips
• Tip Credit

Tips are gratuities reported through payroll so they can be taxed. They may be added to earnings, or carried as reported income that has already been received in cash.

Earnings blockEarnings block, often as two related rows: reported tips, and a tip credit or tip-out offset.

Cash tips the employee already holds still have to be reported, so payroll adds them to taxable wages without adding them to the amount paid — which is why a tipped stub can show large gross and small net. Charged tips paid through payroll behave like ordinary earnings. Where a tip credit is used against the minimum cash wage, the stub shows the credit as a separate figure so the cash rate and the credited amount stay legible.

State note: Tip credits are restricted or prohibited in several states — see your state page before assuming a credit applies.

• SHIFT DIFF
• DIFF
• Shift Premium
• Night Differential

A shift differential is extra pay for working a less desirable shift, such as nights or weekends. It is usually a set amount per hour or a percentage uplift.

Earnings blockEarnings block, as a separate row with its own hours and premium rate.

Differentials are set by employer policy or by a collective agreement, not by federal law. Their most common effect on the rest of the stub is indirect: because a differential is part of the pay for hours worked, it raises the regular rate of pay used for the overtime premium in those weeks. A stub showing differential hours and overtime hours in the same week, with the overtime premium calculated from the plain base rate, is worth querying.

• HOL
• HOL PAY
• Holiday Hours

Holiday pay is paid hours for a designated holiday, whether or not the employee worked. It appears as its own earnings row so the hours are not counted as worked time.

Earnings blockEarnings block, below regular pay, with hours and a rate.

Paid holidays are an employer policy in most private-sector jobs rather than a federal entitlement. The distinction matters for overtime: holiday hours that were paid but not worked generally do not count toward the weekly threshold that triggers the premium, which is why a week with a holiday and a few extra worked hours may show no overtime row. Where a holiday is worked, some employers pay a premium rate for it, which appears as a further separate row.

• RETRO
• Retro Pay
• Back Pay
• Retroactive Adjustment

Retroactive pay corrects an earlier period on the current stub — a backdated raise, a missed shift or a rate applied late. It is added as its own earnings row.

Earnings blockEarnings block, as a distinctly labelled row, sometimes with the affected dates in the description.

Retro pay is taxed in the period it is paid, not the period it relates to, so a correction for March that lands in June appears in June's withholding and June's year-to-date totals. That timing is the usual reason a retro payment produces a bigger tax bite than expected: the extra amount stacks on top of a normal period. Where the underpayment involved overtime hours, the correction should include the premium portion as well as the base, which is worth checking on the row itself.

• SEV
• Separation Pay
• Severance

Severance is pay made on separation from employment. It is treated as wages, runs through payroll, and appears on a stub like any other earnings row.

Earnings blockEarnings block of a final or post-employment stub, as its own row.

Because severance is wages, it carries income tax withholding and both halves of FICA, and it lands in the year-to-date totals that feed the annual wage statement. Employers commonly apply the flat supplemental withholding method to it, which is why the tax line on a severance stub often looks unlike the tax lines on the stubs before it. A lump sum can also push year-to-date Social Security wages past the annual wage base, which stops that line for the rest of the year.

• PTO
• Paid Leave Balance
• PTO Balance

Paid time off is leave that is paid at the normal rate. Stubs show it twice: as paid hours in earnings, and as a running balance of what is left.

Earnings blockEarnings block for hours taken, plus a separate accrual or balance panel, often at the foot of the stub.

The balance panel usually carries three figures — accrued this period, used this period, and available — and those are informational rather than part of any total. PTO hours that were paid but not worked generally do not count toward the weekly overtime threshold. Many employers run a single combined PTO bank instead of separate vacation and sick buckets, which is why a stub may show one balance where another shows two.

State note: Whether unused balances must be paid out on separation is a state-law question and varies — see your state page.

• VAC
• VACN
• Vacation Pay
• Vacation Balance

Vacation is paid leave tracked in its own bank, separate from sick leave. Hours taken appear as earnings; the balance appears in the accrual panel.

Earnings blockEarnings block for hours taken, and the accrual panel for accrued, used and available balances.

Vacation pay is ordinary taxable wages in the period it is paid. The balance figure is usually stated in hours rather than days, so a balance that looks large may be a fortnight or less. Employers using separate vacation and sick banks often apply different carry-over rules to each, which is why one balance can reset at year end while the other rolls forward.

State note: Accrued vacation is treated as earned wages on separation in some states and not in others — see your state page.

• SICK
• PSL
• Paid Sick Leave
• Sick Pay
• Sick Balance

Sick leave is paid time away for illness, tracked in its own bank where the employer or the state separates it from other leave.

Earnings blockEarnings block for hours taken, plus a balance line in the accrual panel.

A number of states and cities require employers to provide paid sick leave and to show the available balance on or with the stub, which is why the line is mandatory in some places and absent in others. Sick hours paid at the normal rate are ordinary wages. Sick pay funded by an insurer rather than the employer is a different thing entirely and appears as third-party sick pay, with its own reporting treatment.

State note: Paid sick leave mandates, accrual rates and balance-display rules are state and sometimes city specific — see your state page.

• LWOP
• Leave Without Pay
• Unpaid Hours

Unpaid leave is authorised time away with no pay attached. It is the usual explanation for a period where gross pay is lower than normal with no rate change.

Earnings blockEarnings block as a zero-amount row with hours, or simply as reduced hours on the regular row.

On an hourly stub the effect is visible directly in the hours column. On a salaried stub the period amount is prorated instead, so the row looks like a rate change unless the unpaid hours are shown separately. Unpaid leave also usually pauses leave accrual for the period, which is why the accrual panel can show a smaller-than-usual increase in the same stub.

• Family and Medical Leave Act
• FMLA Leave

The Family and Medical Leave Act provides eligible employees with job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons. The federal entitlement itself is unpaid.

Earnings blockEarnings block as a labelled leave row, often alongside paid leave rows used to cover the same absence.

Because the federal entitlement is unpaid, an FMLA absence on a stub is commonly covered by a mix of rows: accrued paid leave, a state paid-leave benefit, or nothing at all. Several states run their own paid family and medical leave programmes with an employee-paid premium, which is a separate deduction line and should not be confused with the federal leave right. Benefit deductions such as health premiums normally continue during the leave, which can produce a negative-looking period when there is little or no pay to take them from.

State note: State paid family and medical leave programmes sit alongside the federal right and differ by state — see your state page.

• HRS
• HRS WKD
• Total Hours
• Worked Hours

Hours worked is the count of time the period's pay is calculated from. It is printed next to the rate it is multiplied by.

Earnings blockHours column of the Earnings block, on each earnings row, with current and year-to-date totals on many layouts.

Paid hours and worked hours are not the same thing. Holiday, vacation and sick hours are paid but not worked, which is why they sit in separate rows and why they generally do not count toward the weekly threshold that triggers the overtime premium. Where a stub covers two workweeks, the overtime test is applied to each week separately rather than to the fourteen-day total, so a period with fewer than eighty hours can still legitimately carry an overtime row.

• ACCR
• Leave Accrual
• Accrued Balance
• Leave Balance

Accrual is the rate at which leave builds up, and the balance it has built to. It is shown for information and is not part of any pay total.

Earnings blockIts own panel, usually at the foot of the stub, with accrued, used and available columns per leave type.

Accrual is normally expressed in hours earned per hour worked or per period, which is why the balance moves by odd fractions rather than round numbers. Caps are common: an accrual can stop once a balance reaches a ceiling and restart when leave is taken, which looks like a payroll error but is the policy working as written. Because the panel is informational, a wrong balance does not change the period's pay, but it does change what is available to take.

• RSU
• Restricted Stock Unit
• RSU Vest
• Stock Offset
• Equity Offset

An RSU line adds the value of restricted stock units that vested as taxable pay, and a matching offset takes the same amount back out because the shares, not cash, were delivered.

Earnings blockEarnings column for the vest value, with the matching offset in the deductions column; both net to zero in cash.

When shares vest, their market value counts as wages, so taxes are worked out on it like any other pay and often at the supplemental rate. The offset stops that value from being paid a second time in cash, since the shares go to a brokerage account. Gross pay and taxable wages rise for that period even though net pay does not include the stock.

• Federal Insurance Contributions Act
• FICA Tax
• Payroll Tax

FICA is the umbrella name for the two payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare. On a stub it is usually split into two separate lines rather than shown as one.

Taxes columnTaxes column, as two adjacent rows — one for Social Security and one for Medicare — each with a current and year-to-date figure.

The employee pays one half of each tax and the employer pays a matching half that never appears in the deductions column, so the true cost of these two taxes is double what the stub shows. FICA runs on a slightly different wage base from income tax: a traditional retirement deferral lowers federal taxable wages but not FICA wages, which is why the two sets of lines rarely move together. Some stubs print a single combined FICA row, in which case it is the sum of the Social Security and Medicare amounts.

• Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance
• Social Security Tax
• SOC SEC
• SS Tax
• FICA-OASDI
• FICA / SS
• OASDI Tax

OASDI is the Social Security half of FICA, withheld at a flat rate on wages up to an annual ceiling. It funds retirement, survivor and disability benefits.

Taxes columnTaxes column, usually the row directly above Medicare, labelled OASDI, Soc Sec, SS or FICA-SS depending on the payroll system.

Two things make this line distinctive. First, the rate is flat, so the amount moves in exact proportion to the wages it is computed on — unlike federal income tax, which moves in steps. Second, it stops: once year-to-date Social Security wages reach the annual wage base, withholding ends for the rest of the calendar year and restarts the following January. Higher earners therefore see the line vanish partway through the year and reappear, which is the single most common reason people think this deduction has been calculated wrongly.

• MED
• FICA-MED
• FICA / MED
• FICM
• HI
• Hospital Insurance
• Medicare Withholding

Medicare tax is the hospital-insurance half of FICA, withheld at a flat rate on all covered wages with no annual ceiling.

Taxes columnTaxes column, immediately below the Social Security row, labelled Medicare, MED or FICA-MED.

The absence of a wage base is what separates this line from its neighbour: it keeps withholding at the same flat rate no matter how high year-to-date wages climb. That makes it a useful sanity check on the whole taxes column, because the amount should be an exact percentage of Medicare wages every single period. Above a filing-status threshold an extra employee-only surtax is added on top, shown either on the same row or as its own line.

• Addl Med
• Additional Medicare
• Medicare Surtax
• Add Med Tax

The Additional Medicare Tax is a surtax withheld on wages above a yearly threshold that is the same for every filing status. It is paid by the employee only, with no employer match.

Taxes columnTaxes column, either as a separate row below Medicare or folded into the Medicare row once the threshold is passed.

Employers begin withholding it once an individual's year-to-date wages with that employer pass the threshold, and they do so without regard to the person's actual filing status or a spouse's earnings. That means the withholding and the eventual liability can differ in either direction, and the difference is settled on the annual return. Someone with two employers may pass the threshold in total without either employer withholding anything.

• FIT
• FITW
• FWT
• FWH
• FED
• Fed Tax
• Federal Withholding
• FED W/H

Federal income tax is the withholding on wages for the federal income tax liability. The amount is driven by the Form W-4 on file and by the wages for the period.

Taxes columnTaxes column, usually the first row, labelled FIT, FITW, FWT, Fed Tax or Federal Withholding.

Payroll annualises the period's taxable wages, applies the withholding tables for the filing status and W-4 entries on file, then divides back down to a per-period figure. Because of that annualisation, a single unusual period — a bonus, a large overtime week — can produce a withholding figure that looks disproportionate. Withholding is an estimate of the year's liability, not the liability itself; the difference is settled on the annual return. A blank or zero line usually means either very low wages for the period or an exempt status recorded on the W-4.

• Taxable Maximum
• SS Cap
• Wage Base Limit
• Social Security Limit

The Social Security wage base is the annual ceiling of wages that the Social Security tax applies to. Above it, that line stops for the rest of the calendar year.

YTD columnNot printed as a line of its own. Its effect shows in the YTD column, where the Social Security total stops rising.

The ceiling is reset each year and applies per employer, not per person, so someone who changes jobs mid-year can have the tax withheld twice on the same band of wages — an over-withholding that is reclaimed on the annual return rather than by payroll. Medicare has no equivalent ceiling, which is why the two FICA rows diverge once the base is reached. The wage base is also the reason a high earner's net pay rises partway through the year with no change to their salary.

• Supp Rate
• Flat Rate Withholding
• Supplemental Rate
• Bonus Tax Rate

The supplemental withholding rate is a flat percentage employers may apply to supplemental wages such as bonuses, commissions and severance, instead of the regular tables.

Taxes columnNot a line of its own. It changes the federal income tax figure in the period a supplemental payment is made.

The alternative is the aggregate method, where the supplemental payment is added to the period's regular wages and withheld on together. The two methods can produce noticeably different withholding on the same bonus, which is the source of the widespread belief that bonuses are 'taxed higher'. They are not taxed at a different rate — they are withheld on differently, and the year's actual liability is unchanged. Above a high annual threshold of supplemental wages a higher mandatory flat rate applies.

• Taxable Gross
• FIT Taxable
• Taxable Earnings
• Subject Wages

Taxable wages are the portion of gross pay a particular tax is computed on. A stub can carry several different taxable-wage figures at once.

Taxes columnOften a small summary block near the taxes column, or the base implied by each tax row rather than printed directly.

Federal taxable wages are gross minus pre-tax items that the federal income tax recognises. Social Security and Medicare wages are gross minus a narrower set of pre-tax items, because a traditional retirement deferral reduces income-tax wages but not FICA wages. State taxable wages can differ from both, since states do not all recognise the same pre-tax treatments. This is why the annual wage statement carries several different wage boxes that do not agree with each other, and why none of them usually equals year-to-date gross.

• Allowances
• Exemptions Claimed
• W-4 Allowances

Withholding allowances were the pre-2020 mechanism for adjusting federal withholding. Current federal forms use dollar amounts instead, but the label survives on some stubs and on many state forms.

Employer / employee blockEmployer / employee block, near the filing status, as a count rather than an amount.

Under the old system each allowance reduced the wages subject to withholding by a set amount, so more allowances meant less tax withheld. The current federal form replaced that with direct entries for dependants, other income and extra withholding. Payroll systems that still print an allowance count are usually either showing a state form's figure or displaying a legacy field that no longer drives the federal calculation.

• Single
• Married Filing Jointly
• MFJ
• Head of Household
• HOH
• Marital Status

Filing status is the category — single, married filing jointly, married filing separately or head of household — that determines which withholding table payroll uses.

Employer / employee blockEmployer / employee block near the top, often abbreviated to a single letter or a short code.

Changing status changes the income tax line and nothing else: gross pay, FICA and post-tax deductions are all unaffected. The status recorded in payroll comes from the W-4 on file and does not update automatically when personal circumstances change. Where a state runs its own withholding certificate, the state status can legitimately differ from the federal one, so a stub showing two different statuses is not necessarily wrong.

• EXMPT
• Exempt Status
• Withholding Exempt
• W-4 Exempt

Exempt from withholding means no federal income tax is being withheld, because the employee certified on the W-4 that they expect no tax liability for the year.

Taxes columnEmployer / employee block as a status flag, and as a zero or blank federal income tax row.

The exemption applies to income tax withholding only. Social Security and Medicare are still withheld, so an exempt stub still shows those rows. The certification has to be renewed each year and lapses if it is not, at which point payroll reverts to withholding at the default single rate. An unexpected zero on the income tax row, with FICA still deducting normally, usually points to this flag rather than to a calculation error.

• Federal Unemployment Tax
• Federal Unemployment Tax Act
• FUTA Tax

FUTA is the federal unemployment tax. It is paid entirely by the employer, which is why it does not appear in an employee's deductions column.

Employer / employee blockNot on the employee's deductions column at all. It may show in an employer-cost panel on a payroll register.

FUTA funds the federal share of the unemployment insurance system and applies to a low annual wage band per employee. Employers also pay a state unemployment tax, and the two interact: credit for state payments reduces the effective federal rate. A few states additionally require an employee contribution to state unemployment, which does appear as a deduction — but that is the state tax, not FUTA. Seeing FUTA in an employee deductions column is unusual enough to be worth querying.

• SIT
• ST TAX
• SWT
• State Withholding
• State Tax
• ST W/H

State income tax is withholding for a state's own income tax, calculated from that state's rules. Several states levy none at all, leaving the line blank.

Taxes columnTaxes column, below the federal rows, often prefixed with the state code — for example PA SIT or CA SWT.

States differ in nearly every respect: some use graduated brackets, some a single flat rate, some none. They also differ on which pre-tax deductions reduce state taxable wages, so the state base is not always the same as the federal one. Where someone lives in one state and works in another, both may appear, and a reciprocity agreement between the two can remove one of them. A blank line where a state does levy tax usually points to a missing state withholding certificate rather than to an exemption.

State note: Rates, brackets and which pre-tax items are recognised all vary by state — see your state page for the local picture.

• SDI
• CASDI
• NYSDI
• TDI
• Temporary Disability Insurance
• State Disability

State disability insurance is an employee-paid premium in the handful of states that run a short-term disability programme. It funds wage replacement for non-work injuries and illness.

Taxes columnTaxes or deductions column, usually prefixed with the state code — CASDI, NYSDI, NJ TDI and similar.

Only a small number of states operate such a programme, so this line is absent from most stubs in the country. Where it exists it is typically a flat percentage of wages, sometimes up to an annual ceiling, and it is separate from any employer-provided short-term disability policy, which would appear as its own benefit deduction. The premium is not workers' compensation: that covers work-related injury and is employer-funded.

State note: Only a few states run an employee-paid disability programme, and the rate and ceiling differ in each — see your state page.

• SUI
• SUTA
• SUI-EE
• State Unemployment Tax
• UI Tax

State unemployment insurance funds a state's unemployment benefits. It is an employer tax in most states, with a small number also requiring an employee contribution.

Taxes columnUsually absent from the employee deductions column. Where an employee share exists it shows as SUI or SUI-EE in the taxes column.

Employer rates are experience-rated, meaning they move with a company's claims history, which is why two employers in the same state pay different rates on the same wages. The employee share, where a state has one, is generally a small flat percentage up to an annual wage ceiling. Because most employees never see this line, its appearance is often mistaken for an error when it is simply a feature of that state's system.

State note: Only a few states require an employee unemployment contribution — see your state page before assuming the line belongs there.

• PFML
• PFL
• FLI
• WAPFML
• Family Leave Insurance
• Paid Leave Premium

Paid family and medical leave is a state programme that pays partial wages during family or medical leave, funded in several states by an employee premium.

Taxes columnTaxes or deductions column, prefixed with the state code — for example WA PFML, NY PFL or NJ FLI.

These programmes are recent and state-specific, so the line exists in some states and not in others, and the split between employer and employee funding differs between them. The premium is separate from both the federal job-protection right and any employer-provided disability cover, though a single absence can draw on all three. Where a state also runs a disability programme, the two premiums usually appear as adjacent but distinct rows.

State note: Programme existence, premium rate and the employer/employee split are all state specific — see your state page.

• MUNC
• LOCAL
• CITY TAX
• LIT
• Local Income Tax
• LST
• EIT
• OPT
• Occupational Tax
• Local Withholding

Local tax is withholding for a city, county, school district or other local authority. It exists only in certain states and often only in certain places within them.

Taxes columnTaxes column, below the state rows, usually named after the jurisdiction — for example a city name, EIT, LST or OPT.

Local levies take several different shapes: a percentage of wages, a flat amount per period, or a tax split between where someone lives and where they work. Pennsylvania and Ohio produce the most complicated stubs in this respect, because residence and work jurisdictions can both levy and a credit mechanism reconciles them. Moving house without telling payroll is the most common reason a local line is wrong, since the rate often follows the home address rather than the workplace.

State note: Local taxes exist in a minority of states and vary municipality by municipality — see your state page.

• WC
• WORK COMP
• Workers Comp
• WC Premium

Workers' compensation is insurance covering work-related injury and illness. It is an employer cost in almost every state, so it normally does not appear as an employee deduction.

Employer / employee blockGenerally not in the employee deductions column. It may appear in an employer-cost panel or on a payroll register.

Premiums are set by the employer's industry classification and claims history, and they are paid to a state fund or a private insurer depending on the state. A very small number of states permit a limited employee contribution, which is the only circumstance in which a deduction line is expected. Workers' compensation covers injury arising from work; a state disability programme covers the opposite case, which is why some stubs carry one, some the other, and some neither.

State note: Whether any employee contribution is permitted is a state-law question — see your state page.

• State W-4
• DE 4
• IT-2104
• State Withholding Form
• State Tax Form

A state withholding certificate is the state's equivalent of the federal W-4. It sets the filing details the state income tax line is calculated from.

Employer / employee blockNot a line of its own. Its entries drive the state income tax row and may be summarised in the employer / employee block.

Some states accept the federal form, some require their own, and some still use the allowance model the federal form abandoned. That is why a stub can show one filing status for federal purposes and a different one for state purposes without anything being wrong. A missing state certificate usually causes payroll to withhold at a default rate, which is often higher than the rate the person's circumstances would produce.

State note: Which form applies, and whether allowances are still used, is set by each state — see your state page.

• Reciprocal Agreement
• Tax Reciprocity
• Reciprocal State

A reciprocity agreement lets a worker who lives in one state and works in another be taxed only by their home state. It removes the work state's withholding line.

Taxes columnNot a line of its own. Its effect is a state tax row for the residence state and none for the work state.

Agreements exist only between specific pairs of states and have to be claimed with a form filed with the employer — they are not applied automatically. Without the form, payroll usually withholds for the work state, and the resident state's credit mechanism sorts it out on the annual return instead. Reciprocity generally covers state income tax only, so a local or municipal tax in the work jurisdiction can still apply.

State note: Reciprocity exists only between particular state pairs and must be claimed — see both states' pages.

• States With No Income Tax
• No State Tax
• Tax-Free States

A small group of states levy no income tax on wages. Stubs from those states show a blank or absent state withholding row.

Taxes columnVisible as an absence: no state income tax row in the taxes column, while federal rows are unaffected.

A blank state line does not mean a short deductions column. Federal income tax and both FICA lines are unchanged, and several of these states still run payroll levies of their own — a paid-leave premium, a long-term care premium or an employee unemployment contribution — which appear as separate rows. The absence also does not extend to local taxes, which are a separate layer with their own geography.

State note: Which states levy no wage income tax, and what they levy instead, changes over time — see your state page for the current position.

• SD TAX
• SDIT
• School Tax
• School District Income Tax

School district tax is a local income tax levied by a school district rather than a city. It exists in a small number of states and only in districts that have adopted it.

Taxes columnTaxes column, below the state and city rows, usually carrying the district name or number.

The levy generally follows the residence address, not the workplace, so two colleagues doing identical work at the same site can show different district rows or none at all. Because adoption is district by district, a move of a few streets can change the line. Payroll needs the correct district code to withhold accurately, which makes this one of the lines most often wrong after a house move.

State note: School district income taxes exist in a few states and only in adopting districts — see your state page.

• PRETAX
• Pre Tax
• Section 125
• Cafeteria Plan
• Before-Tax Deduction

A pre-tax deduction comes out of gross pay before tax is calculated, so it lowers the wages the tax lines are computed on.

Deductions columnDeductions column, usually grouped above the post-tax items and sometimes flagged with an asterisk or a 'PT' marker.

Which taxes a pre-tax line reduces depends on what it is. A cafeteria-plan health premium generally reduces federal income tax wages and FICA wages both; a traditional retirement deferral reduces income tax wages but not FICA wages. States do not all follow the federal treatment, so a line can be pre-tax federally and taxable at state level. That is the mechanical reason the wage boxes on an annual statement disagree with each other and with year-to-date gross.

• POST
• After-Tax Deduction
• VOL DED
• Voluntary Deduction
• Post Tax

A post-tax deduction is taken after every tax has been calculated. It reduces net pay without reducing any taxable-wage figure.

Deductions columnDeductions column, normally below the pre-tax group and the tax rows.

Union dues, Roth contributions, charitable payroll giving, most disability premiums and garnishments all sit here. Two identical dollar amounts, one pre-tax and one post-tax, produce different net pay from the same gross — which is why the placement of a line in the column matters more than its size. Where an employer offers a benefit both ways, the stub is the clearest place to see which election is actually in force.

• MED INS
• HLTH
• Medical Premium
• Health Premium
• Medical Insurance

The health insurance line is the employee's share of the medical plan premium. The employer's share is larger in most plans and does not appear in the deductions column.

Deductions columnDeductions column, usually the first of the benefit rows, often grouped with dental and vision.

Where the premium runs through a cafeteria plan it is deducted pre-tax, which lowers both income tax and FICA wages and makes the true cost of the benefit lower than the deducted amount. Mid-year changes to the deduction usually follow a plan-year renewal, a change in coverage tier, or a qualifying life event rather than a payroll error. During unpaid leave the premium normally continues, which can leave a period with a deduction larger than the pay available to take it from.

• DEN
• DENT
• Dental Premium
• Dental Plan

The dental insurance line is the employee's share of a dental plan premium, deducted per pay period and usually elected separately from medical cover.

Deductions columnDeductions column, immediately after the medical premium row.

Dental is normally a small, stable deduction, which makes it a useful reference point when checking whether a change elsewhere in the column is real. Like medical cover it is commonly run through a cafeteria plan and therefore deducted pre-tax. Because the election is separate, dropping medical cover does not automatically drop dental, and stubs frequently show one without the other.

• VIS
• Vision Premium
• Vision Plan

The vision insurance line is the employee's share of a vision plan premium — typically the smallest of the three standard health benefit deductions.

Deductions columnDeductions column, grouped with the medical and dental premium rows.

Vision cover is elected separately from medical and dental and is frequently offered at a low enough premium that employees forget it is running. It is usually deducted pre-tax under the same cafeteria plan as the other health lines. A vision deduction continuing after other health lines have stopped generally means only that one election was cancelled.

• HSA
• Health Savings
• HSA Contribution

A health savings account is a pre-tax savings account paired with a high-deductible health plan. Payroll contributions appear as a deduction and the balance rolls over year to year.

Deductions columnDeductions column, grouped with the other pre-tax benefit rows, often labelled HSA or HSA EE.

The account is only available alongside a qualifying high-deductible plan, so the deduction normally appears next to a medical premium of a particular type. Contributions made through payroll under a cafeteria plan generally reduce both income tax wages and FICA wages, which distinguishes them from a traditional retirement deferral. Employer contributions to the same account are usually shown separately as employer money rather than as a deduction. Annual contribution limits apply and are reset each year.

• FSA
• DCFSA
• HCFSA
• Flex Spending
• Dependent Care FSA

A flexible spending account holds pre-tax money for eligible health or dependent-care costs. Unlike a health savings account, unused funds are generally forfeited at year end.

Deductions columnDeductions column with the other pre-tax benefit rows, often as two separate lines for health care and dependent care.

The annual election is divided evenly across the year's pay periods, which is why the deduction is a constant amount and why changing it mid-year is restricted to qualifying events. Health care and dependent care accounts have different annual limits and different rules, so they are tracked separately even where the stub abbreviates both to FSA. Limited carry-over or grace periods exist in some plans, but the general rule remains use it or lose it.

• HRA
• Reimbursement Arrangement

A health reimbursement arrangement is funded entirely by the employer to reimburse eligible medical costs. Because the employee contributes nothing, it rarely appears as a deduction.

Deductions columnUsually absent from the deductions column. Where shown at all it sits in an employer-contribution panel.

The arrangement is the employer's money, so there is nothing to withhold and nothing to show in the deductions column. Confusion with a savings or spending account is common because the abbreviations look alike, but the funding direction is the opposite. Some plan designs pair an employer arrangement with an employee-funded account, in which case only the employee-funded side produces a deduction line.

• 401K
• RET
• 401K-EE
• Retirement Deferral
• 401k Contribution

A 401(k) deduction is an employee's contribution to an employer retirement plan. A traditional contribution is deferred before income tax is calculated.

Deductions columnDeductions column, often labelled 401K, RET or 401K-EE, sometimes with the percentage elected in the description.

A traditional deferral lowers federal taxable wages but not Social Security or Medicare wages, which is why the income tax row falls when a deferral starts while the two FICA rows do not move at all. That asymmetry is the clearest worked demonstration of how the wage bases differ. Annual deferral limits apply and reset each January, and contributions elected as a percentage move automatically with gross pay, which is why the deduction changes in a period with overtime or a bonus.

• ROTH
• 401K-R
• Roth Deferral
• Roth Contribution

A Roth 401(k) contribution goes into the same employer plan as a traditional deferral but is taken after tax, so it does not reduce taxable wages.

Deductions columnDeductions column, adjacent to any traditional deferral row and usually below the tax rows.

Because the money is taxed on the way in, a Roth election produces a visibly lower net pay than a traditional deferral of the same size — the amount deducted is identical, but no tax relief accompanies it. The two contribution types share a single annual employee limit, so splitting between them does not double the allowance. Employer matching money is typically directed to the traditional side of the plan regardless of how the employee's own contribution is elected.

• 403B
• 457
• 457B
• TSA Deferral
• Tax-Sheltered Annuity

403(b) and 457(b) plans are the non-profit, education and government equivalents of a 401(k). Deductions behave the same way on a stub.

Deductions columnDeductions column, labelled with the plan section number, sometimes alongside a second plan row.

The everyday mechanics match a 401(k): a traditional contribution reduces income tax wages but not FICA wages, and a designated Roth option reduces neither. The plans differ in their withdrawal rules and, importantly, in how their limits interact — an employee offered both a 403(b) and a 457(b) may be able to contribute to each under separate limits, which is why two deferral rows can appear on a single public-sector stub.

• IRA
• SIMPLE IRA
• SEP IRA
• Payroll Deduction IRA

These are individual retirement arrangements that can be funded through payroll. SIMPLE and SEP plans are small-employer arrangements; a payroll-deduction IRA is simply an employee's own account funded by deduction.

Deductions columnDeductions column, labelled with the plan type, usually a single row.

The tax treatment on the stub varies by arrangement. A SIMPLE IRA salary reduction behaves much like a 401(k) deferral, reducing income tax wages but not FICA wages. A plain payroll-deduction IRA is normally taken after tax, with any deduction claimed on the annual return instead. SEP contributions are usually employer money and so produce no deduction line at all. The abbreviations are close enough that the plan name in the row description is the only reliable guide.

• ER Match
• Co Match
• Company Match
• Employer Contribution

The employer match is money the employer adds to a retirement plan. It is shown for information and is never deducted from pay.

Employer / employee blockA separate employer-contribution panel or a memo line, deliberately outside the deductions column.

Because the match is not a deduction and not taxable wages in the period, it belongs to neither the earnings nor the deductions total and does not affect net pay. Match formulas are usually expressed as a percentage of pay up to a ceiling, so the figure moves with gross and stops once the ceiling is reached for the year. A match that appears smaller than expected often reflects a vesting schedule or a per-period rather than annual ceiling.

• GTL
• LIFE
• Imputed Life
• Group Life
• Life Insurance Premium

Group term life is employer-provided life cover. Above a set amount of cover the value of the employer-paid portion becomes taxable income, which appears without any money changing hands.

Deductions columnTwo possible places: a small deduction for any employee-paid cover, and an imputed income row in earnings for the taxable value of employer-paid cover.

The imputed income row is the confusing part. Cover above the statutory threshold has a value that has to be taxed, so payroll adds that value to taxable wages, withholds on it, then removes it again so it does not reach the bank. The net effect is a small reduction in take-home pay with no visible deduction of the same size. The value is calculated from an age-banded table rather than from the actual premium, so it rises as an employee gets older even when the cover does not change.

• ER
• Medical ER
• MED ER
• HLTH ER
• DNTL ER
• VIS ER
• HSA ER
• Employer Paid
• Company Paid Benefit

A line ending in ER shows what the employer paid toward a benefit, such as its share of a health, dental or vision premium or its HSA contribution. EE marks the employee's own share.

Deductions columnBenefits or memo section, or an employer-paid column beside the deductions; it is information only and is not taken from pay.

An ER line does not reduce net pay: the employer pays it on top of wages, and the stub shows it so the full cost of the benefit is visible. The matching EE line, where there is one, is the amount actually deducted. The total cost of employer-sponsored health coverage is reported on the W-2 in Box 12 with code DD, and employer contributions to an HSA in Box 12 with code W.

• STD
• STD-EE
• Short Term Disability Premium

Short-term disability is insurance that replaces part of an employee's income for a limited period of non-work illness or injury. The employee's premium share appears as a deduction.

Deductions columnDeductions column, usually below the health benefit rows and typically after tax.

Whether the premium is taken before or after tax has a consequence that only shows up much later: where the premium was paid with after-tax money, the benefit paid out is generally not taxable, and where it was paid pre-tax the benefit generally is. This is separate from any state disability programme, which is a statutory levy rather than an employer benefit, and separate again from workers' compensation, which covers work-related injury.

• LTD
• LTD-EE
• Long Term Disability Premium

Long-term disability insurance replaces part of an employee's income for extended disability, usually starting where short-term cover ends.

Deductions columnDeductions column, adjacent to any short-term disability row.

The premium is normally small relative to the cover, because the benefit only begins after a long waiting period. As with short-term cover, the pre-tax or post-tax treatment of the premium determines whether a future benefit payment would be taxable. Employers often pay for a base level of cover and offer a buy-up, in which case only the buy-up produces a deduction line.

• GARN
• WAGE GARN
• Wage Garnishment
• Levy
• Wage Attachment

A garnishment is an amount an employer is legally required to withhold from pay and send to a third party, under a court order or an agency notice.

Deductions columnDeductions column, after the tax rows, usually with a case or order reference in the description.

Garnishments are taken after tax, and federal rules cap how much of disposable earnings can be taken, with state rules sometimes capping it further at the more protective level. Where several orders exist there is a priority sequence, and support orders generally rank ahead of commercial debts. The employer has no discretion in the matter: the amount, the recipient and the start and stop dates all come from the order, so questions about a garnishment usually have to go to the issuing court or agency rather than to payroll.

State note: State garnishment caps and exemptions can be more protective than the federal limit — see your state page.

• CHLD SUP
• CS
• IWO
• Income Withholding Order
• Support Order

Child support withheld through payroll comes from an income withholding order. It is a garnishment with its own priority and its own limits.

Deductions columnDeductions column, after tax, usually with a case number and sometimes a small processing fee on the same or an adjacent row.

Support orders take priority over most other garnishments when disposable earnings will not cover everything, and the permitted withholding percentage is higher than for commercial debt. Employers in most states may also retain a small administrative fee, which is why the deducted total can slightly exceed the ordered amount. Changes to the order come from the issuing agency, not from the employer, so a stub showing the wrong amount is normally corrected upstream.

State note: Administrative fees and remittance rules are set state by state — see your state page.

• UNION
• DUES
• UN-D
• Union Deduction
• Membership Dues

Union dues are membership payments deducted from pay under a checkoff authorisation. They are taken after tax.

Deductions columnDeductions column, below the tax rows, often as a flat amount or a percentage of gross.

Deduction requires a signed authorisation from the employee; the employer collects and remits rather than deciding the amount. Dues are frequently calculated as a percentage of gross, which means the deduction moves in periods with overtime or a bonus. Initiation fees and assessments occasionally appear as separate one-off rows alongside the regular dues line.

• LOAN
• 401K LOAN
• Plan Loan
• Employer Loan Repayment

A loan repayment line recovers an outstanding loan — most often a loan taken against a retirement plan balance — through fixed per-period deductions.

Deductions columnDeductions column, after tax, usually as a constant amount with the loan reference in the description.

Retirement plan loan repayments are made with after-tax money and go back into the employee's own account, which makes the line unlike any other deduction: the money is not leaving, it is returning. The amount is fixed by the loan schedule rather than by a percentage of pay, so it does not move with gross. Repayments normally stop automatically when the balance is cleared, and a line continuing past that point is worth querying.

• CHAR
• UW
• United Way
• Payroll Giving
• Charity Deduction

A charitable contribution deduction is voluntary payroll giving. It is taken after tax and remitted by the employer to the nominated organisation.

Deductions columnDeductions column, after tax, often with the charity or campaign name in the description.

Because the money is taken after tax, the contribution has no effect on any taxable-wage figure on the stub, and any tax treatment of the gift is handled on the annual return instead. The year-to-date figure on this row is the useful one, since it is the record of what was given across the year. Campaign pledges are usually divided evenly across the remaining pay periods, so the amount changes at the start of each campaign year.

• ADV
• DRAW
• Pay Advance
• Advance Recovery
• Draw Against Commission

An advance or draw recovery deduction recoups money the employer paid ahead of it being earned, usually a pay advance or a commission draw.

Deductions columnDeductions column, after tax, frequently paired with an earlier earnings row that issued the advance.

The advance itself is generally paid as wages and taxed when issued, so the recovery is taken from after-tax pay to avoid taxing the same money twice. With a commission draw the pattern repeats each cycle: a draw is advanced, commission is earned, and the draw is recovered from it. Because recoveries reduce net pay directly, several states restrict how much can be recouped in a single period and require written authorisation.

State note: Limits on recovering advances from a single paycheque are set at state level — see your state page.

• UNIF
• EQUIP
• Uniform Deduction
• Tool Deduction

A uniform or equipment deduction charges an employee for work clothing, tools or equipment supplied by the employer.

Deductions columnDeductions column, after tax, usually as a small one-off or short-series amount.

This is the most heavily restricted category of voluntary deduction. Federal rules prevent such a deduction from taking pay below the minimum wage for the hours worked, and several states go further by limiting or prohibiting the charge outright or by requiring written consent. Deposits for returnable equipment are sometimes deducted and then refunded on return, which produces a matching credit row later.

State note: Permissible uniform and equipment deductions differ sharply by state — see your state page.

• IMP INC
• IMP
• Taxable Fringe
• Imputed Earnings

Imputed income is the taxable value of a non-cash benefit. It is added to taxable wages so it can be withheld on, then removed so it never reaches the bank.

Earnings blockEarnings block as an addition, with an equal and opposite removal further down, so gross rises but net does not.

Employer-paid life cover above the statutory threshold, personal use of a company vehicle and benefits provided to a non-dependent partner are the usual sources. The give-and-take pattern is deliberate: tax has to be calculated on the value, so the value must pass through the wage base, but no cash is owed so it is netted out. The visible effect is a small drop in take-home pay with no deduction of matching size, and a year-to-date gross that exceeds the cash actually received.

• FRINGE
• FB
• Taxable Benefit
• Non-Cash Benefit

A fringe benefit is something of value provided in addition to wages. Some fringe benefits are excluded from taxable wages and some are not.

Earnings blockEarnings block where the benefit is taxable, as an imputed value. Excluded benefits generally do not appear at all.

The dividing line is what makes this term worth knowing: certain benefits are specifically excluded from wages, while anything outside those categories is valued and taxed. Personal use of a company car, gym memberships and certain gift cards typically fall on the taxable side. Because the value is added to wages rather than paid, a taxable fringe raises gross, raises the tax lines and lowers net, all without a deduction row of its own.

• REIMB
• EXP
• Expense Repayment
• Non-Taxable Reimbursement

An expense reimbursement repays an employee for money they spent on the employer's behalf. Under an accountable plan it is not wages and is not taxed.

Earnings blockUsually a separate memo row near net pay, deliberately outside the taxable earnings total.

The placement is the point: because the money is a repayment rather than pay, it must not enter the wage base or it would be taxed twice over. That only holds where the arrangement requires substantiation and the return of any excess. Where it does not, the payment becomes taxable wages and moves up into the earnings block. A reimbursement appearing inside gross rather than beside net is therefore worth a question.

• MILE
• MLG
• Mileage
• Mileage Allowance

Mileage reimbursement repays business driving at a rate per mile. Paid at or below the standard rate under an accountable plan, it is not taxable wages.

Earnings blockMemo row beside net pay, added to the payment without entering the taxable earnings total.

Where an employer pays above the standard rate, the excess is treated as taxable wages and moves into the earnings block, which is why some stubs show the same trip split across two rows. Commuting between home and a regular workplace is not business driving and is not reimbursable on this basis. The standard rate is reset periodically, so the per-mile figure on an older stub will not match a current one.

• 3PSP
• TPSP
• Third Party Sick Pay
• Insured Sick Pay

Third-party sick pay is wage replacement paid by an insurer rather than the employer. It still has to be reported, so it appears on payroll records even though the employer did not pay it.

Earnings blockEarnings block as a distinctly labelled row, often with unusual or partial tax rows beside it.

Because the money comes from an insurer, the withholding arrangements are frequently split — the insurer may withhold some taxes and the employer report the rest, which is why the tax rows on such a stub can look incomplete. Whether the payment is taxable at all depends on who paid the premium and with what kind of money: employer-paid or pre-tax premiums generally produce taxable benefits, and after-tax employee premiums generally do not. A separate annual statement is sometimes issued for these amounts.

• TRN
• PRK
• TRANSIT
• PARKING
• Transit Benefit
• Parking Benefit
• Qualified Transportation Benefit

A commuter benefit is a pre-tax deduction for transit passes or work parking, shown as TRN for transit and PRK for parking.

Deductions columnDeductions column, among the pre-tax deductions above the tax rows.

Money set aside for qualified transit or parking is taken out before income tax and payroll taxes, up to a monthly limit the IRS sets each year, so it lowers taxable wages. The deduction usually repeats every pay period at the amount the employee elected. Unused balances and the rules for changing the election depend on the employer's plan.

• ESPP
• Stock Purchase
• ESPP Contribution
• Employee Stock Plan

An ESPP deduction is money withheld from pay, after tax, to buy company shares later at the discount the plan sets.

Deductions columnDeductions column, with the after-tax deductions below the tax rows.

The employee chooses a percentage or amount, it is collected from each paycheck during an offering period, and the shares are bought on the purchase date. Because the contribution comes out after tax, it does not lower taxable wages on the stub. Any tax on the discount is handled when the shares are bought or later sold, not in the regular paycheck deduction.

• EIN
• FEIN
• Federal Tax ID
• Employer Tax ID

An Employer Identification Number is the federal identifier assigned to a business for tax purposes. It ties the payroll on a stub to the employer's federal filings.

Employer / employee blockEmployer block at the top of the stub, beside or beneath the employer name and address. Many layouts omit it entirely.

The number is nine digits, conventionally printed with a hyphen after the first two. It is the employer's identifier, not the employee's, and it is not confidential in the way a Social Security number is — it appears on annual wage statements and on many public filings. Not every stub shows it, because no federal rule requires a stub to carry it; where it is missing, the annual wage statement is the reliable place to find it.

• SEAN
• State Employer ID
• State Account Number
• State Tax ID

A state employer account number identifies the employer to a state's revenue or labour agency for withholding and unemployment purposes.

Employer / employee blockEmployer block, where shown at all, usually alongside the federal identifier.

An employer operating in several states holds a separate number in each, and often two per state — one for income tax withholding and one for unemployment insurance. The numbers appear on state filings rather than on most stubs, so their absence from a stub is entirely normal. Where a stub does show one, it confirms which state the wages are being reported to, which is useful on a multi-state assignment.

State note: Numbering formats and which agencies issue them differ by state — see your state page.

• Emp ID
• Emp No
• File No
• Employee Number
• Payroll ID

An employee ID is the employer's internal identifier for a worker. It is used instead of a Social Security number wherever an identifier is needed on payroll paperwork.

Employer / employee blockEmployee block at the top of the stub, next to the name and often beside the masked Social Security number.

The format is entirely the employer's choice, from a short sequential number to a long system-generated code. Because it is internal, it has no meaning outside that employer and does not follow a worker to a new job. Its practical use is as the reference to quote when contacting payroll about a stub, since it identifies the record without exposing personal identifiers.

• DEPT
• CC
• Cost Centre
• Department Code
• Home Department

The department or cost centre field records which part of the business the labour is charged to. It is an accounting attribution, not a pay calculation.

Employer / employee blockEmployee block near the top, as a code or short name, sometimes repeated per earnings row.

Where an employee works across several areas, the earnings block can carry a separate row per cost centre so that each area is charged for its own hours. The field drives internal reporting and has no effect on gross pay, tax or net pay. It can, however, be the reason a stub shows several rows at an identical rate where one would do.

• Job Code
• Job Class
• Position Code
• Pay Class

The job title or class field records the role a worker is paid under. In some industries the class code also determines the rate or the insurance category applied.

Employer / employee blockEmployee block, often abbreviated to a code rather than a readable title.

In construction and public-works payrolls the class code can be load-bearing, because prevailing-wage schedules set a different rate for each classification and a worker can move between classes within a single period. Elsewhere it is descriptive only. A worker paid at two classes in one period will normally see two earnings rows, each carrying its own class and rate.

• EXE
• NON-EX
• FLSA Status
• Non-Exempt Employee
• Exempt Employee
• Non Exempt

Exempt and non-exempt describe whether federal overtime rules apply to a role. Non-exempt workers are entitled to the overtime premium; exempt workers are not.

Employer / employee blockEmployee block as a status flag where it is shown at all, and indirectly in whether an overtime row can appear.

The classification does not follow from being salaried. It turns on a combination of how someone is paid, how much they are paid, and what they actually do day to day — the duties test being the part most often misapplied. A salaried worker who does not meet the duties test is non-exempt and earns the premium like anyone else. Because misclassification is a live compliance issue, some payroll systems print the status on the stub so it is visible rather than buried in a record.

State note: Some states apply their own salary thresholds and duties tests, which can be stricter than the federal ones — see your state page.

• Form W-4
• Employee's Withholding Certificate
• W4
• Withholding Certificate

Form W-4 is the certificate an employee files with an employer to set federal income tax withholding. Its entries drive the federal tax line on every stub.

Employer / employee blockNot a line of its own. Its filing status and adjustments may be summarised in the employee block.

The current form works in dollar amounts — dependants, other income, extra deductions and any additional per-period withholding — rather than the allowance count it used before 2020, which is why older guidance about 'claiming allowances' no longer maps onto the form. Payroll applies whatever is on file and does not update it when circumstances change, so a stale form is the most common explanation for withholding that no longer fits. A W-4 is filed with the employer, not with any agency.

• Masked SSN
• Truncated SSN
• Social Security Number
• XXX-XX-1234

A masked Social Security number shows only the last four digits. Payroll systems truncate it so the stub can identify the record without exposing the full number.

Employer / employee blockEmployee block beside the name, printed as asterisks or Xs followed by four digits.

Truncation on pay stubs has become the default practice and is mandatory in several states. The employee ID is generally the safer reference to quote when contacting payroll, since it is meaningless outside the employer. A stub printing a full Social Security number is a reason to raise the matter with the employer, particularly if stubs are distributed by email or left in shared trays.

State note: Several states require truncation of Social Security numbers on wage statements — see your state page.

• YTD
• Year to Date
• YTD Gross
• YTD Net
• Cumulative Total

Year-to-date figures are running totals from 1 January through the current pay date. Nearly every row on a stub carries one alongside the current-period amount.

YTD columnThe second numeric column, running the full height of the stub beside the current-period column.

The totals run on the calendar year and on the pay date, not on when the work was done — a period worked in late December but paid in January belongs to the new year. Each row's total is independent, so year-to-date gross, tax and net all advance by different amounts. This column is also the fastest way to check a stub against an annual wage statement, though the two will not match line for line: the annual statement reports taxable wages after pre-tax deductions, while year-to-date gross reports everything earned.

• PP
• Period Beginning
• Period Ending
• Pay Cycle
• Work Period

The pay period is the window of work the stub is paying for, shown as a start and end date. It is distinct from the date the money arrives.

Employer / employee blockHeader of the stub, near the pay date, as a pair of dates labelled beginning and ending.

The gap between the period end and the pay date is the processing lag, commonly a few days to a fortnight, and it is why a raise agreed on the first of a month does not appear in that month's first payment. Overtime is tested against each workweek inside the period rather than against the period as a whole, so a fortnightly stub applies the test twice. Corrections for an earlier period appear in the current one as retroactive pay rather than by restating the old stub.

• Check Date
• Pay Dt
• Payment Date
• Cheque Date

The pay date is the day the funds are issued. It determines which tax year and which quarter the payment is reported in.

Employer / employee blockHeader of the stub, usually beside or below the pay period dates.

Reporting follows the pay date, not the work date, which is the rule behind most year-boundary confusion: a period worked in December but paid in January lands entirely in the new year's totals and on the new year's annual statement. It also determines which year's tax rates apply. Where a pay date falls on a weekend or holiday, employers commonly move it earlier, which can put an extra payment into a calendar year.

• Weekly
• Bi-Weekly
• Biweekly
• Semi-Monthly
• Semimonthly
• Monthly
• Pay Schedule

Pay frequency is how often wages are paid — weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly or monthly. It sets the number of pay periods in a year and therefore the size of each payment.

Employer / employee blockHeader or employee block, sometimes stated directly and sometimes implied by the period dates.

Biweekly and semi-monthly are the pair people most often confuse. Biweekly means every two weeks and produces twenty-six payments a year; semi-monthly means twice a month and produces twenty-four. The same salary therefore produces different per-period amounts under the two, and a biweekly schedule delivers two months a year with three payments. Frequency also feeds the withholding calculation, because payroll annualises the period's wages before applying the tables.

State note: Minimum pay frequency is set by state law and can differ by industry — see your state page.

• CHK NO
• Adv No
• Voucher No
• Cheque Number
• Advice Number

The check number identifies an individual payment. On a direct deposit it is usually an advice or voucher number rather than a bank cheque number.

Employer / employee blockHeader of the stub or beside the net pay figure, as a short sequential number.

The number is the reference payroll uses to trace a specific payment, which makes it the most useful thing to quote when a payment is missing or duplicated. Because a direct deposit has no physical cheque, payroll systems issue a parallel sequence of advice numbers so every payment still has an identifier. Numbers are not always strictly sequential per employee, since the sequence generally runs across the whole payroll.

• CUR
• Current Column
• This Period
• Current and YTD

Most stub rows carry two numbers: the amount for this period and the running total for the year. The two-column layout is the basic grammar of the document.

YTD columnAcross the whole stub — every earnings, tax and deduction row normally has both.

Reading the wrong column is the most common misreading of a pay stub, and it is easiest to do on the tax rows, where the year total dwarfs the period amount. The current column should reconcile within itself — earnings minus deductions and taxes equals net — while the year column reconciles only across the year. Where a stub carries a third column it is usually a quarter-to-date or a prior-year figure, which is worth checking before comparing anything.

• QTD
• Quarter to Date
• Quarterly Total

Quarter-to-date figures are running totals for the current calendar quarter. They appear mainly on stubs from systems oriented around quarterly employer filings.

YTD columnA third numeric column where present, between the current-period and year-to-date columns.

Employers file and deposit payroll taxes on a quarterly cycle, so the quarter total is the figure that reconciles to those filings. The column resets four times a year, which means a quarter-to-date figure that looks unexpectedly small in April or July is simply a new quarter beginning. Most private-sector stubs omit the column entirely.

• Paystub
• Pay Slip
• Payslip
• Check Stub
• Earnings Statement
• Wage Statement
• Paycheck Stub

A pay stub is the statement that accompanies a payment of wages, setting out what was earned, what was withheld and what was paid.

Employer / employee blockThe document itself — everything else in this glossary is a field on it.

There is no single federal template, so layouts differ considerably between payroll systems while the underlying structure stays constant: an identity block, an earnings block, a deductions and taxes column, and a net pay total, each with a current and a year-to-date figure. Most states require employers to furnish a wage statement and specify what it must contain, which is why stubs from different states carry different mandatory fields. The stub is a record of a payment; it is not itself the payment, and it is not an official government document.

State note: Whether a stub must be provided, in what form, and what it must contain are all set by state law — see your state page.

• DD
• EFT
• ACH
• Electronic Deposit
• Direct Deposit Distribution

Direct deposit is electronic payment of wages into a bank account. Where it is used, the stub shows the distribution and the cheque amount is zero.

Employer / employee blockA distribution panel near net pay, listing each account by masked number with the amount sent to it.

Employees can usually split pay across several accounts, either by fixed amount or by percentage, which is why the panel can carry more than one row. The rows should sum exactly to net pay; a shortfall usually means an account was rejected and the remainder issued another way. Because the payment is electronic there is no physical cheque, so the document is strictly an advice rather than a negotiable instrument.

• Direct Deposit Advice
• Advice of Deposit
• Non-Negotiable
• Pay Advice

A deposit advice is the stub issued alongside a direct deposit. It is marked non-negotiable because there is no cheque to cash.

Employer / employee blockThe document itself, usually carrying a 'non-negotiable' or 'this is not a cheque' notice across the payment area.

The notice exists because the layout descends from a cheque-and-stub format, and the top portion where a cheque would sit is now void. The advice contains the same earnings, deductions and year-to-date detail as any other stub. Some layouts print a zero-value cheque facsimile above the advice, which is cosmetic rather than meaningful.

• W2
• W-2
• Wage and Tax Statement
• Annual Wage Statement

Form W-2 is the annual statement of wages and withholding an employer issues to each employee and files with the authorities. It summarises a year of stubs.

YTD columnA separate annual document, not a field on the stub. The stub's year-to-date column is what feeds it.

The wage boxes on the annual statement report taxable wages after pre-tax deductions, so they normally sit below the year-to-date gross on the final stub of the year — and the federal, Social Security and Medicare boxes can each differ from one another for the same reason. Amounts are assigned by pay date, so a period worked in December and paid in January belongs to the following year's statement. Reconciling the two documents is a matter of accounting for the pre-tax lines rather than expecting the totals to match.

• 1099
• 1099-NEC
• NEC
• Nonemployee Compensation

Form 1099-NEC reports payments to an independent contractor. Contractors are not employees, so no tax is withheld and no pay stub is issued.

Employer / employee blockA separate annual document. The absence of a pay stub is the point of difference.

Because nothing is withheld, a contractor receives the gross amount and handles their own tax, including both halves of Social Security and Medicare as self-employment tax. There is no employer deductions column to read, which is why contractors frequently keep their own earnings records instead. Whether a worker is genuinely a contractor is a legal test based on the reality of the working relationship, not on which form an engager chooses to issue.

• W9
• W-9
• Request for Taxpayer Identification Number

Form W-9 is how a business collects a contractor's taxpayer identification number so it can issue the correct annual information return.

Employer / employee blockNot on a stub at all. It is the contractor-side counterpart of the W-4 an employee files.

The form is given to the engaging business, not filed with any agency, and it simply supplies a name, a classification and a taxpayer number. Where a contractor does not provide one, the engager may be required to apply backup withholding to the payments — which is one of the few situations in which a contractor payment carries any withholding at all. The form is not an employment document and does not create an employment relationship.

• Register
• Payroll Journal
• Payroll Report

A payroll register is the employer's internal record of a pay run, listing every employee's earnings, deductions and taxes for the period on one report.

Employer / employee blockAn employer-side document, not something an employee normally receives.

The register carries information a stub does not, in particular the employer's own tax costs — its matching Social Security and Medicare, federal and state unemployment, and workers' compensation. That is where an employee's absent employer-side figures can be found. Because it covers everyone in the pay run, it is not shared with individual employees, and a request for one is normally answered with a copy of the individual's own stubs instead.

• VOE
• Verification of Employment
• Proof of Income Letter
• Employment Letter

An employment verification letter is a statement from an employer confirming employment details, issued on request. It is a different document from a pay stub.

Employer / employee blockIssued separately by an employer or its verification service. It is not part of the payroll run.

The letter typically confirms dates of employment, job title and sometimes pay, and it comes from the employer or from a third-party verification service the employer uses. A pay stub records a single payment; the letter speaks to the employment relationship as a whole. Requests for one usually go to human resources rather than payroll, and many larger employers route them entirely through an automated verification provider.