To find your federal pay stub online, log into the payroll portal your agency uses: myPay if you’re military or DoD civilian, the Employee Personal Page if you work for one of the agencies serviced by USDA’s National Finance Center, or Employee Express if you’re at one of the independent agencies and commissions that use it. All three give you the same document, a Leave and Earnings Statement (LES), and all three let you view, print, and download current and past statements once you’re signed in.
Which Portal Your Agency Uses
The federal government doesn’t run a single payroll system. Three shared-service providers handle pay for nearly every agency, so the first thing to figure out is which one processes yours.
myPay is run by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service and covers all military branches plus many Department of Defense civilian employees. It’s available around the clock and holds current and prior LES documents, tax statements, and other pay records.1Defense Finance and Accounting Service. myPay Information
The Employee Personal Page belongs to the National Finance Center, housed within USDA. NFC processes payroll for a large share of the executive branch, including Homeland Security, Treasury, Justice, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, HUD, and the FDIC.2National Finance Center. NFC Customer Board Members
Employee Express serves many independent agencies and smaller commissions. OPM keeps the current list of participating agencies, which includes GSA, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the EEOC, among others.3U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Federal Agencies Participating in Employee Express
Not sure which one is yours? Your HR or finance office can tell you in a sentence. The three portals look different but hold essentially the same pay information.
Logging In and Saving a Copy
Each portal requires multifactor authentication. Most federal employees sign in with a Common Access Card (CAC) or a Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card in a card reader; some systems also accept authentication apps that generate a one-time code. New hires usually get a temporary password or activation link through their government email during onboarding.
Once you’re in, look for a link labeled “Pay Statements,” “Leave and Earnings Statement,” or something close. You’ll see past pay periods sorted by date. Pick one, review the full breakdown, and use the print or download function to save a PDF. Keep copies on a secure personal device. You’ll want them for mortgage applications, tax preparation, and checking that deductions are correct.
Federal employees are paid biweekly, 26 pay periods a year. Each pay period ends on a Saturday, with payday the following Friday. In 2026, the first payday is January 7 and the cycle continues every two weeks through year-end.4GSA. 2026 Payroll Calendar When payday lands on a federal holiday, payment typically arrives the business day before.
Reading the Earnings Section
The top of the LES shows gross earnings before deductions. For most General Schedule employees, that’s two main pieces: base pay and locality pay. Base pay comes from the GS pay table for your grade and step. Locality pay is a percentage added on top for the higher cost of labor in certain geographic areas. Employees in the Washington, D.C. area or San Francisco receive a much higher locality adjustment than those in lower-cost regions. The LES lists these separately so you can see how your total salary breaks down.
Other earnings show up as their own lines when they apply: overtime, night differential, holiday premium pay, hazard pay, and bonuses. Each carries the hours worked (where applicable) and the dollar amount for that period.
Retirement Deductions
FERS Contributions
If you’re under the Federal Employees’ Retirement System, a percentage of your basic pay goes to your FERS pension each period. The rate depends on when you were first hired:
- Hired before 2013: 0.8% of basic pay
- Hired in 2013: 3.1% (FERS-RAE)
- Hired after 2013: 4.4% (FERS-FRAE)
Your LES labels this deduction “Retirement” or “FERS.”5Congressional Research Service. Increase in FERS Employee Contribution Requirements If you were hired before 1987 and are under the older Civil Service Retirement System, your contribution rate is 7% and appears under a separate label.
Thrift Savings Plan
TSP contributions appear as “TSP Traditional” or “TSP Roth,” or both if you split contributions. For 2026, the elective deferral limit is $24,500. If you were born between 1963 and 1966, putting you in the 60-to-63 age window, you qualify for an enhanced catch-up of $11,250 on top of that. Everyone else age 50 and older gets the standard $8,000 catch-up.6Thrift Savings Plan. Contribution Limits
FERS employees also see agency contributions on the LES. Your agency automatically puts in 1% of basic pay every period whether or not you contribute. It then matches your contributions dollar-for-dollar on the first 3% you put in, and 50 cents on the dollar for the next 2%. Contribute at least 5% of basic pay each period and you capture the full 5% agency contribution.7National Finance Center. Thrift Savings Plan
Tax Withholdings
Several tax deductions appear on every LES. The year-to-date column on the right side is worth watching as you approach annual limits.
- Federal income tax: withheld based on your W-4 elections (filing status, dependents, any additional amount you requested). It changes if you update your W-4 or get a pay adjustment.
- Social Security (OASDI): 6.2% of gross earnings up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500. Once you hit that cap for the year, Social Security withholding stops for the rest of the pay periods.8Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 751, Social Security and Medicare Withholding Rates
- Medicare (HI): 1.45% on all earnings with no wage cap.9Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base
- Additional Medicare Tax: an extra 0.9% once your earnings exceed $200,000 in a calendar year ($250,000 if married filing jointly). Your employer starts withholding it automatically when your wages cross $200,000, regardless of filing status.10Internal Revenue Service. Questions and Answers for the Additional Medicare Tax
- State and local taxes: if you live or work somewhere with an income tax, the withholding shows here. Some localities add their own taxes on separate lines.
Insurance Premiums
Federal Employees Health Benefits
Your FEHB deduction reflects the plan you picked and whether you enrolled as Self Only, Self Plus One, or Self and Family. The government pays up to 72% of the weighted average premium; the rest comes out of your pay.11U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Premiums FEHB premiums are typically deducted pre-tax, which reduces your taxable income.
Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance
Basic FEGLI costs $0.15 per $1,000 of insurance per biweekly period, with the government covering one-third of the total cost. Basic coverage equals your annual salary rounded up to the next $1,000, plus $2,000. If you elected any of the three optional coverages (additional employee, spousal, or child), those premiums appear as separate deductions and you pay them in full.12U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Federal Employees Group Life Insurance
Leave Balances
The bottom of the LES tracks annual leave and sick leave. Both show the balance carried forward, hours earned, hours used, and the new running balance.
Annual leave accrues by length of federal service:
- Under 3 years: 4 hours per pay period (13 days a year)
- 3 to 14 years: 6 hours per pay period (20 days a year)
- 15 or more years: 8 hours per pay period (26 days a year)
These rates come from federal statute.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 6303 – Annual Leave; Accrual Sick leave accrues at a flat 4 hours per pay period regardless of tenure. Unlike annual leave, sick leave has no use-it-or-lose-it cap, rolls over indefinitely, and can count toward your retirement annuity when you retire.
Watch the “use or lose” column as the year winds down. Most employees can carry over a maximum of 240 hours of annual leave. Anything above that at the end of the leave year is forfeited unless your agency approved a rare exception.
Garnishments and Allotments
Court-ordered garnishments appear in a separate deductions section. Federal pay is subject to garnishment for child support and alimony under the Consumer Credit Protection Act, with limits from 50% to 65% of disposable earnings depending on whether you support other dependents and whether you have arrears.14Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Frequently Asked Questions Garnishments for commercial debts and federal tax levies have separate, lower limits.
Voluntary allotments live here too: money you’ve directed somewhere other than your bank account, like Combined Federal Campaign contributions, union dues, or savings bond purchases. If you see a deduction you don’t recognize, check this section before contacting payroll.
If Something on Your Pay Stub Looks Wrong
Mistakes happen. Maybe your locality pay is wrong after a duty station transfer, a premium pay calculation didn’t process, or you were overpaid during a leave period. Start by contacting your agency’s payroll or HR office with documentation showing the discrepancy. Most clerical errors get corrected within one or two pay cycles once reported.
Overpayments are trickier. If the government pays you too much, it has the legal authority to collect the debt, usually by reducing future paychecks. Under federal law, you can request a waiver if collection would be against equity and good conscience and not in the government’s best interest.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 5584 – Claims for Overpayment of Pay and Allowances Waiver requests go to the agency that made the error and must be filed within three years of when the overpayment was discovered.16U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Fact Sheet: Waiving Overpayments A waiver won’t be granted if the agency finds any indication of fraud or bad faith. The agency can waive the debt in full or in part.
Accessing Your Pay Stubs After You Leave Federal Service
Portal access doesn’t last forever once you separate. myPay users keep access for 13 months after their separation date, long enough to download the final LES and W-2 for tax filing, but easy to miss if you’re not thinking about it.17Defense Finance and Accounting Service. How to Update Your myPay Account Before Separating Employees paid through NFC’s Employee Personal Page get 18 months, though self-service options are disabled after separation.18National Finance Center. EPP Quick Reference Guide
Before your last day, download or print every LES you might need, especially your final statement, any statements covering periods of special pay, and all your W-2s. Once portal access expires, getting historical records means going through your former agency’s HR office or the National Personnel Records Center, which is slower and more cumbersome. Keeping your own copies is the single easiest thing you can do to avoid headaches later.