A pay advice is the itemized statement that shows how your employer arrived at the amount deposited in your account or printed on your check. It lists your gross earnings for the pay period, every tax and deduction subtracted, and the net pay you actually receive. You may also hear it called a pay stub, earnings statement, or wage statement. Whatever the label, its job is the same: to document the math behind your paycheck.
How a Pay Advice Differs From a Paycheck
A paycheck is the payment itself, a paper check you can cash or deposit. A pay advice is the breakdown that explains how the payment was calculated. When employers issue paper checks, the pay advice is usually the detachable stub attached to the check. With direct deposit, there is no physical check, so the pay advice, delivered electronically or on paper, becomes your primary record of the transaction. Your bank statement will confirm the deposit landed, but only the pay advice shows what went into that number.
What a Pay Advice Shows
Every pay advice starts with gross pay, the total you earned before anything is taken out. For hourly workers, this is hours worked multiplied by the hourly rate. Work more than 40 hours in a workweek and your employer owes at least one-and-a-half times your regular rate for the extra hours, which appears either as its own line or folded into the gross total.1U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 23 Overtime Pay Requirements of the FLSA If you are salaried, your gross pay is usually the same each period: your annual salary divided by the number of pay periods.
Below gross pay, the statement lists every deduction. At the bottom sits net pay, the amount actually sent to your bank or printed on your check. Most pay advices also show year-to-date totals for each line, tracking your cumulative earnings and deductions from January 1 through the current pay period.
Mandatory Deductions
Federal income tax is typically the largest mandatory deduction. Your employer calculates the amount using the information you provided on Form W-4: filing status, dependents, and any extra withholding you asked for.2Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 753, Form W-4 Employees Withholding Certificate State and local income taxes, where they apply, show up as separate lines.
FICA taxes fund Social Security and Medicare. You pay 6.2 percent of gross wages toward Social Security, but only on earnings up to $184,500 in 2026. Once your year-to-date earnings cross that ceiling, Social Security withholding stops for the rest of the year. Medicare takes another 1.45 percent of all earnings with no cap.3Internal Revenue Service. Publication 15-A, Employers Supplemental Tax Guide If you earn more than $200,000 in a year (or $250,000 married filing jointly), your employer also withholds an extra 0.9 percent Additional Medicare Tax on wages above that threshold.4Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 560, Additional Medicare Tax
Court-ordered deductions, such as child support or wage garnishments for unpaid debts, are also mandatory. Your employer has no discretion here and must withhold the ordered amount.
Voluntary Deductions
Voluntary deductions cover the benefits you signed up for, usually during open enrollment. Common ones include your share of health, dental, and vision premiums; 401(k) contributions, capped at $24,500 through payroll deductions in 2026, with an additional $7,500 catch-up amount if you are 50 or older;5Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Limit Increases to $24,500 for 2026 group life and disability insurance premiums; health savings account contributions if you have a high-deductible plan; and union dues or charitable payroll deductions you authorized.
Pre-Tax vs. Post-Tax Deductions
The order in which items come out of your pay matters for your taxes. Pre-tax deductions, such as traditional 401(k) contributions and most health insurance premiums, are subtracted from gross pay before federal income tax is calculated. That lowers the wages used to compute your tax, so you owe less for the period. On your pay advice, the wage figure feeding the federal income tax line will often be lower than your gross pay. The gap is usually the sum of your pre-tax deductions.
Post-tax deductions come out after taxes are figured. Roth 401(k) contributions, some life insurance premiums, and wage garnishments are common examples. They do not reduce your current taxable income. Some payroll systems group these separately; others label each line pre-tax or post-tax.
Common Abbreviations You Will See
Payroll systems lean on shorthand codes that can look cryptic at first.
- OASDI: Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance, the formal name for Social Security tax. This is the 6.2 percent line.6Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base
- HI or MED: Hospital Insurance, the official name for Medicare tax at 1.45 percent.
- FIT or FWT: Federal Income Tax or Federal Withholding Tax.
- SIT or SWT: State Income Tax or State Withholding Tax.
- GTL: Group Term Life, the taxable value of employer-provided life insurance coverage over $50,000.
- STD / LTD: Short-Term Disability and Long-Term Disability premiums.
- YTD: Year-to-Date, the cumulative total for a line from January 1 through the current pay period.
If a code isn’t listed, your employer’s payroll or HR department can explain it, and many employers publish a glossary on their payroll portal.
Is Your Employer Required to Give You One
No federal law requires your employer to hand you a pay stub. The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to keep detailed payroll records, including hours worked, wage rate, and deductions, but the obligation is to keep those records, not to give them to you.7eCFR. 29 CFR Part 516 – Records to Be Kept by Employers Employers must preserve these records for at least three years.8U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 21 Recordkeeping Requirements Under the FLSA
The requirement to actually provide you with an itemized statement comes from state law. Roughly 41 states require some form of pay stub, but the specifics vary. Some mandate a printed stub unless you opt into electronic delivery, others allow electronic-only access, and a handful of states have no pay stub law at all. Your state labor department can tell you what applies where you work.
Checking Your Pay Advice for Errors
Mistakes happen. A missing overtime shift, a wrong tax withholding, a deduction for a benefit you never enrolled in. Review each pay advice promptly so anything off gets caught early. If something looks wrong, contact your employer’s payroll or HR department with a clear description of the discrepancy and supporting documents like your timesheet or benefits enrollment confirmation.
If your employer doesn’t correct the issue, you can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division online or by calling 1-866-487-9243. You will need your name and contact information, your employer’s name and address, a description of the work you performed, and details about how and when you were paid. The nearest field office will contact you within two business days after you file.9Worker.gov. Filing a Complaint With the U.S. Department of Labors Wage and Hour Division For issues tied specifically to state pay stub rules, your state labor department handles those complaints separately.
How Long to Keep Your Pay Advices
For tax purposes, the IRS recommends keeping records that support items on your return until the period of limitations for that return expires, generally three years from the filing date.10Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records The window extends to six years if you underreport income by more than 25 percent of the gross income shown on your return, and there is no time limit when a return is fraudulent or was never filed.11Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 305, Recordkeeping
A workable approach: compare each pay advice to the next so nothing shifts unexpectedly, then keep the final pay advice of each calendar year, the one with complete year-to-date totals, for at least four years. That final stub is especially useful for checking your W-2 at tax time. If the year-to-date gross wages, federal tax withheld, or Social Security wages on the last pay advice don’t match the W-2, call payroll before filing.