As payday approaches, employers need to provide their employees with wages for the hours they have worked through the month. In addition, one can choose to offer either a paper pay stub or an electronic one, which provides a detailed breakdown of payroll deductions and gross pay earnings. It also includes markings on tax withholdings, retirement funding, and health insurance deductions. It is important to be adept at generating payroll check stubs.

Employers keep payroll pay stubs to maintain records of employee pay, whereas employees use them as an income-proof, to decipher paychecks, to resolve tax discrepancies or wage and work-hour disputes, and for potential loan applications.

What is a pay stub?
It is a pay statement that summarizes the following:

• Employee’s gross pay
• Deductions
• Net pay
• Taxes
• Health insurance payments

It may be provided electronically or in a printed format along with the paycheck. Some states may require employees to give consent to receive the statements electronically.

Do states require one to provide pay stubs?
While there are no federal laws that require to provide employees with pay statements, several local and state jurisdictions say otherwise. These mandates may pose complications for businesses with employees in different states, as each area has distinct rules.

Here are some variations one may encounter:

• States with no requirements
  Some states let you decide whether to offer paper or electronic pay stubs without government oversight.
• Print or access states
  Some states require employers to offer electronic pay stubs to ensure their employees can view the stubs.
• Opt-in states
  Employees get printed statements by default unless they consent to receive an electronic version.
• Out-out states
  Companies can provide an electronic pay stub but oblige when employees request a paper pay statement.

Ways to let employees view pay stubs
There are two ways employees can view paycheck stubs:

• Via the company’s payroll department
• Online

Here are some recommendations one can offer when an employee comes with an “I want to view my pay stub’” request.

Via the company website
Providing every employee with paper payroll check stubs may be a hassle. So, one can upload them online to the company website for easy employee access.
Here’s how they can view it:

Provide the login credentials

• Inform the HR department or manager about where the employees can locate it online.
• Upload them on a payroll service website.
• The HR department can provide an employee login ID and password to check stubs online.

Look for the pay stubs

• After logging in, employees can search for the section of the website that contains pay stubs and gain access to them. They can also download them to maintain personal records.

Through the payroll department
If the pay stubs are not uploaded online, companies can refer their employees to the payroll department.

• They have to inform the payroll department about their requirements.
• Give the department some time to make the pay stubs available.
• The payroll department will send the pay stubs via soft or hard copy.

What does a payroll check stub include?
The payroll check stubs present identifying information about the employees. In addition, it also contains details on their wages.

Basic employee details

• Pay date
• Dates for the specific pay year and period
• Employee address, name, and social security number
• Employer address
• Employer name

Employee pay breakdown

• Pay rate
• Payment – based on an hourly or monthly basis
• Gross pay or gross wages for the year to date or the specific pay period
• Number of hours worked year-to-date and per pay period
• Pre-tax deductions for different employee benefits
• Miscellaneous factors, like overtime pay, sick leaves, and others.

State and federal taxes withheld from employee

• Local taxes
• Year-to-date section for state and federal tax
• State income tax withholdings
• Federal income tax withholdings

Miscellaneous deductions

• Child support payments
• 401k expenses

Other details

• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Voluntary deductions
• Net pay (Gross pay less of deductions)
• Taxes deducted from paychecks via the election on W-4
• Employer contributions

How to generate pay stubs?
Drafting pay stubs may be tedious. However, if companies use a payroll check stub maker, it will only take a few seconds to generate the stubs electronically.
Broadly, there are three ways to generate pay stubs:

Manual generation
As the stubs are generated manually, this process can take more time than usual. Follow the steps below:

• Use a tool, like a Word document, and format the pay stub.
• Enter employee details.
• The pay stub will be generated.

Using online payroll check stub maker
Opting for a payroll stub maker can accelerate the generation process with minimal requirements. Follow the steps below:

• Look for a reliable and reputable tool online.
• Enter the details about every employee and the business.
• Input every employee’s deduction, pay, and tax information.
• Generate the pay stub.

Using payroll software

• It helps run payroll and generate pay stubs automatically
• One can print and distribute them to the employees.
• Alternatively, companies can provide access to the stubs online via a secure portal.