How to Make a Check Stub
As an employee, it’s great for you to know that at the end of the day, you’re going to get paid for all the hard work that you’ve done. So let’s say that you do get your salary, but you want to know why you’re receiving the amount that you’re getting. This is why employers hand out check stubs to their employees. This is what tells an employee just how much he or she is making and why he or she is making the amount. This also helps in the event that an employee has questions regarding his or her salary. All the employee has to do is bring the stub to the employer and point out the discrepancy.
What information should be in the check stub?
Check stubs or pay stubs include the details of each pay period’s wages. This typically includes the following:
- Gross pay. This is the amount of pay before any deductions are factored in.
- Federal taxes withheld. Federal tax withholding will all depend on your tax bracket. So let’s say that you’re working in the United States. U.S. personal income taxes operate on a gradual scale. This starts at 10% and increases the rate of 39.6 percent. How much you pay for federal tax will depend on just how much you earn.
- State taxes withheld. Different states have their own personal income tax rates. There are even some states that have no income tax at all. This can be very complicated in the event that you live in one state but you’re working in another. If you would like to know more, then you can easily access the information through multiple state tax sites that can be found online.
- Local taxes withheld. This is basically taxes taken from the area that you live in that will be used for public projects such as road fixing and medical care.
- Insurance deductions. Basically, everything from health, vision, life, or disability is covered by this deduction. You might end up contributing to any or all of these. If so, then the information will be shared in your check stub. If you are unsure about the amount of deduction the insurance company should take from your pay, then you can always go to insurance websites to give you the information you need.
- Social Security Tax. Social security is what you’re going to count on once you retire or if you’re forced to retire due to an illness or disability. Every pay period, a portion of your salary is deducted and contributed to the social security system. Once you have actively retired, you will then be given a monthly payment schedule from the government.
- Back pay. In the event that your employer owes you back pay for any reason, then you would see the payout listed on your check stub.
- Net pay. This is the amount that you get once your gross pay has undergone the necessary deductions.
What tools are needed to make a check stub?
Now that you know what should be in a check or pay stub and understand what it does, now you need to learn how to make one. You can decide to make a handwritten one, but no employer wants to take on the burden of writing a hundred check stubs for a hundred employees. Another reason as to why it’s ill-advised to have a handwritten check stub is because many banks or companies that are affiliated with your company may not even accept them if they’re handwritten.
- To help you make your check stubs, there are a lot of available accounting type software and programs. All you need to do is to find a bunch of free or low-priced check stub templates. However, you must know that it’s critical that the software works with the application you’re using to provide the information to your employees and to your staff every pay period.
- There are also a large number of websites that provide these templates which allow business owners to make a check stub. These websites can even allow you to choose from a variety of online templates that will best suit your business’ needs. After you have decided which template you want to use, then you can make the check stub by filling out the necessary information of your staff for that pay period.
