How to Use a Pay Stub Generator: A Step-by-Step Checklist

Set Up Employment & Pay Details

This part defines how math is computed within the stub, so being accurate is critical on this front.

STUBCREATOR PROCESS

Select State

This field shows which state taxation applies to the deduction section.

Marital Status

It influences federal/state tax withholding calculation. Select the option that reflects your current filing status:

How Are You Paid?

Details how often one’s pay is disbursed (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.) to provide a basis for the "Reporting Period."

Hourly or Salary

Make sure the data reflects the correct compensation method, whether it's hourly or salary-based.

Pay Period YTD

This field tells the system how many pay periods have already occurred this year, so totals are calculated correctly.

Template

Choose the visual design/format for your final pay stub. Each template has an associated price, and you can preview any template using the eye icon before purchasing.

Templates range from simple to better designs (e.g., Standard Silver, Standard Midnight, Standard Snow) to more customizable options. For example, Standard Multicolor lets you set your own color scheme instead of using a fixed template color, giving you more control over the stub's appearance. Prices vary by template style, starting at $4.99.

Company Logo

Upload your company logo here. We suggest using a portrait (vertical) logo for the best display on the pay stub.

Understand the Optional Add-Ons (Checkboxes)

The majority of the generators offer extra options through selection. One must understand the meaning of the options to make the right selections.

OPTIONAL ADD-ONS

Contractor Removes all automatic tax withholdings from the pay stub since self-employed workers handle their own taxes.

Contractor

Tax Exemptions makes changes to tax withholding that you want to add or remove on the pay stub.

Tax Exemptions

Deposit Slip (+$2) places the direct deposit slip on the stub.

Deposit Slip

Edit Label (+$2) enables renaming the titles found on the pay stub.

Edit Label

Hired in [Year]? Check this box if the employee was hired during the current year and you're unsure which YTD (Pay Period YTD) value to select. When checked, the system will automatically calculate and set the correct YTD number based on the Hire Date you enter, so you don't have to figure it out manually.

Hired in [Year]?

Advance Tool (+$2) Add or remove benefits and deductions as per your preference. Each addition or deduction includes the following fields.

Advance Tool

Description*

Enter the name of the addition or deduction (e.g., "Overtime," "Bonus," "Health Insurance," "401k").

Current Pay

Enter the amount for this addition or deduction for the current pay period.

Select Stub

Choose which stub(s) this addition or deduction should apply to. Select Apply to all if it should be included on every stub you're generating, or select a specific stub if it only applies to one.

Last YTD

Enter the year-to-date amount for this addition or deduction as of the previous pay period. This ensures the YTD total on the stub stays accurate once the current pay period is included. As noted by the ℹ️ icon, leave this field blank if you want the Last YTD amount calculated automatically.

Use Remove to delete an addition or deduction you no longer need.

Add Last YTD (+$2) Lets you include prior year-to-date totals so they're factored into the YTD calculations. You have two ways to add this information.

Add Last YTD

Select from dropdown

Use the Select Last YTD dropdown to choose from previously saved YTD records, if available.

Enter manually

Fill in the individual fields yourself Last YTD Gross, Last FICA Medicare, Last FICA Social Security, Last Federal Tax, and Last State Tax.

Example: If an employee's prior YTD Gross was $10,000 and their current pay stub adds $1,000, the new stub's YTD Gross will correctly show $11,000; since the old amount is carried forward and included in the calculation.

Edit Taxes (+$2) Lets you manually override the automatically calculated tax amounts (e.g., FICA-Medicare, FICA Social Security, Federal Tax, State Tax).
Once enabled, automatic tax calculation stops; you'll need to manually manage and enter the correct Total and YTD Total for each tax line on every pay stub. You can also add your own custom deductions or remove existing ones using the (+) and (–) icons under Statutory Deductions.

Contractor

Saved Company/Employee profiles (+ button) Save time by storing your company and employee details as a profile. Once saved, you can simply select the company and employee from the dropdown for future pay stubs instead of re-entering the information each time, making it quick and easy to reuse the same details when creating new pay stubs.

Fill In Company & Employee Information

COMPANY & EMPLOYEE INFORMATION

Company Information

Employee Information

Read the Earnings Statement Itself

This is the actual pay stub preview; the part readers most need help decoding.

Earnings Statement

EARNINGS STATEMENT HEADER

Earnings Statement title confirms the document type.

Income Table

INCOME TABLE

Deductions Table (Statutory Deductions)

DEDUCTIONS TABLE

Bottom Summary Row

BOTTOM SUMMARY

Finalize Before Checkout

FINAL PREVIEW

THANK YOU page details:

where the user can download the pay stub and also email it; the user can get feedback too.

Quick Reference: The 7-Point Reader Checklist

Common Paystub Knowledge

How to Read a Paystub

A pay stub can look like a flood of numbers if you don't know what you're looking at, but once you know the complete breakdown, it takes about thirty seconds to check.

Employee vs Employer Information

Every pay stub contains two distinct identities: the employer and the employee.

Why Pay Stubs Matter (Proof of Income)

A pay stub is considered one of the most frequently requested documents used to prove legitimate income.

• Renting an apartment: Pay stubs are always required for a rental application, typically at least the last two or three pay stubs as proof of income for a rental apartment.
• Loans: When applying for a mortgage loan, an auto loan, or a personal loan, one must provide proof of his or her salary and employment status via a pay stub.
• Government services: Proof of income may be required when applying for a visa, going through certain legal procedures, or getting benefits from the government. The pay stub is among the acceptable documents in all these cases.
• Personal use: Finally, pay stubs can come in handy even when no one asks for them; one may use them for payroll error spotting, record keeping, year-to-date earnings checks, etc.

Paystub for Self-Employed / Freelancers

For traditional employees, a paystub is provided by the employer, or the employee can issue a paystub on every payday through their payroll system. In the case of self-employed individuals or freelancers, the absence of a pay stub is common unless the individual issues it.

It becomes quite an issue when the landlord or bank or any organization asks for "your last two pay stubs", and the individual does not have any stubs to show.

In such cases, a self-made pay stub will help you bridge the gap, and this can be made based on your invoices, contracts or even bank statements and not through the payroll system of a company.

Here are some things you need to maintain consistency in:

• You should always use the same name and address on all pay stubs as on your invoice or business registration details.
• Accurately reflect the tax withholdings - Freelancers are known to pay quarterly estimates rather than withholdings on every paycheck.
• Consistency in numbers as reflected in tax filing.

This is what the "Contractor" option of the pay stub generator aims at providing you ; it changes the format to suit 1099 income.

1099 vs W-2 Paystub

The W-2 paystub is issued to employees. Taxes are withheld from the paycheck by the employer, which includes federal income tax, state income tax where required, and FICA. All of those are listed in the deductions section, and the end-of-year tax form will be a W-2.

On the other hand, the 1099 stub is issued to independent contractors and freelancers. As this business is not considered an employer for the contractor/freelancer in question, it does not withhold any payroll taxes as it would with an employee. The contractor pays taxes themselves, often on a quarterly basis. A 1099-style paystub will only include gross payments without any statutory withholdings. The corresponding year-end tax form will be a 1099-NEC (sometimes 1099-MISC).

Choosing the wrong one while making a pay stub will affect what the deductions section means.

Common Paystub Mistakes to Avoid While Making Paystubs

• Dates of pay periods are out of orde Dates of pay periods should match the date range, and the next stubs should be in line.
• YTD figures that don’t add up YTD figures need to get higher with every stub.
• Bad math Rate times hours with the Current Pay, and Gross minus deductions equals the Net Pay; it might be wrong if you used the wrong equation.
• The chosen state is wrong- calculations differ by state, and if you choose the wrong state, then your deductions are going to be different.
• Required fields (*) are missing- without required fields, the paystub won’t be made.

Before creating your next pay stub, double-check your dates, YTD figures, state selection, and calculations using our pay stub generator.

Paystub vs Payslip

The two terms essentially denote the same thing; their differentiation is mainly regional.

"Paystub" (sometimes also called "paycheck stub") is the most frequently employed term in the United States and Canada.

"Pay slip" is the more commonly used term in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and in other regions around the world where English is spoken.

Both denote the document that is issued to an employee with information about his/her earnings, deductions, and net pay during a certain period of time.

There may be slight variations in the format and/or terminology of the pay stub based on regional differences (for instance, line items indicating the tax deduction would be different for each country, as it depends on its taxation system; FICA and Federal/State Tax in the US vs. PAYE and National Insurance in the UK).