How to Read a Pay Stub

A pay stub has four zones — earnings, taxes, deductions and year-to-date totals — and they always appear in that order because that is the order payroll computes them. Once you can see the structure, the abbreviations stop mattering.

Tax year 2026 · Updated 2026-08-29 · Guide

Zone 1 — earnings

The top block lists every kind of pay separately: regular hours and rate, overtime, double time, holiday, PTO, bonus, commission, shift differential, retroactive pay. Each shows the current period and usually a year-to-date column.

Check two things here. That your hours match what you worked, including any overtime at the correct multiplier. And that your rate is what you expect — a raise that did not make it into payroll shows up here first.

Zone 2 — taxes withheld

Usually labelled with abbreviations. The common ones:

• FED / FIT / FWT — federal income tax
• FICA-OASDI / SS / SOC SEC — Social Security, 6.2% up to $184,500 in 2026
• FICA-HI / MED — Medicare, 1.45% with no cap
• ADD MED — Additional Medicare Tax, 0.9% above $200,000 of wages
• SIT / SWT — state income tax
• LIT / CITY / LOCAL — local income tax
• SDI / TDI / PFL / FLI / FAMLI / WA CARES — state disability, paid family leave or long-term care premiums

The tax lines are computed from taxable wages, not from gross pay, which is why the percentages rarely look round. If Social Security is not exactly 6.2% of gross, the difference is your pre-tax deductions.

Zone 3 — deductions

Split between pre-tax and post-tax, and the split is the single most useful thing on the stub. Pre-tax deductions appear before the tax lines in the calculation and reduce taxable wages; post-tax appear after and do not.

• Pre-tax: medical, dental and vision premiums, health FSA, dependent care FSA, HSA through payroll, commuter benefits, traditional 401(k), 403(b) or 457 deferrals
• Post-tax: Roth 401(k), after-tax life insurance above the employer-provided limit, union dues in most cases, garnishments, charitable payroll giving, employee stock purchase plan contributions

If a benefit you expected to be pre-tax is sitting in the post-tax block, that is worth a question to HR — it is costing you your marginal rate plus, for Section 125 items, 7.65% of FICA. Our guide to the difference sets out which is which.

Zone 4 — year-to-date totals

The most under-used part of the stub. Year-to-date gross tells you whether you are on track for the salary you expect. Year-to-date Social Security tells you how close you are to the $184,500 wage base and therefore when your take-home will rise. Year-to-date 401(k) tells you whether you will hit the $24,500 limit before December — worth watching, because front-loading contributions can cost you employer match in plans without a true-up.

Year-to-date figures are also what you will reconcile against your W-2 in January. A mismatch between the final stub and the W-2 is worth querying before you file.

The four checks worth doing every time

Thirty seconds, once a fortnight, catches almost every payroll error.

• Hours and rate match what you worked
• Every deduction is one you recognise and agreed to
• Social Security is 6.2% of gross minus pre-tax Section 125 deductions, and stops after $184,500
• Year-to-date gross is on track for your expected annual pay

If something is wrong, raise it in writing and keep the stub. Most states require employers to provide pay stubs and to keep payroll records for several years, but your own copy is the one you will have when you need it.

Frequently asked questions

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