Free Pay Stub Generator (Plus Templates & State-by-State Laws)
This article is part of a larger series onHow to Do Payroll.
A pay stub is a document that serves as a record of an employee’s paid wages, including any taxes and deductions withheld. This article provides a variety of free pay stub templates to help you comply with laws in the 41 states that require employers to provide them—even if paying with cash or direct deposit.
As your small business grows, and you want to spend less time creating manual pay stubs altogether, consider using a payroll service like Gusto. In addition to offering pay stubs, it allows your employees to manage their account information online or via a mobile device and print their payroll documents. Sign up for a 30-day free trial.
Payroll software usually provides you with the most flexibility, since its pay stubs are formatted to work with businesses in most industries. The caveat is that you have to use the system to process payroll before a stub can be generated. Check ourguide to the best payroll softwareand find one that fits your needs.
You may want to customize your stubs based on the industry in which your business operates. For instance, restaurants may need a method for tracking and reporting tips, while household employers may need space to report expense reimbursements.
Our pay stub generator will create a general pay stub for you, but if you’d prefer a more customized lay out, or just would rather fill out your pay stubs manually, here are a few industry specific templates you can download and use for free:
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Quick Tip:
If you’re in a state that heavily regulates employee pay stubs, consider outsourcing to a payroll software service, like Gusto.
It’s is a full-service payroll provider that helps ensure your pay stubs are calculated correctly and contains the required information for your state.
Thank you for downloading!
Quick Tip:
If you’re in a state that heavily regulates employee pay stubs, consider outsourcing to a payroll software service, like Gusto.
It’s is a full-service payroll provider that helps ensure your pay stubs are calculated correctly and contains the required information for your state.
Both of these industry-specific templates contain fields for all the basic information necessary to document earnings and deductions. Any words or rows you don’t use can be left blank, customized, or deleted from the template to make this work for your business.
State law typically dictates the information you should include on a pay stub, although generally it will include basic employer and employee information, pay period and rate, gross earnings, taxes, and net pay, among other data.
When creating your pay stub template, include useful information, such as the number of hours worked during the pay period, year-to-date balances, and paid time off taken. You may also include specific descriptions on the purpose of pre- and post-tax payroll deductions, such as for medical insurance, life insurance, commuter benefits, or uniform fees.
When reviewing free pay stub templates for your business, check that there’s space for basic earnings and deductions information, such as:
- Pay period:Depending on the state requirements, this can be the start and end dates, or thepay periodend date only.
- Hours worked:Not all states require the hours to be listed on the pay stub, but it’s a best practice because you have to track the information to ensureovertime is paid correctly. For example, 40 hours regular, plus six hours overtime equals 46 hours total in a pay period.
- Gross earnings:Gross payincludes hourly earnings, commission earnings, tips, and any earnings based on piecework—each type of earning is typically shown as a separate line item on the pay stub.
- Required taxes:Include a line each to showfederal taxes, state taxes,unemployment taxes, and local taxes (if any), as well as Social Security taxes deducted from employee earnings.
- Taxable deductions:Include a separate line item for anytaxable deductions, such as wage garnishments or uniform fees.
- Tax-free deductions:对任何税前以包括一个单独的行项目ts or retirement plan contributions such as health insurance, life insurance, FSA, HSA, or 401(k) contributions.
- Time off balances:This information is helpful to the employee and is also required in states like California and New York, which have mandatory paid sick time laws.
Need help making payroll calculations for each pay stub field?Use our free online payroll calculators to help:
Gross Pay Calculator|Overtime Pay Calculator|FICA Tax Calculator|FUTA Tax Calculator|Time Card Calculator|PTO Accrual Calculator|Employee Mileage Reimbursement Calculator
Pay Stub Legal Considerations
State Pay Stub Regulations
There are currently 41 states that require employers to provide pay stubs to their employees, while the remaining nine—including Arkansas, Florida, Ohio, and South Dakota—don’t require employers to provide pay stubs to employees at all. Regardless, providing a pay stub is good practice because it ensures you have solid backup information in the event of an audit.
Some of the 41 states also mandate in what form employees must receive their pay stubs. Colorado, for example, requires that all pay stubs are provided in a printed or written form, while Hawaii allows employees to opt out of written/printed pay stubs to receive pay stubs electronically instead.
Use the map below to determine if your state requires you to provide pay stubs to your employees and in what form:
Pay Stub Retention
The United States Department of Labor (DOL) has no mandatory retention requirements for specific documents like pay stubs, but it does require that payroll information be retained for three years. Meanwhile, the IRS requires that tax documentation is retained for four years. Some states, like California, require employers to retain payroll documentation for six years.
Our state payroll guides break down everything you need to know about pay stubs—from whether or not they’re required, to what they need to include and how long you’re required to keep them on file. For all the details you may need, check out your state:
State Payroll Directory
Other Downloadable Payroll Templates
Check out some of our other articles with free downloadable payroll templates.
Bottom Line
When you first start your business, you maypay workerswith handwritten checks or cash. If you’re not using a payroll service, it’s important to document all payments and any taxes and deductions withheld. Pay stubs are a great way to meet the DOL’s payroll document retention requirements, even if they aren’t required.
如果你的国家需要你提供工资单your employees, consider using a payroll service. Gusto is a small business payroll software that calculates and files payroll taxes—federal, state, and local—pays employees through direct deposit or printed checks, and lets employees print their own payroll reports and pay stubs.