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Quick answer: To print pay stubs, work out gross pay, deductions, and taxes for the period, calculate net pay, then print, email, or post the stub for each employee. OnlineCheckWriter.com’s paycheck stub tool can produce this alongside a printed paycheck for the same pay run, so the two match.
Key Takeaways
What Is a Pay Stub?
A pay stub is proof. It is the paper or digital record that backs up the number in an employee’s bank account or on their check: what they earned, what got taken out, and why the deposit is not the same as the salary on paper. Direct deposit did not kill the pay stub, it just moved it from an envelope to an inbox. Employees still expect to see one.
What Should a Pay Stub Include?
A complete pay stub typically covers: gross pay for the period, hours worked and pay rate for hourly employees, itemized deductions such as health insurance or retirement contributions, taxes withheld broken out by type (federal income tax, state income tax where applicable, Social Security, and Medicare), net pay, and year-to-date totals for each of those categories. Employers who skip year-to-date totals make it harder for employees to check their own withholding partway through the year, so it is worth including even when it is not strictly required. If you print and mail stubs, mask Social Security numbers to the last four digits rather than showing the full number; it is not required everywhere, but it is a simple habit that limits what a lost or misdirected stub actually exposes.
Do You Have to Give Employees a Pay Stub?
This is a state-by-state call, not a federal one. Federal wage and hour law requires employers to keep payroll records, but it stops there; whether you must hand an employee a printed stub, and how detailed it must be, comes down to your state’s own rule. The US Department of Labor’s recordkeeping fact sheet under the Fair Labor Standards Act outlines the federal recordkeeping baseline. Check your own state’s labor department for its specific pay stub rule before you decide what to hand out.
Final paychecks carry their own, separate timing rules in many states, on top of whatever your regular pay stub practice is. Some states require a final paycheck immediately on an involuntary termination and within a few days of a resignation, with real penalties for missing the deadline. That is a different question from what goes on a routine pay stub, and it is worth checking your state’s final-pay rule separately rather than assuming your normal payday schedule still applies.
How Do I Print Pay Stubs in 5 Steps?
If you’re the one creating the stub, whether by hand, in a spreadsheet, or through a payroll tool, here’s the process:
- Enter each employee’s hours, salary, and pay rate for the period.
- Add deductions and withholdings, such as insurance, retirement, and taxes.
- Review the calculated net pay and year-to-date totals before you finalize.
- Choose how to deliver the stub: print it on plain paper, email it, or pair it with a printed paycheck.
- Save a copy in your records so you can pull it up again at tax time or if an employee has a question.
If you already run payroll through a platform like QuickBooks, Gusto, ADP, or Paychex, the stub is usually generated automatically once you process the pay run; look for a paycheck or pay run list with a print or download option next to each entry. Menu names shift as these platforms update, so check your provider’s help center if you can’t find the button within a minute or two.
Enter payroll details once and print a matching pay stub for every employee, every payday.
What Does OnlineCheckWriter.com Charge for Pay Stubs and Checks?
Printing a paycheck with its matching stub on your own printer, using blank check stock, is included in your OnlineCheckWriter.com plan; there is no separate per-check printing fee. The $1.25 per-check figure that appears on OnlineCheckWriter.com’s paycheck stub page is the cost to have the check printed and mailed for you through USPS or FedEx instead, an optional service, not a charge for printing itself. If you plan to print in-house and only want the occasional check mailed, budget the $1.25 only for the ones you actually send that way.
What if I Don’t Use Gusto or ADP?
You do not need either one. OnlineCheckWriter.com’s paycheck stub tool lists integrations including Zoho Payroll, Gusto, Square Payroll, and ADP. If you already run payroll through one of those platforms, connecting it saves you from re-entering the same hours and rates twice.
A Word of Caution on Pay Stub Generators
A pay stub is only useful as proof of income if it matches real payroll records. Landlords, lenders, and government agencies increasingly cross-check submitted stubs against employer or tax records, so a stub built from a generic fill-in-the-blank template rather than your actual pay data can create real problems for whoever hands it over. If you’re printing a stub for an employee, keep it tied to the numbers from your actual pay run, not a template filled in from memory.
Frequently Asked Questions
What information goes on a pay stub?
Gross pay, hours and pay rate for hourly employees, itemized deductions, taxes withheld by type, net pay, and year-to-date totals, no matter which state you’re in.
Am I legally required to give employees a pay stub?
Federal law requires payroll recordkeeping but stops there. Whether you must hand out a stub, and how detailed it must be, is set by your state, so check your state labor department’s page directly.
Can I print pay stubs on a regular printer?
Any printer you already own works. Plain paper is fine; you only need real check stock for the paycheck itself, not the stub.
Does the stub have to match the paycheck exactly?
It has to. If the stub shows one net pay number and the deposit or check shows another, someone will notice, and it will be the employee, not you.
Does OnlineCheckWriter.com charge extra to print a pay stub?
No. Printing on your own printer is included in your plan. The $1.25 per-check charge only applies if you choose to have the check mailed through USPS or FedEx instead of printing it yourself.
How do I handle pay stubs for contractors instead of employees?
Independent contractors generally get a payment record rather than a payroll pay stub, since taxes are not withheld the same way. Check the current IRS worker classification guidance if you are unsure which one applies.
Can I email pay stubs instead of printing them?
Most states allow it by email, as long as the employee can access and print it themselves if they want a paper copy. A few states still require a printable version on request, so confirm yours.
Why do year-to-date totals matter on a pay stub?
So nobody is surprised at tax time. YTD totals let an employee, or you, catch a withholding error in June instead of finding out in January.
What happens if I lose an old pay stub?
If the stub was generated and saved through your payroll platform, you can usually reprint it from your account history instead of trying to recreate it by hand.
Printing a pay stub is really just showing your math: what was earned, what came out, and what is left. Get that record right every payday, and both tax season and any employee question become a lot less stressful to handle.
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