What Information Is Essential for a Legitimate Pay Stub?
A pay stub is only as useful as the information it contains. Missing a single required field can get it rejected by a lender, landlord, or auditor. Here's a complete field-by-field breakdown of everything a legitimate pay stub must include.
Whether you're generating a pay stub for yourself as a self-employed person, or issuing them to employees as a small business owner, the document needs to contain specific information to be considered legitimate by banks, lenders, landlords, and tax authorities.
Below is every field — grouped into the six sections of a complete pay stub — with an explanation of why each one matters and what happens when it's missing or wrong.
Employer information
The legal registered name of the company or individual doing the paying. Using a trade name only can cause issues with lenders who cross-reference your EIN.
The registered business address. For a home-based business, your home address is fine — just keep it consistent across documents.
Required if you're a registered business. If you're a sole proprietor without an EIN, your SSN serves as the tax ID (but don't print it on the stub).
Optional but strongly recommended — it immediately elevates the look and signals that the stub came from an organized operation.
Employee information
Must match their legal name as it appears on their W-4 and tax returns. A nickname or informal name can cause verification failures.
Home address of the employee — this is used for state tax jurisdiction determination and appears on the stub.
Never print a full Social Security Number. Last 4 only is the industry standard and is legally required in several states.
Your internal reference number for the employee. Optional but useful for multi-employee businesses.
This determines which deductions appear. W-2 stubs show withholdings; 1099 stubs show gross payment only.
Pay period details
The range of dates this stub covers — e.g. Jul 1–Jul 15. This is what lenders use to verify income continuity.
The date the payment was or will be issued. Different from the pay period end date — typically a few days later.
Weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, or monthly. This affects how annual deduction limits and YTD figures are prorated across the year.
Earnings breakdown
The base earnings for the period. For hourly: rate × hours worked. For salary: annual ÷ pay periods per year.
Legally required to be paid at 1.5× the regular rate for hours over 40/week (US federal law). Must be itemized separately.
Shown as separate line items. Bonuses are subject to supplemental withholding rates (22% federal flat rate for amounts under $1M).
The sum of all earnings before any deductions. This is the starting point for all tax calculations.
Tax deductions
Calculated from IRS Publication 15-T bracket tables based on gross pay, filing status, and pay frequency. This should never be a round number.
Varies by state — 9 states have no income tax. Must use the correct per-state rate table, not a national average.
Withheld up to the annual wage base ($176,100 in 2026). Once that cap is hit, no further SS is withheld for the rest of the year.
No annual cap. An additional 0.9% applies on wages above $200,000 (single) or $250,000 (married filing jointly).
Other deductions & net pay
Deducted before tax is calculated — which means they reduce your taxable income and therefore your tax bill. Must be applied in the correct order.
Wage garnishments, after-tax Roth contributions, or other deductions applied after taxes are calculated.
The final take-home amount after all deductions. This is what the employee actually receives. It should be verifiable against bank deposit records.
Year-to-date running totals. Lenders use YTD figures to annualize income. If YTD figures don't add up across multiple stubs, it's a red flag.
Red flags that make a pay stub illegitimate
Lenders and landlords who review pay stubs regularly know what to look for. These are the most common tells that a stub was created incorrectly — or fraudulently:
How Stubingly ensures your pay stub is complete and accurate
Every field in the six sections above is either automatically calculated or prompted in the form. You can't accidentally skip the pay period, forget to add YTD, or get the Social Security rate wrong — the tool handles it.
Current IRS tax tables
Federal withholding from IRS Publication 15-T — updated annually
50-state tax engine
Per-state rates for all states, including states with no income tax
Correct FICA math
Social Security wage base cap and Medicare additional tax both handled
Pre-tax deduction ordering
401(k) and health insurance reduce taxable gross before tax is calculated
YTD auto-calculation
Enter prior YTD gross and the tool calculates current YTD totals correctly
W-2 and 1099 modes
Different withholding logic for employees vs independent contractors
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Every field in this guide is calculated automatically. Just enter your real earnings.
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