Use this free pay stub generator to record wages you've paid. Enter the employer, the employee, earnings and deductions; current and year-to-date totals add up as you type. Download a PDF.
Year-to-date total from earlier stubs this year. Leave empty for the first pay period.
This period Year to date
Overtime is prefilled at 1.5 × regular rate, change it if yours differs.
Social Security 6.2% and Medicare 1.45% are pre-filled rates you can edit. Income tax rows are blank: enter the amount from your payroll records.
Invoiceize doesn't calculate federal or state income tax withholding. It depends on each employee's W-4 and state. Enter those amounts yourself.
Rename any label printed on the pay stub. You can also click a label on the preview.
A clear record of one pay period, with year-to-date totals, in a couple of minutes.
Enter the business name, address and EIN, then the employee's name, address and employee ID. Save your business once in the Brand Kit and every pay stub starts with it.
Pick how often you pay: weekly, every two weeks, twice a month or monthly. Enter the period start and end and the pay date.
Add hourly pay (hours × rate), a salary split across pay periods, or fixed amounts like a bonus. Add deductions as amounts or as a percentage of gross pay; Social Security and Medicare rows come with rates you can edit.
Download the pay stub as a PDF with no watermark, or print it. Start next pay period moves the dates forward and carries the year-to-date totals over.
A pay stub is the written record of one paycheck. Whatever layout you pick, a complete check stub shows who paid whom, for which dates, how gross pay was reached and what was taken out before the employee was paid.
Small employers and household employers use a pay stub generator to give each worker a written record of each payment: a shop owner with two part-time staff, a family paying a nanny or a caregiver, a landscaper with a seasonal crew. Each stub shows the hours, the rate, what was withheld and the net pay, so both sides can see how the number was reached and check it against the payment that actually arrived.
Self-employed owners who pay themselves a regular amount use this paystub generator to keep tidy records of those payments for their own bookkeeping, alongside the invoices they send clients. The pay stub layout follows common US conventions: an earnings table, a deductions table, and gross pay, total deductions and net pay for this period and for the year to date.
Every earning line on the stub has its own way of being paid. Hourly lines multiply hours by the rate, so 80 hours at 22.50 comes to 1,800.00. Salary lines take an annual salary and divide it by the number of pay periods in a year, so a 60,000 salary paid monthly shows 5,000.00 on each stub. Fixed-amount lines are for anything with a set figure, such as a bonus, a commission or tips.
You can mix them on one stub. Quick-add buttons put in regular pay, overtime, holiday pay, paid time off, bonus, commission and tips; overtime starts at 1.5 times the first hourly rate, and you can change that if your overtime rate is different. If a stub doesn't need hours, switch off the hours and rate columns and the table shows only the amounts.
Choose one of four pay frequencies: weekly (52 pay periods a year), every two weeks (26), twice a month (24) or monthly (12). The frequency sets how a salary is divided and how far Start next pay period moves the dates: seven days for weekly, fourteen for every two weeks, and a calendar month for monthly.
For twice-a-month pay, a period from the 1st to the 15th is followed by the 16th to the end of the month, and then the 1st to the 15th of the next month. The pay date keeps the same gap after the period end that it had on the previous stub, so if you pay one week after the period closes, every following stub does the same.
Year to date (YTD) is the running total for the calendar year so far. For each earning and deduction, enter the YTD amount from before this pay period; the pay stub adds this period's amount and shows both columns. Gross pay, total deductions and net pay get a YTD figure too, each one the sum of its lines. In the sample stub, gross pay of 1,935.00 for this period brings the year's gross pay to 34,155.00.
Leave the YTD fields empty on the first stub of the year. After that, Start next pay period does the carrying for you: each line's YTD becomes the old YTD plus this period, the dates move forward and the stub number counts up. When the pay date moves into a new year, the YTD amounts reset to zero. If you only need a single-period statement, turn off the year-to-date column.
Deductions are what comes out of gross pay before the employee is paid. Each deduction is either a fixed amount or a percentage of this period's gross pay. Quick-add buttons put in Social Security, Medicare, federal income tax, state income tax, 401(k) and health insurance rows.
Social Security and Medicare are pre-filled at the employee rates of 6.2% and 1.45% (IRS Topic 751), and you can edit or delete either row. The percentage is applied to this period's gross pay exactly as typed, with no annual limits built in, so check the amount against your payroll records. The income tax rows start blank: this tool doesn't calculate federal or state income tax withholding, because it depends on each employee's W-4 and state. Enter those amounts from your payroll records.
Employers must keep payroll records for at least three years (DOL Fact Sheet #21, which requires no particular form). Pay stub requirements vary by state, and some states require a written wage statement with each payment; check your state labor department for the rules that apply to you.
Download a PDF of every stub and keep it with your payroll records. If you pay by paper check, use it as a check stub maker: print the stub and hand it over with the check. Stubs are also saved in this browser under Recent documents, where you can reopen one to correct it, duplicate it or print it again. You're responsible for the accuracy of the figures; use a pay stub only to document pay that was actually paid.
Four documents that record money being paid, each with a different job.
| Pay stub | W-2 | Invoice | Receipt | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A statement of one pay period's earnings and deductions | An annual summary of an employee's wages and taxes withheld | A bill asking a client to pay for work or goods | Confirmation that a payment was received |
| Who issues it | An employer, to an employee | An employer, to the employee and the government | A business or freelancer, to a client | A seller, to the customer who paid |
| When | Every payday | Once a year, after the year ends | Before payment | After payment |
| What it shows | Gross pay, each deduction, net pay and year-to-date totals | Total wages for the year and taxes withheld | Items, prices, tax and the amount due | Items, the amount paid and how it was paid |
| Make it here | This page | Not here; it's a tax form | Invoice Generator | Receipt Generator |
Work as a contractor? Bill clients with an invoice. Make an invoice
Straight answers about making a paystub, what it shows and what it doesn't do.
Yes. Making, editing and downloading pay stubs is free, with no watermark and no limit on how many you create. You don't need an account or an email address.
The employer's name, address and EIN; the employee's name and, if you use one, an employee ID; the pay period, pay date and pay frequency; each earning with hours and rate where they apply; each deduction; gross pay, total deductions and net pay; and year-to-date totals. You can add custom fields, such as a department, and rename any label on the stub.
It doesn't calculate federal or state income tax withholding, because that depends on each employee's W-4 and state. Social Security (6.2%) and Medicare (1.45%) can be added as optional rows with rates you can edit. Everything else, including income tax, is an amount you enter from your payroll records.
YTD is year to date: the total so far this calendar year, including this pay period. For each line, enter the year-to-date amount before this pay period and the tool adds this period's amount. When you start the next pay period, the new totals carry over, and they reset when the pay date moves into a new year.
If you pay yourself a regular amount, enter your business as the employer and yourself as the employee, add the payment as a salary or fixed amount, and add any deductions you actually took out. It's a bookkeeping record of those payments; keep the bank records that match each one.
For the same employee, choose Start next pay period: the dates move forward and the year-to-date totals carry over. For another employee, start a New pay stub (your Brand Kit fills in the employer), or Duplicate a pay stub from your recent documents, which keeps the employer and pay lines but clears the employee and the year-to-date totals.
Yes, when it records pay that was actually paid. Many small employers make their own pay stubs, and a generator is just a faster way to lay one out. Making a stub with invented pay to mislead anyone is fraud. Invoiceize doesn't check or verify the figures you enter; you're responsible for the accuracy of every one.
In your browser, on this device, not on our servers. Only the last 4 digits of a Social Security number are ever stored, and that field is hidden unless you switch it on. Download the PDF to keep a permanent copy; clearing your browser data removes saved drafts.
No signup, no watermark. Fill it in and download the PDF.
