What do the abbreviations on my pay stub mean?

Most fall into three families. Earnings codes (REG, OT, HOL, PTO, RETRO) describe what you were paid for. Tax codes (FED or FIT for federal income tax, OASDI for Social Security, MED for Medicare, SIT for state) describe what was withheld by law. Deduction codes (401K, MED, DEN, VIS, HSA, GARN) are benefits and obligations. EE means the employee share and ER the employer share, and ER lines never reduce your take-home pay.

Why doesn't my gross pay match my salary divided by the number of paychecks?

Check the pay period dates first - a new job, a mid-period raise or an unpaid day makes the first or last check a partial one. After that, look for imputed income lines such as group term life, which add to taxable gross without adding to what you are paid, and for retro pay from an earlier period.

What is the difference between gross pay, taxable wages and net pay?

Gross pay is everything you earned this period. Taxable wages are gross pay minus pre-tax deductions, and there are two versions of it: one for federal income tax and a higher one for Social Security and Medicare, because 401(k) money escapes income tax but not FICA. Net pay is what is left after every tax and deduction, and it is the number that reaches your bank.

How long should I keep my pay stubs?

Keep the last full year, and the final stub of each year permanently - it is the fastest cross-check against a W-2 and the usual proof of income for a mortgage or a rental application. Employers have their own duty to keep payroll records for at least three years under the Fair Labor Standards Act, but that is their copy, not yours.

Is my employer required to give me a pay stub?

Federal law requires employers to keep the records but does not require handing you a stub. Most states do require one, in paper or electronic form, and several require your consent before going paperless. Check your state labor department for the local rule.

How to Read a Pay Stub (With Abbreviation Decoder)

A pay stub is five blocks of information in a fixed order. Once you know which block is which, checking a paycheck takes about two minutes.

The five blocks, in the order they appear

Payroll providers lay stubs out differently, but the same five blocks are always there. Work down them in order and each one answers a different question.

Block	What it tells you	What to check
Header	Employer, employee, pay period start and end, pay date, and often the check or advice number	That the period dates match the work you are being paid for - not the dates you were paid
Earnings	Each type of pay this period, with hours, rate and amount, plus the year-to-date column	Hours and rate, and that overtime is separated out at the higher rate
Taxes withheld	Federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, state and any local tax	Filing status and allowances shown here match the W-4 you filed
Deductions	Retirement, insurance, garnishments, split into pre-tax and post-tax	New or changed lines after open enrollment or a benefits change
Summary	Gross pay, total taxes, total deductions, net pay, and the deposit account	Gross − taxes − deductions = net, and the deposit matches

The earnings block, decoded

Everything in this block adds up to gross pay - the figure every tax is calculated from. Hourly workers should see regular and overtime hours on separate lines, because overtime is paid at least 1.5× the regular rate under the federal overtime rules.

Code	What it means
REG, RGLR	Regular hours at your base rate
OT, OVT	Overtime, normally 1.5× the regular rate for hours past 40 in a week
DT	Double time, 2× the rate, common in California and in union contracts
HOL	Holiday pay
VAC, PTO, SICK	Paid time off taken this period
BRVMT, JURY	Bereavement and jury duty pay
RETRO	Retroactive pay - a raise or correction owed for an earlier period
BONUS, COMM, SUP	Bonus, commission and other supplemental wages
SHFT, DIFF	Shift differential for nights or weekends
TIPS, TIP CR	Reported tips, and the tip credit applied against the cash wage
GTL, IMP	Imputed income - the taxable value of a benefit such as employer life cover above $50,000
EXP, REIMB	Expense reimbursement, usually not taxable and not part of gross pay

The tax block, decoded

These are the withholdings you do not choose. Only the federal and state income tax lines respond to your W-4; the rest are fixed percentages of wages.

Code	What it means
FED, FIT, FWT, Fed W/H	Federal income tax withheld. Set by your Form W-4.
OASDI, Fed OASDI/EE, SS	Social Security, 6.2% of wages up to $184,500 in 2026.
MED, Fed MED/EE	Medicare, 1.45% of all wages, plus 0.9% more above $200,000.
FICA	Social Security and Medicare together, 7.65%. Some stubs use one line instead of two.
SIT, ST TAX, State W/H	State income tax. Blank in the nine states that do not tax wages.
LIT, LCL, CITY	Local income tax - a city, county or school district levy.
SDI, CASDI, TDI	State disability insurance, an employee-paid premium in California, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Hawaii.
PFML, FLI, PFL	Paid family and medical leave contributions in the states that run a program.
SUI/SDI EE	Employee-side unemployment or disability contributions - only Alaska, New Jersey and Pennsylvania charge employees for unemployment.

Social Security and Medicare together make up FICA, and the Social Security line stops for the year once your wages pass $184,500. If the federal line looks wrong for your situation, the W-4 calculator shows what each line of the form is doing to it.

The deductions block, decoded

Deductions split into two groups that behave completely differently at tax time. Pre-tax lines come out before withholding is figured, so they cut your taxable wages; post-tax lines come out of money that has already been taxed. Which is which is the subject of the pre-tax versus post-tax guide.

Code	What it means
401K, 403B, TSP	Traditional retirement contribution. Pre-tax for income tax, still taxed for FICA.
ROTH, RTH 401K	Roth retirement contribution. Post-tax, so it does not lower this year's taxable wages.
MED, DEN, VIS	Health, dental and vision premiums, normally pre-tax through a Section 125 plan.
HSA, FSA, DCA	Health savings, flexible spending and dependent care accounts. Pre-tax, including FICA.
STD, LTD, LIFE, AD&D	Disability, life and accident cover. Usually post-tax, which keeps any benefit tax-free.
GARN, CHSUP, LEVY	Wage garnishment, child support and tax levies. Post-tax and legally capped.
UNION, DUES	Union dues
LOAN, 401K LN	Repayment of a loan against your retirement plan. Post-tax.
ARR, ARREARS	A deduction missed on an earlier check being caught up now.
EE / ER	Employee versus employer share. ER lines are what your employer pays; they never come out of your net.

A worked example

A salaried employee on $62,000 a year, paid every two weeks in a state with no income tax, putting $120 a period into a 401(k):

Line	Amount	Where it comes from
Gross pay	$2,384.62	$62,000 ÷ 26 pay periods
401(k) - pre-tax	− $120.00	Your election, taken before income tax is figured
Federal income tax	− $187.91	Annualized wages run through the W-4 method
Social Security (OASDI)	− $147.85	6.2% of gross, not reduced by the 401(k)
Medicare	− $34.58	1.45% of gross
Net pay	$1,894.28	What lands in the account

2026 federal rates, single filer, no state income tax. Your own stub will differ by a few dollars because payroll rounds through the IRS tables.

Note the detail that catches people out: the 401(k) contribution lowers the wages federal income tax is figured on, but Social Security and Medicare are still charged on the full $2,384.62. That is why the taxable-wage totals in the year-to-date column never all match each other.

The two-minute check

Do the period dates cover the right work? Pay dates lag period end dates, usually by a week.
Do hours and rate match what you worked? Overtime on its own line, at the higher rate.
Does the arithmetic close? Gross − taxes − deductions = net.
Are the year-to-date figures rising by roughly this check's amounts? A jump means a correction you should ask about.
Any new deduction line? Benefits changes and garnishments appear without warning.

If something is off, raise it with payroll in writing and reference the pay date and the specific line. Most errors are input errors - a wrong hours entry, a benefit election applied a period late, a W-4 that never got keyed - and they are far easier to fix in the same quarter than after a W-2 has been issued. If the whole check is smaller than you expected and nothing looks wrong, the shrinking paycheck guide works through the usual causes.

How to read a pay stub