Read a pay statement

A pay statement shows what an employee earned in a pay period, what was withheld, and what was paid out. Hours-based earnings trace back to the approved timecards for the period; everything else — additional earnings, taxes, deductions and year-to-date totals — comes from the payroll inputs for the run and the calculations your payroll provider applies to them.

The sections

Earnings. One line per earning type. Regular hours and overtime hours each show hours, rate, and amount. Additional earnings — bonuses, tips, reimbursements — appear as their own lines, because the earning type they were entered under determines how they are treated.

Employee taxes. What was withheld from the employee: federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, and any state and local taxes that apply. These reduce take-home pay.

Deductions. Anything else subtracted after or before tax, depending on its type.

Net pay. Gross earnings minus employee taxes and deductions — the amount that reaches the bank account.

Year to date. The running totals for the calendar year, alongside the current period. YTD is the figure employees compare against when something looks off.

Employer taxes are not on the employee’s side

Employer-paid taxes are a cost to the business, not a withholding from the employee. They appear in the payroll run’s employer totals, not in the employee’s net pay calculation.

Tracing a number back

For an hours-based line, the hours are the place to start, not the rate:

1. Check the hours on the line against the employee’s approved timecard for the period.
2. If the hours are right, check the pay rate and its effective date — a mid-period rate change applies only from that date forward.
3. If overtime looks wrong, check the workweek start day in your store settings; overtime is computed per workweek, not per pay period.

For an additional-earnings line, check what was entered on the run — see Add additional earnings. For a tax or deduction figure, the inputs are the earning types on the run and the employee’s payroll details; the amounts themselves are calculated by your payroll provider.

Corrections to a submitted run are made with an off-cycle run rather than an edit — see Run payroll and Approve timecards.