Pay period and payment date
Most paystubs show both the dates during which you earned the wages and the date the employer paid them. Those dates are not always the same. A biweekly pay period covers two weeks, but a paycheck may arrive several days after the period closes. If you are checking a change in hours or hourly rate, compare it with the dates on the earnings section.
Gross earnings
Gross pay includes the compensation paid before employee taxes and deductions. It may contain separate lines for regular hours, overtime, paid time off, bonuses, commissions, and other compensation. Some items are treated differently for federal withholding or Social Security purposes, so gross pay alone does not always tell you each taxable wage base.
Federal taxable wages
The wage amount used for federal income tax withholding may be lower than total gross earnings if certain pre-tax benefits or traditional retirement deferrals apply. For example, an eligible traditional 401(k) deferral usually reduces federal income-taxable wages. The actual withholding also depends on your Form W-4 and the employer's payroll calculation method.
Social Security and Medicare wages
Social Security tax is generally 6.2% of covered employee wages up to a calendar-year maximum; the 2026 wage base is $184,500. Medicare generally takes 1.45% of covered wages without that maximum. Many paystubs label these entries “OASDI,” “SS,” “HI,” “Medicare,” or simply “FICA.” An employee's 401(k) deferral generally does not remove those earnings from FICA wages, which is why different taxable wage figures may appear on the same stub.
For employees paid over $200,000 in Medicare wages by one employer during the year, employers must withhold another 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax on the amount above that threshold. The final Additional Medicare Tax liability on your tax return can depend on your filing status and other wages, which can be different from the withholding trigger.
State and local payroll lines
Depending on where you work and live, you may see state income tax, local income tax, state disability insurance, paid family leave contributions, or other mandated payroll programs. These are not one uniform national tax rate. Read your state's official tax materials and your employer's payroll guide to understand the specific line items.
Pre-tax and after-tax benefits
Health, dental, vision, retirement, transit, and other payroll benefits do not all share one tax treatment. The paystub may show them grouped under “before-tax” and “after-tax,” but those categories can have different meanings for income tax and FICA. Ask your payroll or benefits department how a deduction is classified if the taxable-wage totals do not reconcile with your expectation.
Year-to-date versus current amount
Many stubs have a current-period column and a year-to-date (YTD) column. The YTD figures accumulate since the beginning of the payroll year or calendar year. They are useful for checking whether the Social Security wage cap has been reached, tracking retirement deferrals, and verifying the withholding on past checks.
Net pay and direct deposit
Net pay is what remains after employee taxes and deductions. It is the amount usually sent to your bank account, though some employers allow split direct deposits. If net pay changes unexpectedly, compare the earning lines, W-4 withholding, benefit deductions, and one-off adjustments with the prior period before assuming the tax rate changed.
Use the calculator as a comparison, not an audit
Enter the gross wage information from your stub into the King Calculators estimator. If the federal withholding differs, remember that this tool uses an annualized bracket projection rather than the precise tables your employer uses. A difference is a reason to examine the details, not proof of a payroll error.
Sources and further reading: IRS 2026 inflation adjustments, IRS Publication 15-T, and Social Security Administration 2026 fact sheet.