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Pay Stub (Earnings Statement)

The breakdown attached to each paycheck: gross pay, taxes and withholdings, deductions, and net pay — where your money is going before you see it.

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Your your employer issues your copy. Use the sample below to read your own, and the official guide to go deeper.

Wages & pay (DOL)

Where it's explained

Sample

Illustrative — for learning, not an official copy

A full bi-weekly pay stub as the fictional employee Maya Chen receives it: an employer and employee header, the pay period and pay date, an earnings section showing her gross pay for the period and year-to-date, a deductions section listing federal income tax withheld, Social Security at 6.2%, Medicare at 1.45%, and a 401(k) line at $0 because she is not yet enrolled, and a net-pay total. The gross line and the net-pay line are tinted and tagged as the two figures that matter, illustrating the roughly thirty-percent gap between what she earns and what she takes home. Washington State has no state income tax, so no state-tax line appears.

Northpoint Systems Inc.
500 Boren Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109
EARNINGS STATEMENT
Statement #PS-2026-013
EMPLOYEE
NameMaya L. Chen
SSN•••-••-4417
Status / allowancesSingle · W-4 step 1 only
Annual salary$145,000.00
PAY PERIOD
PeriodJun 6 – Jun 19, 2026
Pay dateJun 26, 2026
FrequencyBi-weekly · 26 / yr
Check this year13 of 26
EARNINGS
DESCRIPTIONRATEHOURSTHIS PERIODYEAR TO DATE
Regular — salaried—80.00$5,576.92$72,499.96
Gross paywhat she earned$5,576.92$72,499.96
DEDUCTIONS — WHAT COMES OUT
DESCRIPTIONBASISTHIS PERIODYEAR TO DATE
Federal income tax withheldW-4−$1,273.28−$16,552.64
Social Security (OASDI)6.20%−$345.77−$4,495.01
Medicare1.45%−$80.87−$1,051.31
WA state income tax — none in Washington0.00%$0.00$0.00
401(k) — pre-tax — not yet enrolled0%$0.00$0.00
Total deductions−$1,699.92−$22,098.96
The gap. $1,699.92 of every $5,576.92 check — about 30.5% — never reaches Maya's bank. Her $145,000 salary works out to roughly $100,800 a year in take-home pay.
NET PAY — what lands in her accountwhat she keeps
Direct deposit · •••• 8820 · YTD $50,401.00
$3,877.00
this check
SAMPLE — FOR LEARNINGGross $5,576.92 − $1,699.92 = Net $3,877.00
Fictional specimen for educational use. Name, SSN, employer, and figures are invented and refer to no real person or paycheck. Withholding shown is illustrative; your own federal withholding depends on your W-4 and tax situation. Washington State levies no state income tax.
Maya Chen's bi-weekly pay stub. She earns $145,000 — a $5,576.92 gross check 26 times a year — but the two tinted lines tell the real story: gross pay (what she earned, top) and net pay (what she keeps, bottom). Federal tax, Social Security, and Medicare carve off about 30% before the money is hers, so $3,877.00 lands each payday — roughly $100,800 a year. There is no 401(k) line yet and no state-tax line at all, because she hasn't enrolled and Washington taxes no income.