How to Make a Pay Stub
A step-by-step guide to making a professional pay stub — what to include, how each tax line is calculated, and how to generate one free in about three minutes. No per-stub fees, no signup, no watermarks.
Make a pay stub in 5 steps
- Gather your earnings, pay dates, and filing status.
- Enter the employer and employee name and address.
- Set the pay frequency, pay period dates, and gross pay.
- Let federal, state, Social Security, and Medicare calculate automatically — add any custom deductions.
- Preview the net pay and download the PDF.
You can do all five right here — the generator is below.
Company Information
What a Pay Stub Must Include
A pay stub that a landlord, lender, or government office will accept needs the same core sections a real payroll stub has. Leaving lines out is the most common reason a self-made stub gets rejected. Every pay stub should show:
- Employer details — company name and address. If you are self-employed, this is your legal name or registered business name.
- Employee details — your name and address, and optionally an employee ID or the last four digits of your SSN.
- Pay period and pay date — the start and end of the period worked, and the date you were paid.
- Gross pay — total earnings before any deductions, for both the current period and year-to-date.
- Taxes withheld — federal income tax, state income tax, Social Security, and Medicare, each on its own line.
- Other deductions — 401(k), health insurance, or any pre/post-tax deductions that apply to you.
- Net pay — take-home pay after all deductions, the figure that should match your bank deposit.
- Year-to-date (YTD) totals — running totals for gross pay and each deduction, which lenders use to confirm income is consistent.
How to Make a Pay Stub: Each Step in Detail
1. Gather your earnings information
Start with what you earned for the period. If you are paid a salary, use the gross amount for that pay period (annual salary divided by the number of pay periods). If you are paid hourly, multiply your hourly rate by the hours worked. Self-employed? Use the gross amount you actually received before setting anything aside for taxes. Have your pay dates and filing status ready too.
2. Enter employer and employee details
Add the company name and address. If you run a business as a sole proprietor, your own legal name and home address are acceptable — that is where the IRS expects self-employed income to be reported. If you have an LLC, use the LLC name. Then add the employee name and address (yourself, in most self-made stubs).
3. Set the pay period and gross pay
Choose the pay frequency that matches how you are actually paid — weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, or monthly. Enter the period start and end dates and the pay date, then the gross pay for the period. Matching the frequency to your real bank deposits is what makes a stub verifiable.
4. Let the tax lines calculate
This is the part people get wrong by hand. From your gross pay, work state, and filing status, the four standard withholding lines are computed: Social Security at 6.2% up to the annual wage base, Medicare at 1.45% (with a 0.9% surtax above $200,000), federal income tax using the current IRS brackets, and state income tax for your state (nine states have no income tax, so that line is zero there). Add custom deductions like 401(k) or health insurance if they apply.
5. Preview and download the PDF
Check that net pay lines up with what you actually took home and that the year-to-date totals look right. Then download the PDF. Most landlords and lenders want two or three consecutive stubs, so repeat for each recent pay period.
Making a Pay Stub by Hand vs. Using a Generator
You can build a pay stub manually in a spreadsheet, but the tax math is where it falls apart. Federal withholding is not a flat percentage — it follows graduated brackets that depend on filing status and annualized income. Social Security stops at a wage base each year. Medicare adds a surtax above a threshold. State rules vary from a flat tax to multi-bracket systems to no tax at all.
A generator applies all of those rules automatically and keeps the YTD totals internally consistent, which is exactly what an underwriter checks. The result is a stub that looks and adds up like one from real payroll software — in about three minutes instead of an afternoon of spreadsheet formulas.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Numbers that don't match your deposits. The fastest way to get a stub rejected is net pay that doesn't line up with the bank statements you submit alongside it.
- Forgetting year-to-date totals. A stub with no YTD column looks incomplete to a lender. Real stubs always carry running totals.
- Using a flat percentage for federal tax. Federal tax is bracketed, not a single rate — guessing a round number is an instant tell.
- Mismatched pay frequency. If your deposits are weekly but the stub says monthly, the math won't reconcile.
- Inflating the numbers. Beyond being fraud, a figure that doesn't match your 1099 or bank record is easy for any verifier to catch.
How to Make a Pay Stub — FAQ
Can I make my own pay stub?
Yes. Self-employed people, freelancers, and small business owners routinely create their own pay stubs to document income. It is legal as long as every figure reflects what was actually earned. What is not legal is fabricating numbers to mislead a landlord, lender, or government agency.
What information do I need to make a pay stub?
Employer name and address, employee name and address, the pay period dates and pay date, gross pay for the period, the work state, and the filing status. Federal tax, state tax, Social Security, and Medicare are calculated from those inputs.
How are the deductions on a pay stub calculated?
Social Security is 6.2% of gross pay up to the annual wage base, Medicare is 1.45% (plus a 0.9% surtax for high earners), federal income tax follows the IRS brackets for your filing status, and state income tax depends on your work state. A generator applies all four automatically so the lines reconcile.
How many pay stubs do I need for proof of income?
Most landlords and lenders ask for the two or three most recent consecutive pay stubs. Pairing them with matching bank statements (and a 1099 if you are self-employed) makes the strongest application.
Is it free to make a pay stub here?
Yes. PayStubFlow is free — no per-stub fees, no signup, and no watermark on the download. Many competing generators charge $4.99 to $14.99 per stub or require a subscription.