Pay Stub Abbreviations from All Major Payroll Companies - Mr Pay Stubs (2024)

by Mr Pay Stubs December 31, 2021

Pay Stub Abbreviations are the abbreviations that you come across on any pay stub. Payroll companies abbreviate the information that is printed on your pay stub to reduce it and make it easier for them to fit a lot of information on a single sheet of paper.

Some payroll companies use their own set of these abbreviations while some don’t. In this article will cover pay stubs abbreviations from all major payroll companies like ADP, QuickBooks, Paychex, Ariba, E-Verify and Paycom.

The intention of this article is to provide general information about payroll abbreviations and how to understand your pay stub.

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How to Understand Pay Stub Abbreviations?

Some company usually imposes its own set of pay stub abbreviations to make it easier for employees to understand.

Sometimes it is too difficult for employees to remember all the abbreviations – that’s why we have compiled this information.

Pay Stub Abbreviations commonly used by all major payroll companies:

General Pay Stub Abbreviations

Here are some of the general pay stub abbreviations that you will run into on any pay stub.

• EN: Employee Name: The name of the Employee.
• SSN: Social security number: The Employee’s social security number.
• EID: Employee ID number: A company specific employee identification number.
• YTD: Year to date: The amount of earnings or deductions accumulated from the beginning of the year.

Income Pay Stub Abbreviations

The following are abbreviations related to income:

• SLRY: Salary: The amount the employee gets paid for the given pay period.
• HR: Hourly Rate: The employees’ hourly rate. If the employee is hired at $10 per hour, the employee will get paid $10 per every hour worked.
• HRS: Hours: Total hours the employee worked during the given pay period.
• REG: Reg Pay: Regular Earnings for work performed during a given pay period.
• SI: Supplemental Income: Additional income separate from the normal salary.
• OT: Overtime: Overtime pay is generally defined as one and a half times the employee’s normal salary rate.
• OT@1.5: Overtime rate of one and a half times the employee’s normal salary rate.
• OT@2: Overtime rate of two times the employee’s normal salary rate.
• PTO: Personal time off or paid time off

Pre-Tax Deductions Pay Stub Abbreviations

Pre-tax deductions are deductions that reduce your taxable income. They are deductions that are taken out from your income before the tax is calculated. Often, pre-tax deductions result in less taxes being calculated.

Keep in mind, federal and state regulations often change rules regarding pre-tax deductions. Therefore, consult your local tax professional.

The following are common pre-tax deduction abbreviations:

• 401k/Ret: 401k or retirement withholdings
• DCR: Dependent care reimbursem*nt
• Den/Dental: Dental premium
• INS/MED: Insurance or medical insurance deductions
• FSA: Flexible spending account
• HCR: Health care reimbursem*nt
• HSA: Health saving account
• LTD: Long term disability withholding
• STD: Short term disability withholding
• VIS/Vision: Vision premium

Tax Pay Stub Abbreviations

There are several different taxes typically displayed and taken out of your pay stubs.These taxes depend on your state and locality.

Here are common tax abbreviations:

• FED Tax: Federal income tax withheld.
• FICA: Federal Insurance Contributions Act: The law that guarantees that employees and employers contribute to Social Security and Medicare. It is also known as Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA).
• FICA / MT: Medicare: A Medicare Tax; typically, 1.45% of taxable income.
• FICA / SS: Social Security: Social Security Tax; 6.2% of taxable income up to a certain limit depending on tax year.
• FUTA: Federal Unemployment Tax: FUTA tax is basically a federal payroll tax that is used to match state unemployment funds. It is relevant to employers that pay wages subject to unemployment payroll taxes.
• ST: State income tax withheld. The State tax may be abbreviated to the abbreviation of the state. (ex. CA Tax, FL Tax, etc.)
• SUI: SUI is State Unemployment Insurance; The amount depends on the tax year and other factors. Also, the amount withheld from your wages may vary based on how much you pay into your state’s unemployment insurance program.
• OASDI: OASDI stands for Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance.
• Local Taxes: These are the other types of taxes that an employer may withhold. These are not common in all states.

After-Tax Deductions – Pay Stub Abbreviations

After Tax deduction are deductions taken out after tax is calculated. Therefore, after tax deductions don’t affect your tax amounts.

The following are common after-tax deduction abbreviations:

• Bankrpty: Bankruptcy
• CHD SU: Child support
• Garn: Garnishment flat rate
• Garn %: Garnishment percentage
• StdnLoan: Student loan
• TX Levy: Tax levy
• IRS Levy: Internal Revenue Servicelevy
• R401: Roth 401(k) contributions
• ESPP: Employer-sponsored pension plans
• C529: 529 college savings plans
• UD: Union dues
• DSB: Disability and certain life insurance policies
• CC: Charitable contributions
• VIS/Vision: Vision premium

Other Pay Stub Abbreviations

The following is an accumulated list of all pay stub abbreviations:

Why Pay Stubs are important?

Pay stubs are important for employees because it has your earned income and taxes deducted from your paycheck which helps you get your final net pay. Many people use pay stubs to verity their income for a house, apartment, car, or loan.

What if you don’t understand the abbreviations?

If any of the information on your paystub seems incorrect or you don’t understand, you can contact your payroll department and have them correct it or explain it to you.Conversely, you can go down to Human Resources directly.

Final Thoughts

The above-listed pay stub abbreviations are generally used by most payroll companies. You may also be able find more resources in your employee handbooks or HR department.

In this article we discussed the most commonly abbreviated information seen on paystubs; However, keep in mind that rules, regulations, and laws change frequently for different employers and occupations. In other words, there are some specific paystub abbreviations that are company dependent.

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