Here’s why you shouldn’t throw your pay stub away

A pay stub, which is also known as a payslip, is an important document. It is essentially a record of how much you have been paid over a certain period. While you will probably not need your pay stubs in years to come, it is vital you hold on to them until you are sure they will no longer be required. Let us take a closer look at why you should not throw your pay stubs away.

What does a pay stub include?

You will receive a pay stub from your employer for each pay period. Most employees are paid on a weekly or monthly basis, but you could be paid on a bi-weekly or bi-monthly basis. Each pay stub shows the total earnings for that pay period, the deductions that have been taken from the gross pay, and the net pay that you are left with after the deductions for taxes and other things. 

What do you do if you have not received a pay stub?

If you have not received a pay stub for a pay period, you can quickly and safely generate a pay stub using an online service like FormPros. You simply need to answer a few questions to instantly create a pay stub. The service includes handy auto-complete and calculation features for earnings and income tax deductions too.

Why do you need to save your pay stubs?

There are various reasons why you may need the information contained on your pay stub, so do not throw it away. The most common reasons for holding on to your pay stub are as follows.

- You can use the pay stub as evidence to get paid correctly if the amount deposited in your bank account does not match the figure displayed on the pay stub.

- Filing taxes becomes easier when you have your pay stubs, as you will have an instant record of your year’s earnings. You can also use pay stubs to check how much tax you have paid.

- Pay stubs are useful for proving your income when doing things like applying for a mortgage or renting an apartment so that you can prove you have sufficient income for the cost of the loan or rent.

- Finally, holding onto your pay stubs allows you to keep a record of your salary.

How long do you need to keep pay stubs?

You should never immediately throw away your pay stubs for the reasons outlined above. However, you do not need to keep your pay stubs indefinitely. If you are certain you have been paid the right amount of wages and you have paid the right amount of taxes over the course of a tax year, you have the option of throwing your pay stubs away. But, although you can use other financial records for proving your income for things like applying for a mortgage, it can be useful to have pay stubs as an alternative record. So, there is no great harm in getting rid of your pay stubs after a tax year as long as all payments and taxes are correct. But at the same time, there is no harm in holding on to your pay stubs, as they could come in handy later down the line.