Online Check Stub Maker for Employers Who Pay by Check

Plenty of small employers still pay by paper check: a restaurant paying a part-time server, a landscaper paying a seasonal crew, a family business paying a relative. The check moves the money. The check stub explains it. Our check stub maker produces that explanation with the payroll math done, ready to print and hand over with the check.

Check, check stub, direct deposit advice

Document	What it is	Negotiable?
Paycheck	An order to your bank to pay the employee the net amount	Yes
Check stub (pay stub)	The statement of gross pay, deductions, net pay and YTD that goes with the check	No
Direct deposit advice	The same statement plus where the net pay was deposited, used when there's no paper check	No

We make stubs and advice slips. We don't print checks or move money. If you pay some employees by check and others by direct deposit, every stub you buy from us includes a direct deposit advice slip at no extra charge. Use it for the direct deposit employees and skip it for the check payees.

Worked example: a weekly paper paycheck

A Florida café pays a part-time barista $16.00 an hour by check every Friday. This week she worked 22 hours. Her 2026 W-4 says single, with no other entries.

Stub line	Amount	Notes
Regular pay, 22 hrs × $16.00	$352.00	Gross pay
Federal income tax	$4.24	$352 × 52 = $18,304, minus $8,600, falls in the 10% bracket above $7,500
Social Security	$21.82	6.2%
Medicare	$5.10	1.45%
Florida income tax	—	Florida has no state income tax
Net pay	$320.84	The check is written for exactly this amount

The cents matter. If the check says $320.84 and the stub says $320.48, the employee can't reconcile the two, and anyone reviewing them later sees a mismatch. Build the stub first, then write the check for its net pay.

What the law asks of check stubs

Federal law doesn't require stubs. The U.S. Department of Labor says the FLSA requires employers to keep accurate records of hours and wages but doesn't require employers to provide pay stubs. Many states do require them, and several address the paper-check format directly:

• California requires an itemized statement each time wages are paid, by check, in cash or otherwise, as a detachable part of the check or a separate writing. See our California guide.
• Texas law lets the earnings statement appear on a check voucher, though that rule covers only employers outside federal FLSA coverage. See our Texas guide.
• New York requires a wage statement with every payment of wages. See our New York guide.

For a state-by-state view, see pay stub laws by state.

Printing and handing over stubs

• Pick a format that prints cleanly. Use one PDF per pay date to print a single stub, or a combined PDF to print a run at once. JPEGs suit employees who want an image on their phone.
• Print at 100% scale so amounts and dates stay legible.
• Keep your own copy. State record rules vary. California requires employers to keep wage statement copies for at least three years, and New York requires payroll records for six. A saved PDF of each stub is the simplest way to comply.
• Hand the stub over with the check, in the same envelope or the same handoff. A stub that arrives a week later defeats its purpose.

Weekly checks add up: order in runs

Weekly payroll means 52 stubs a year per employee, and in 2027 a Friday payroll has 53 paydays. Building a month at a time saves time and money, because statements are priced by the number in the order:

Stubs in the order	Total	Per stub
1	$6.99	$6.99
4	$25.96	$6.49
5	$27.95	$5.59

Hourly pay changes week to week, so each stub in a run has its own hours, and the year-to-date column rolls forward from one week to the next. The preview shows all of them before you pay.

If you'd rather not batch, the optional payday reminder emails you the day before each pay date with last week's details filled in. You update the hours, check the preview and pay for that one stub. It's never a subscription.

After you print

Corrections are free for 30 days: fix a typo in the same stub and pay period and reprint. Downloads stay available for 90 days through order lookup. If you later move employees to direct deposit, see our guide to the direct deposit slip, the paperless counterpart of the check stub.