What is the pay stub?

A pay cheque, also spelt pay check, is traditionally a paper document (a cheque) issued by an employer to pay an employee for services rendered. In recent times, the physical paycheck has been increasingly replaced by electronic direct deposits to the employee's designated bank account or loaded onto a payroll card. Employees may still receive a pay slip to detail the calculations of the final payment amount.

A payslip, pay stub, paystub, pay advice, or sometimes paycheck stub, is a document an employee receives either as a notice that the direct deposit transaction has gone through, or is attached to the paycheck. Each country has laws as to what must be included on a pay slip, but which would typically include details of the gross wages for the pay period and the taxes and any other deductions the employer is required to make by law; as well as other personal deductions such as retirement plan or pension contributions, insurances, garnishments, or charitable contributions taken out of the gross amount to arrive at the final net amount of the pay, also including the year to date totals in some circumstances.

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How long do you have to keep pay stubs?

“You should retain copies of your federal tax returns for 7 years.” Is that true, or a myth? How long should you keep those quarterly and annual statements you get about your investment accounts? And how long should you keep bank statements before throwing them away?

Your age, wealth & health might shape your answer. If you are not yet retired, then you may wish to follow the general “rules of thumb” presented across the rest of this article.

On the other hand, if you are retired and there is any chance that you might need to apply for Medicaid, then you should keep at least five years of all financial records on hand (including credit card statements).
Why? Medicaid has a five-year "lookback" period in many states. To be approved for benefits in those states, you have to prove that you didn’t give away funds during that five-year period. To prove this, you must produce complete records from every bank and brokerage account to which you have access, including those held jointly.1
Another special circumstance: if someone you love ends up under court supervision via guardianship or conservatorship, all financial records must be kept from the date of that guardian's or conservator's appointment until the court gives final approval to the fiduciary's financial account.

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