Pay Stub Codes and Abbreviations Explained: 2026 Guide
REG, OASDI, FIT, GTL, CASDI: every pay stub code decoded in plain English, with the 2026 rate behind each line and the math to check your own paycheck.
This article is general information, not tax or financial advice. Tax rules change, individual situations vary, and every figure here is an estimate. Confirm specifics with a qualified tax professional before making money decisions.
The five zones of a pay stub, and the rule that decodes half the codes
There is no national standard for pay stub labels. ADP, Paychex, Workday, Gusto, UKG, and PeopleSoft each truncate the same concept differently, and your employer can invent custom codes on top of that. Fed OASDI/EE, SS, Soc Sec, and OASDI are all the same tax.
Which is why memorizing a code list gets you nowhere. Learn the layout instead.
Every stub, whatever the platform, has five zones: earnings, pre-tax deductions, taxes withheld, post-tax deductions, and totals with YTD figures. Find which column your mystery code sits in and you have already narrowed it to a handful of possibilities.
Then there is the one payroll convention worth memorizing: EE means employee, ER means employer.
An EE-suffixed line is money that left your pay. Fed MED/EE is your 1.45% Medicare withholding. An ER-suffixed line is your employer’s own contribution, printed for transparency and never subtracted from your net. Fed MED/ER is the matching 1.45% your employer paid on top of your wages, and it costs you nothing.
That one rule resolves a large share of “why am I being charged twice” panic. If you see the same tax twice, check the suffix before you email HR.
One more piece of vocabulary before the tables. YTD is year-to-date, the running calendar-year total printed beside each current-period figure. YTD columns are how you catch a wage-base cutoff, a contribution limit, or a deduction that quietly started three periods ago.
Earnings codes: what you were actually paid
The earnings zone sits at the top. Each line is usually hours, rate, current amount, and YTD amount.
| Code | Commonly means | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| REG, RGLR, REGPAY | Regular pay | Hours x base rate |
| OT, OVT, OT1.5 | Overtime | Typically 1.5x rate |
| DT, OT2.0 | Double time | 2x rate |
| HOL | Holiday pay | |
| PTO, VAC, SICK, FLOAT | Paid time off taken | Paid at base rate |
| BONUS, BNS, SPIFF | Bonus | Often withheld at the 22% supplemental flat rate |
| COMM | Commission | Also supplemental wages |
| TIPS, TIPCR, CHGTIP | Reported or charged tips | |
| RETRO | Retroactive pay correction | Back pay for a prior period |
| SHFT, DIFF, SHIFTD | Shift differential | Premium for nights or weekends |
| ONCALL, STBY | On-call or standby pay | |
| SEV | Severance | |
| REIMB, EXP, MILE | Expense reimbursement | Not income, not taxed |
| GTL, IMP, IMP INC | Imputed income | Taxable, but not cash |
Two of these cause more confusion than the rest put together, and they do it in opposite directions.
REIMB is money that raises your net pay but is not income. Mileage, a travel expense, a home-office stipend under an accountable plan: it flows straight to the bottom line untaxed, which is why your net can jump without your gross moving much.
GTL is the mirror image. Group-term life insurance is a benefit, not cash, but the IRS excludes only the first $50,000 of employer-paid coverage. Coverage above that becomes imputed income, valued from the cost-per-$1,000-of-protection table in Publication 15-B, and it gets added to your taxable wages.
Most write-ups get the next part wrong. GTL imputed income is subject to Social Security and Medicare tax, but your employer is not required to withhold federal income tax on it. Publication 15-B makes that withholding optional, so some employers do it and some do not. Either way it is taxable income and it shows up in W-2 Box 1. A GTL line raises your FICA withholding and your reported wages while adding zero dollars to your check.
New for 2026, tipped and overtime-heavy workers are seeing extra tracking lines. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act added W-2 Box 12 codes TP (total cash tips reported to employer) and TT (total qualified overtime compensation), which support the temporary tips and overtime deductions on your return. Some payroll platforms have started surfacing those running totals on the stub itself. They are informational totals, not deductions, and they should not change your net.
Tax withholding codes and the 2026 rates behind them
This is the zone worth checking line by line, because every federal code here has a rate you can multiply yourself.
| Code | What it is | 2026 rate or rule |
|---|---|---|
| FIT, FITW, FED, FWT, FEDTAX | Federal income tax | Set by your Form W-4 and the IRS Pub. 15-T tables, not a flat rate |
| FICA | Umbrella term, not one tax | The two lines below, 7.65% combined |
| SS, SOC SEC, OASDI, Fed OASDI/EE | Social Security | 6.2% on wages up to $184,500 |
| MED, MEDI, Fed MED/EE, HI | Medicare | 1.45%, no wage cap |
| ADDL MED, MED SUR | Additional Medicare | 0.9% on wages above $200,000 single or head of household, $250,000 joint, $125,000 married filing separately |
| SIT, ST TAX, ST WH | State income tax | Varies; nine states have none |
| LOCAL, CITY, EIT, LST, OPT | Local or occupational tax | Common in PA, OH, NY, MO, MD, IN |
| SUI, SUTA | State unemployment | Employee-paid in AK, NJ, and PA only |
| ADDL FIT, EXTRA WH | Extra withholding you requested | From W-4 Step 4(c) |
FIT is the variable one, and it is not a percentage of your gross. It comes out of the withholding tables in Publication 15-T, applied to your W-4 elections, your pay frequency, and your taxable wages for the period. Change your filing status or add a dependent credit and this line moves. Nothing else on the stub does.
If your FIT line looks too high or too low, the fix is a new W-4, and our W-4 withholding planner will show you what a change does per paycheck. The post on adjusting your W-4 to change take-home pay covers which step to touch.
FICA, by contrast, is fixed, and your W-4 has nothing to do with it. Social Security runs 6.2% on wages up to $184,500 in 2026. Medicare runs 1.45% with no ceiling. Together that is 7.65%, the one number on your stub that should reconcile to the penny every period.
Careful with the phrase “FICA is 7.65% of my paycheck.” It is 7.65% only until your year-to-date Social Security wages cross $184,500. After that the OASDI line stops entirely for the rest of the calendar year and only the 1.45% Medicare line continues. That is the most common explanation for a mid-year raise in net pay that nobody announced, and it resets every January. If your check moved and you want the full list of suspects, we cover them in why your paycheck got smaller.
A note on SUI. Unemployment insurance is an employer tax almost everywhere. Alaska, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania are the only states with an employee-paid share. If you see SUI or SUTA on a stub outside those three, look for an ER suffix, because it should not be reducing your net.
For how the whole stack adds up as a percentage, what percent of your paycheck goes to taxes works through a full example.
Deduction codes: pre-tax, post-tax, and the three-gross problem
Deductions split into two groups that look identical on the page and behave nothing alike.
Pre-tax deduction codes
| Code | What it is | 2026 limit |
|---|---|---|
| 401K, 403B, 457, TSP | Traditional retirement deferral | $24,500, plus $8,000 catch-up at 50+ or $11,250 at 60 to 63 |
| MED, MEDICAL, DEN, VIS | Section 125 insurance premiums | Plan-specific |
| HSA, HSA EE | Health savings account | $4,400 individual, $8,750 family, plus $1,000 at 55+ |
| FSA, HCFSA | Health care FSA | $3,400, with up to $680 carryover |
| DCFSA, DEPCARE | Dependent care FSA | |
| TRANS, COMMUTER, PKG | Qualified transit and parking |
One trap: ROTH 401K sits right beside the traditional 401(k) code, and it is a post-tax deduction. A Roth deferral reduces your net dollar for dollar and does not lower your taxable gross at all. Our piece on how a 401(k) affects take-home pay has the per-bracket math, and the 401(k) paycheck impact calculator will run it for your salary.
Also new in 2026: if your prior-year wages exceeded $150,000, your catch-up contributions must be made as Roth, which means the catch-up portion now hits your net at full price.
Post-tax deduction codes
| Code | What it is |
|---|---|
| ROTH, ROTH401K | Designated Roth deferral |
| UD, UNION, DUES | Union dues |
| STD, LTD, DIS | Disability insurance premiums |
| LIFE, SUPP LIFE, AD&D | Voluntary life and accident coverage |
| GARN, CRED GARN | Creditor garnishment |
| CHSPPRT, CHILD SUP | Child support order |
| IRS LEVY, TAX LEVY | Federal tax levy |
| STDNLOAN | Student loan wage garnishment |
| UW, CHAR, GIVE | Charitable payroll giving |
| LOAN, 401K LOAN | Retirement plan loan repayment |
Disability premiums (STD, LTD) are often taken post-tax on purpose. Paying with after-tax dollars means any future benefit payments arrive tax-free, which is usually the better trade.
Why your stub shows three different gross numbers
More people go looking for an explanation of this than for any single code: the totals zone lists Gross Pay, Federal Taxable Gross, and Social Security Wages, and all three are different numbers.
They differ because pre-tax deductions do not all shield the same taxes.
- Traditional 401(k), 403(b), 457, TSP: reduces federal (and usually state) taxable wages. Does not reduce Social Security or Medicare wages. You pay FICA on every dollar you defer.
- Section 125 cafeteria plan items (medical, dental, and vision premiums, health FSA, dependent care FSA, payroll-deducted HSA): reduce federal taxable wages and Social Security and Medicare wages.
So a worker deferring 10% to a traditional 401(k) while paying medical premiums pre-tax will see Federal Taxable Gross well below Gross Pay, and Social Security Wages sitting in between. This is also why W-2 Box 1 comes in lower than Box 3 and Box 5.
The gross vs net pay breakdown walks the full path from one to the other, and the HSA and FSA paycheck impact calculator shows what a Section 125 election does to all four wage bases at once.
State-specific codes your stub may show
Federal codes are consistent enough. State codes are where people get stuck, because a mandatory state program can look exactly like an optional benefit deduction.
| Code | State | What it funds |
|---|---|---|
| SDI, CASDI, VPDI | CA | State disability insurance; VPDI is an approved voluntary plan substitute |
| PFL, NY PFL, DBL | NY | Paid Family Leave and statutory disability |
| NJ SUI, NJ SDI, NJ FLI | NJ | Unemployment, disability, and family leave, all employee-paid |
| WA CARES, LTC | WA | Long-term care benefit |
| WA PFML, PFML EE | WA | Paid family and medical leave |
| STT, OR STT | OR | Statewide transit tax |
| OR PFML, PLO | OR | Paid Leave Oregon |
| MA PFML | MA | Paid family and medical leave |
| LST, EIT, PA SUI | PA | Local services tax, earned income tax, employee unemployment |
| FAMLI | CO | Family and medical leave insurance |
| TDI | HI | Temporary disability insurance |
| CT PFML | CT | Paid leave |
These are real withholdings, not optional benefits, and they are one reason two people with identical salaries in different states take home different amounts. Salary Calculator itemizes them by name as state special taxes across all 50 states plus DC, so a California stub shows a distinct CA SDI line rather than a lumped state total.
If you are weighing a move or a remote offer, the state relocation take-home comparison puts two states side by side with these programs included.
Verify the math, and what to do about a code you cannot identify
Identifying a code is half the job. Confirming the dollar amount is the half nobody helps with. Four checks, in order of how reliably they catch errors.
1. Medicare, first. Take the Medicare Wages figure from the totals zone and multiply by 1.45%. This should match the MED line exactly, every period, with no exceptions until you cross an additional Medicare threshold. If it does not reconcile, something is wrong with your wage base and everything downstream is suspect.
2. Social Security. Social Security Wages times 6.2% should match the OASDI line. If the line is zero or partial, check your YTD Social Security wages against the $184,500 cap before assuming an error.
3. Earnings. Hours times rate for REG, plus overtime hours at 1.5x for OT. Add every earnings line and confirm the total equals Gross Pay.
4. The bottom line. Gross Pay minus every listed deduction, tax, and withholding should equal Net Pay to the penny. If it does not, there is an unlisted deduction, and you are entitled to ask what it is.
Your actual rights to a pay stub
There is no federal law requiring your employer to give you a pay stub. The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to keep payroll records, three years for payroll records and two years for wage-computation records, per DOL Fact Sheet #21. It does not require them to hand you anything.
Access and itemization are state law. Roughly 40 states require some form of wage statement. Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Dakota, and Tennessee require none at all. At the other end, California Labor Code §226 requires nine specific elements including every deduction itemized by purpose and amount, which makes a vague California stub itself a violation.
The escalation path
Work it in this order:
- Check your own paperwork. Onboarding forms and benefits elections explain most unknown codes, because most unknown codes are employer-defined benefit labels.
- Ask payroll for the code dictionary. Every payroll department has one. Requesting it is routine and gets you the whole map at once.
- Put a dispute in writing. Email creates a record and a date. Include the pay period, the code, and the amount.
- Contact your state labor agency if it is unresolved. Your itemized wage statement is the evidence, which is exactly why state itemization rules exist.
Model what your stub should say
The cleanest way to know whether a deduction is legitimate is to build the paycheck yourself and compare it line to line.
That is what the Salary Calculator app (Stub44) produces: a breakdown that mirrors a real stub, with Gross, Taxable Additional Income, Pre-tax Deductions, Taxable Income, Federal Tax, State Tax, State Special Taxes itemized by name, Social Security, Medicare, Post-tax Deductions, and Net. Enter your state, filing status, W-4 details, and each deduction, and you get the number your stub should be showing.
There is also a YTD FICA-taxable earnings field, which is how you confirm a mid-year Social Security cutoff instead of guessing at it. When your next stub arrives, you can download Salary Calculator and check it line by line in about two minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does OASDI mean on my pay stub?
OASDI is Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance, the formal name for Social Security. It is withheld at 6.2% of your wages up to $184,500 in 2026, and it may appear as OASDI, Fed OASDI/EE, SS, or Soc Sec depending on your payroll platform.
What is the difference between FICA and FIT on a pay stub?
FIT is federal income tax, calculated from your Form W-4 and your earnings, and it varies with your withholding elections. FICA is a separate payroll tax covering Social Security (6.2%) and Medicare (1.45%) at flat rates that your W-4 does not affect.
What do EE and ER mean on a pay stub?
EE means employee and ER means employer. An EE-suffixed line is money withheld from your pay; an ER line is your employer's own contribution, shown for transparency and never subtracted from your net.
What is GTL on my pay stub?
GTL is group-term life insurance. Employer-paid coverage above $50,000 creates imputed income that is added to your taxable wages and hit with Social Security and Medicare tax, even though no extra cash appears in your check.
Why is my taxable gross lower than my gross pay?
Pre-tax deductions come out before taxes are calculated. A traditional 401(k) lowers your federal taxable gross but not your Social Security or Medicare wages, while Section 125 items like medical premiums, an FSA, or a payroll HSA lower all of them.
What does YTD mean on a pay stub?
YTD is year-to-date: the running total for the calendar year alongside each current-period figure. It is how you confirm you have not crossed the Social Security wage base or exceeded a 401(k) or HSA contribution limit.
Why did Social Security stop coming out of my paycheck?
Once your year-to-date wages pass the Social Security wage base, which is $184,500 in 2026, the 6.2% withholding stops for the rest of the year and your net pay rises. Medicare has no cap and keeps coming out at 1.45%.
What should I do if I see a pay stub code I do not recognize?
Check your onboarding and benefits-election paperwork first, since most unknown codes are employer-defined benefit or deduction labels. If it is still unclear, ask payroll for their code dictionary in writing, and if you believe money was withheld in error, most states require an itemized wage statement you can use as evidence.