A defensible paystub verification checklist

A convincing paystub can be generated or edited in minutes. But visual polish is not the same as internal consistency. A careful review combines arithmetic, dates, year-to-date progression, file structure, and permitted source verification.

1. Reconcile gross pay, deductions, and net pay

Gross pay − total deductions = net pay

Add each tax, benefit, garnishment, and other deduction rather than relying only on the printed total. Then subtract the confirmed total from gross pay. Record any difference exactly; do not assume a rounding discrepancy is deliberate manipulation.

2. Check rate, hours, and earnings

For hourly work, regular hours multiplied by the stated rate should align with regular earnings, with overtime or shift differentials handled separately. For salaried work, the pay frequency should produce a plausible periodic amount. Bonuses, commissions, retroactive pay, and pre-tax deductions can complicate simple comparisons.

3. Compare year-to-date progression

Across consecutive paystubs, prior year-to-date totals plus current-period values should generally equal the new year-to-date totals. A reset may be appropriate at the start of a calendar or fiscal year. Corrections, voided checks, or payroll migrations can also require explanation.

4. Sanity-check withholding and pay cadence

These are pencil-and-paper checks; nothing has to be uploaded anywhere to run them. Social Security is commonly withheld at 6.2% of Social Security wages up to an annual wage base that changes each year, and Medicare at 1.45% of Medicare wages, so both lines should sit close to a fixed fraction of the taxable wages the stub itself prints. Pre-tax deductions move the bases apart—retirement deferrals typically reduce income-tax wages without reducing FICA wages—so compute from the taxable figures shown rather than from gross pay.

Cadence arithmetic is the other free check. Weekly pay produces 52 periods a year, biweekly 26, semimonthly 24, and monthly 12; an annual salary divided by that count should land near the printed gross, and year-to-date gross divided by the periodic gross should land near the number of periods elapsed at the pay date. Raises, bonuses, commissions, retroactive pay, unpaid leave, and a mid-year start all move these figures legitimately, so a gap is a question to ask rather than a finding.

5. Inspect the original PDF

Check whether the producer metadata, timestamps, and revision structure fit a payroll-system download. Design software, a late modification, or multiple saves are reasons to request context—not proof of fraud. Use Ocolta’s private Integrity Scan to capture the supported file-level evidence.

6. Compare authorized adjacent evidence

The free cross-document panel runs this comparison on fields you enter. If your policy allows it, compare stated net pay with a corresponding bank deposit, the pay date with the deposit date, and consistent applicant or employer identifiers across documents. A matching deposit strengthens consistency; it does not independently prove the employment relationship or the origin of every file.

7. Escalate with a defined next step

For material unresolved differences, use the same source-verification process you apply in comparable cases. This may mean requesting an original payroll PDF, another pay period, or authorized employer/payroll confirmation. The escalation ladder sets out what to request, in what order. Avoid collecting more personal data than the decision requires.