Pay calculators · Review
Paycheck Analyzer
Type in the pay, taxes and deductions from one paycheck and see it recalculated line by line: an optional hours-and-rates estimate, total taxes, total deductions, calculated net pay, effective tax rate, deduction percentage and annualized income — plus whether the paycheck balances arithmetically, the exact difference either way, and the formula behind every figure.
Free to use, no sign-up, and everything is calculated on your own device. Hours and rates are optional, so salaried, commissioned, tipped, bonus and piece-rate paychecks work from gross pay alone.
This analyzer checks arithmetic and provides general educational comparisons. It does not determine whether a paycheck complies with tax or employment law.
Enter the paycheck figures
Paycheck analysis summary
A self-prepared review of the figures you entered. It is not a verification of income or employment and it is not an official document.
This analyzer checks arithmetic and provides general educational comparisons. It does not determine whether a paycheck complies with tax or employment law.
Add gross pay and net pay to compare the entered net pay with gross pay minus the taxes and deductions entered.
- Hours-and-rates estimate
- $0.00
- Gross pay used in this analysis
- $0.00
- Entered gross versus hours-and-rates estimate
- Not compared
- Total taxes withheld
- $0.00
- Total deductions
- $0.00
- Calculated net pay
- $0.00
- Net pay you entered
- $0.00
- Entered net versus calculated net
- Not compared
- Effective tax rate
- 0.00%
- Deductions as a share of gross
- 0.00%
- Social Security comparison estimate
- —
- Medicare comparison estimate
- —
- Annualized gross (26 periods)
- $0.00
- Annualized net (26 periods)
- $0.00
Regular 0.00 + overtime 0.00 (hours × rate). Optional: bonuses, commissions, tips, shift differentials, salary and other earnings may explain a difference from gross pay.
Enter gross pay, or hours and rates, to calculate this.
Both an entered gross pay and hours-and-rates figures are needed for this comparison.
Federal + state + Social Security + Medicare + local, exactly as entered.
Pre-tax + post-tax + other deductions, exactly as entered.
0.00 − 0.00 − 0.00 = 0.00.
The net pay figure you copied from the paycheck.
Net pay and a gross figure are both needed for this comparison.
Total taxes ÷ gross pay used, for this one period only.
Total deductions ÷ gross pay used.
More information may be needed. Pre-tax deductions or a missing gross figure make a gross-pay comparison uninformative, so none is shown.
More information may be needed. Pre-tax deductions or a missing gross figure make a gross-pay comparison uninformative, so none is shown.
Gross pay used × 26. A simple projection from one paycheck; bonuses, unpaid time, variable hours and changing deductions can distort it.
Net pay × 26. A simple projection from one paycheck, not a forecast of annual income.
Analysis flags
More information may be needed
Gross pay is missing
Enter the gross pay for this period, or the hours and rates that produce it. Without gross pay the rates, percentages and reconciliation cannot be calculated.
More information may be needed
Net pay is missing
Add the net pay actually shown on the paycheck so it can be compared with gross pay minus the taxes and deductions you entered.
What each figure means
- Hours-and-rates estimate
- Regular hours × regular rate, plus overtime hours × overtime rate. Hours and rates are optional, and bonuses, commissions, shift differentials, tips and other earnings may explain a difference from the gross pay entered.
- Total taxes
- Federal income tax, state income tax, Social Security, Medicare and any local tax added together.
- Total deductions
- Pre-tax, post-tax and other deductions added together. Deductions are not taxes.
- Calculated net pay
- The gross pay you entered minus total taxes minus total deductions. The hours-and-rates estimate is never substituted for your entered gross pay here.
- Social Security and Medicare estimates
- 6.2% and 1.45% of gross pay are shown only as general comparison estimates. Taxable wages, pre-tax benefit treatment, annual wage limits, additional Medicare withholding and prior year-to-date earnings can all change the actual amounts, so a difference is not a sign of an error.
- Effective tax rate
- Total taxes divided by gross pay for this one period, not your annual tax rate.
- Annualized income
- This period multiplied by 26 pay periods. These are simple projections based on one paycheck and may be distorted by bonuses, unpaid time, variable hours or changing deductions.
Prepared by the person entering the figures using PaycheckVista. Not an official document, not tax or legal advice, and not a verification of income, employment or identity. Figures are unverified entries. This analyzer checks arithmetic and provides general educational comparisons. It does not determine whether a paycheck complies with tax or employment law.
Next steps
Want to see what withholding should look like for your situation, or change it?
Need a paystub document?
The Paystub Generator turns figures you supply into a finished earnings statement PDF for a one-time $7.99 payment, emailed to you as a file attachment. PaycheckVista provides document preparation only: it does not verify income or employment, and the documents it prepares are not government-issued.
Open the Paystub GeneratorHow a paycheck is supposed to add up
The basic equation
Gross pay − taxes withheld − deductions = net pay. Every paycheck follows that shape. If the net figure you received does not match, either a line is missing from what you entered or something on the stub needs explaining.
Taxes versus deductions
Taxes are federal and state income tax, Social Security, Medicare and any local tax. Deductions are everything else withheld — retirement contributions, insurance premiums, union dues, garnishments. They are kept separate here because they behave differently and are reported differently.
Current period, not year-to-date
Pay stubs usually show two columns: this period and year-to-date. Enter the current-period column. Mixing the two is the most common reason a paycheck appears not to reconcile.
What annualizing assumes
Annualized figures multiply one period by the number of pay periods in the year. That assumes every period looks the same, so overtime, bonuses, unpaid leave and mid-year raises will move the real annual total.
To model what withholding should look like instead of checking what happened, use the paycheck calculator or the W-4 withholding calculator. To prepare an earnings statement document from figures you supply, the paystub generator produces a finished PDF for a one-time $7.99 payment. PaycheckVista provides document preparation only and does not verify income or employment.
Paycheck Analyzer questions
What the analysis checks, what a flag does and does not mean, and why nothing you type leaves your device.
What does the Paycheck Analyzer actually do?
It recalculates your paycheck from the figures you type in. It adds up your taxes and deductions, subtracts them from gross pay, compares the result with the net pay you received, works out your effective tax rate and deduction percentage, and annualizes the period. Anything that does not line up arithmetically is listed as a flag to check.
Does it tell me whether my employer did something wrong?
No, and it cannot. The analyzer only compares numbers. A flag means the arithmetic is worth a second look, not that anything is incorrect, unlawful or dishonest. Pay rules depend on your role, state, schedule and benefits, so questions about your own paycheck belong with your payroll department or a qualified professional.
Is my paycheck information uploaded or stored?
No. Every calculation runs in your browser on your own device. Nothing you enter is uploaded, saved, logged or sent to analytics, and the page never asks for a Social Security number, employer identification number, name, employer, address, email, file upload or payment details.
How are Social Security and Medicare compared?
Only as general estimates: 6.2% of gross pay for Social Security and 1.45% for Medicare. Taxable wages, pre-tax benefit treatment, the annual Social Security wage limit, additional Medicare withholding on higher wages and prior year-to-date earnings can all change the actual amounts, so a difference is not a sign that anything is incorrect. When pre-tax deductions are entered, or gross pay is missing, no comparison is shown at all and the page says more information may be needed instead.
Do I have to enter hours and rates?
No. Hours and rates are optional. Salaried, commissioned, tipped, bonus and piece-rate paychecks work from the gross pay figure alone. If you do enter hours and rates, they produce a separate hours-and-rates estimate that is compared with your entered gross pay; your entered gross pay is always what the net-pay reconciliation uses.
Why does my net pay not reconcile?
The most common reasons are a deduction line that was not entered, a year-to-date column entered instead of a current-period amount, a garnishment or repayment, a reimbursement added after taxes, or ordinary rounding. Differences of five cents or less are treated as rounding, and the exact difference is always displayed either way.
Can I use the printed summary as proof of income?
No. The printed summary is a self-prepared review of figures you typed in yourself. It is not an official document, not an employment or income verification, and PaycheckVista does not verify any of it.