What is a payslip?

Free forever. Payroll calculations, payslip generation and PDF downloads in LexSalim are free for individuals, employers and small businesses. No subscription, no checkout and no hidden payroll charge.

Availability. The generator is not yet live on lexsalim.com. United Kingdom support is in development; United States and Canada are planned.

A payslip (also called a pay slip, wage slip or pay statement) is the document an employer gives an employee for each payment of wages. It shows, for one pay period, what the employee earned, what was taken off and what was actually paid. In the United States the same document is usually called a pay stub.

What a payslip normally shows

• Who and when: the employer's name, the employee's name, the pay period (for example 1 to 31 March) and the pay date.
• Earnings: basic pay, overtime, bonuses, commission or other additions, each on its own line.
• Deductions: amounts taken off before payment, such as income tax, social-security style contributions, pension contributions and any other agreed deductions.
• Net pay: the amount the employee receives after deductions.
• Year-to-date figures: running totals for the tax year, where the employer keeps them.
• Employer contributions: in some countries the employer's own contributions are shown for information, even though they are not deducted from the employee.

The exact lines depend on the country and on the employer's arrangements. In the United Kingdom, employees have a legal right to an itemised payslip; what must appear on it is set by law and may change, so always check current official guidance for your country.

What a payslip is not

A payslip documents a payment. It does not by itself:

• report anything to a tax authority (HMRC, the IRS, the CRA);
• pay or remit any tax or contributions;
• replace an employment contract, a P60, a W-2, a T4 or any other statutory form;
• prove that the employer has met its payroll obligations.

Those are separate payroll duties. See Payslip generation versus payroll tax filing.

How LexSalim fits in

The Free Payroll & Payslip Generator in LexSalim's Accountancy AI is designed to produce clear, professional payslips from the figures you enter and to let you download them as PDF. It is a documentation and calculation aid for employers, bookkeepers and individuals, not a payroll bureau and not a regulated accountancy service. When the generator opens, the steps are described in How to create a free payslip.