Question 1

Is it legal to create my own pay stubs?

Accepted Answer

Yes, it is completely legal to create your own pay stubs for legitimate purposes. Many people use pay stub generators to document their self-employment income, create proof of income for personal loans, or maintain payroll records for their business. However, falsifying pay stubs—creating fake documentation to defraud lenders, landlords, or employers—is illegal and constitutes fraud. Paystub Pilot is designed for honest income documentation. Always ensure your documented income matches your actual earnings and tax filings.

Question 2

Will lenders and landlords accept pay stubs from a generator?

Accepted Answer

Yes. When created accurately with your real income information, professional pay stubs from a generator are widely accepted by lenders and landlords. Banks, mortgage companies, and rental agencies recognize properly formatted pay stubs as legitimate income documentation. The key is ensuring your pay stubs accurately reflect your actual income and include all required tax information. Our professional templates match the format of pay stubs from major payroll providers.

Question 3

What if there's an error on my pay stub?

Accepted Answer

Before you pay, the free watermarked preview shows every calculation and line item — review it carefully and edit any input as many times as you like. After purchase, if you find that the clean PDF differs materially from the preview you approved, or that our tax engine produced a calculation that's demonstrably incorrect for the inputs you provided, contact support@paystubpilot.com from the email used at checkout, include your order number, and we'll re-generate or refund at our discretion. See our Refund Policy for full details.

Question 4

How accurate are the tax calculations?

Accepted Answer

Our tax calculations are highly accurate. Paystub Pilot uses published IRS federal withholding tables and up-to-date state tax brackets for all 50 states, including states with no income tax, flat-rate states, and states with progressive brackets. We include Social Security (with proper wage base caps), Medicare (including additional Medicare tax at high income levels), and state-specific adjustments like California SDI. For Canada, we use current CRA rates for CPP and EI calculations. However, while our calculations are thorough and accurate estimates based on published tax data, they should not replace professional tax advice from a CPA or tax professional.

Question 5

Are calculations updated for current tax years?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We update our tax calculations annually to reflect current IRS withholding tables and state tax rates for the current year. Tax law changes are incorporated to ensure your pay stubs remain accurate and compliant with current regulations.

Question 6

Do you handle special tax situations?

Accepted Answer

Our generator handles standard tax withholding for most situations: multiple filing statuses (Single, Married Filing Jointly, Married Filing Separately, Head of Household), various deduction types, and all standard payroll frequencies. For complex situations like high income earners subject to additional Medicare tax, side income, or international workers, we recommend consulting with a tax professional in addition to using our tool.

Question 7

How are the YTD (year-to-date) totals calculated?

Accepted Answer

YTD figures on each stub are projected from the current pay period assuming uniform pay across the year — i.e., we multiply this period's gross, taxes, and deductions by the pay-period number you enter. That works well when each period mirrors the others, but if your pay or deductions varied earlier in the year, the projected YTD will not match your actual accumulated totals. The disclaimer at the bottom of every PDF notes this. If precise historical YTD matters for a specific use case (e.g., reconciling against a W-2 or T4), pull those figures from your prior pay stubs or payroll system.

Question 8

How are bonuses and commissions taxed? Does the $1M supplemental wage rule apply?

Accepted Answer

We apply the IRS flat supplemental rate to bonuses and commissions: 22% up to the $1M annual ceiling and 37% above it. The threshold check looks at the per-period supplemental amount rather than year-to-date supplemental wages, so an individual receiving more than $1M in supplemental wages over the year (and split across multiple stubs each below $1M) may see slightly under-withheld supplemental tax on the per-stub view. For payroll at that scale, a tax professional should confirm the withholding strategy.

Question 9

Do I need an account to use Paystub Pilot?

Accepted Answer

No account is required to create a single pay stub. Simply fill in your information, preview your pay stub for free, and purchase a PDF if you're satisfied. However, if you want to take advantage of our monthly subscription (unlimited stubs, dashboard history, batch downloads), you'll need to create an account.

Question 10

What's the difference between W-2 and 1099?

Accepted Answer

W-2 employment is traditional employment where an employer withholds taxes from your paycheck. You receive a W-2 form at year-end showing your income and tax withholdings. 1099 contractors are self-employed or independent contractors who receive 1099 forms showing their income but handle their own tax payments. With 1099 income, you're responsible for paying self-employment taxes (approximately 15.3% for Social Security and Medicare). Paystub Pilot supports both employment types, calculating appropriate taxes and withholdings for each.

Question 11

Can I customize the pay stub templates?

Accepted Answer

We offer eight professional PDF templates — Classic, Modern, Compact, Detailed, Minimalist, Executive, Contractor, and Studio — that you can choose from when generating your pay stub. Each is designed for a specific use case (e.g., the Contractor template for 1099 workers, the Executive template for senior-role and loan-application formatting). All templates include the required payroll information and comply with standard pay stub formats. You can also add your company logo to any stub.

Question 12

What deductions are included?

Accepted Answer

Our pay stub generator includes standard pre-tax deductions (health insurance, 401k, dependent care FSA) and post-tax deductions, with tax-specific handling for each type. You can customize deduction amounts to match your situation. We handle the tax implications correctly—pre-tax deductions reduce your taxable income, while post-tax deductions don't.

Question 13

Is my information secure?

Accepted Answer

Yes. All data transmission uses HTTPS with TLS encryption. Payment processing is handled entirely by Stripe, a PCI-DSS Level 1 certified payment processor—we never see or store your credit card information. Your form data is used solely to generate your pay stub and is not sold, shared with third parties, or stored long-term.

Question 14

Can I download my pay stubs as PDF?

Accepted Answer

Yes. After payment, your pay stub is immediately available as a downloadable PDF in a professional, print-ready format. There's no watermark on the purchased version. You can download it multiple times if needed.

Question 15

How do I get my pay stub?

Accepted Answer

Your purchased pay stub PDF is available for immediate download from our site. Subscription users can also access all their pay stubs from the dashboard history at any time.

Question 16

What if I lose my download link?

Accepted Answer

For subscription users, all your pay stubs are accessible from your dashboard history. For one-time purchases, if you lose your download link, contact us with your purchase information and we'll help you retrieve your pay stub.

Question 17

What's included in the monthly subscription?

Accepted Answer

The monthly subscription includes unlimited pay stub generation, a dashboard where you can view and download all your created stubs, batch ZIP downloads, and priority support. It's perfect if you need multiple stubs per month.

Question 18

Can I switch between plans?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You can upgrade or downgrade your subscription anytime from your account dashboard. Changes take effect at your next billing cycle.

Question 19

How does the free preview work?

Accepted Answer

Before purchasing any pay stub, you can preview it for free. The preview shows all calculations, deductions, and details in a watermarked format. Once you're satisfied with the information, you can purchase the clean, unwatermarked PDF for the quoted price.

Frequently Asked Questions

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