How to read a pay stub: a line-by-line guide for restaurant workers

A restaurant pay stub packs a lot into a small space: two kinds of hours, two kinds of tips, a stack of tax lines and a net pay that can be close to zero. This guide shows how to read a pay stub one line at a time, what each line should add up to, and what to compare against your own records.

Labels differ by payroll company. If your stub uses a different name, look for the line that does the job described here.

A sample tipped pay stub

Here is a made-up two-week stub for a server paid the federal tipped cash wage of $2.13 an hour. The sections below refer back to it.

Pay period and pay date

The pay period is the stretch of days this check covers. The pay date is when the money reaches you, usually a few days after the period ends.

Notice how your pay period lines up with your workweek, the fixed seven-day cycle your employer uses. Federal overtime and the tipped minimum wage are both figured one workweek at a time.

• Weekly or every two weeks: each stub holds one or two whole workweeks, so you can check each week on this stub alone.
• Twice a month (the 1st to the 15th, then the 16th to the end): periods cut workweeks in half. A week that starts on one stub can finish on the next, so overtime for that week can only be judged with both stubs side by side.

Hours and rates: regular and overtime

Most stubs show a regular line and an overtime line, each with hours, a rate and an amount. On every line, hours times rate should equal the amount. If it does not, that is the first thing to ask about.

Regular hours

On a tipped stub the regular rate is your cash wage: the hourly pay your employer gives you before tips. Federal law allows as little as $2.13 when the employer takes a tip credit, but many states require more and some require the full minimum wage. The tip credit guide explains how this works, and the state pages have the current numbers.

If you work two roles at one restaurant, like serving and hosting, you may see two regular lines at two rates. That is normal. Check that the hours on each line match the shifts you actually worked in each role.

Overtime hours

Under federal law, hours over 40 in a workweek are overtime, paid at one and a half times the regular rate. A few states also have daily overtime.

This is where tipped stubs most often go wrong. For a tipped worker, overtime is figured on the full minimum wage and then the tip credit is subtracted. At federal rates that is 1.5 times $7.25 ($10.875) minus the $5.12 tip credit, or $5.755 an hour. Some stubs round it to $5.76. An overtime rate of 1.5 times $2.13, which is $3.195, is too low.

In the sample, the server worked 42 hours in the first week and 18 in the second. That is 58 regular hours plus 2 overtime hours. The tipped overtime guide has the math for states with higher cash wages.

Tips reported vs. tips paid on the check

Tips show up on a stub in two different ways, and mixing them up is the main reason restaurant stubs look confusing.

Tips paid on the check are tips your employer pays you through payroll, usually what customers left on a card. Labels include "charged tips", "credit card tips" or "tips paid". This money is part of what lands in your account, so compare it with your own total of card tips for the period.

Reported tips are tips you already have in hand, usually cash, that you declared to your employer. If you get $20 or more in tips in a month you are supposed to report them, on IRS Form 4070 or through the restaurant's point-of-sale system. They are taxed like wages, so they appear on your stub. Since you already have the money, the stub adds them into gross pay and then takes the same amount back out lower down, as in the sample. Some stubs show them as a memo line instead.

If your restaurant pays card tips out in cash at the end of each shift, or on a tip card, those usually show as reported tips rather than tips paid on the check.

Other tip lines you may see:

• Tip credit: how much of your tips the employer is counting toward minimum wage. It is information, not money taken from you.
• Tip make-up or minimum wage adjustment: extra pay for a week when your cash wage plus tips came to less than minimum wage. If you had a slow week and never see this line, check that week's math.
• Tip-out or tip share: money you paid to bussers, bartenders or a tip pool. The tip pool guide covers who can be in one.

Allocated tips usually do not appear on a stub. Larger restaurants may assign them on your W-2 at year end when reported tips look low compared with sales.

Gross pay

Gross pay is everything you earned before anything comes out: regular pay, overtime, other pay such as a holiday rate or a break premium, tips paid on the check, and usually reported tips.

Add the earnings lines yourself. In the sample, $123.54 plus $11.51 plus $612.40 plus $310.00 is $1,057.45. If your total is higher than the gross printed on the stub, something did not make it onto the check. If it is lower, there may be a line that is not broken out, which is worth asking about but does not mean money is missing.

Taxes: FICA, federal and state

Social Security and Medicare

FICA is two taxes: Social Security at 6.2 percent and Medicare at 1.45 percent. Both apply to your wages plus reported tips. In the sample, 6.2 percent of $1,057.45 is $65.56, and 1.45 percent is $15.33.

Social Security stops for the year once your wages reach the wage base, which is $184,500 for 2026. Medicare has no cap.

When your cash wage is small and your cash tips are large, there may not be enough on the check to cover all the tax on your tips. The employer withholds what it can, and the rest is reported on your W-2 in box 12 (codes A and B) to settle at tax time. So FICA lines below 7.65 percent of gross are not necessarily wrong. FICA lines above 7.65 percent are worth raising. The guide to FICA on tips goes deeper.

Federal income tax

Federal income tax withholding depends on your W-4 and how much you made this period, so there is no single right number. If it looks far off from past checks with similar pay, ask whether your W-4 on file changed.

The federal deduction for qualified tips, often called "no tax on tips", covers tax years 2025 through 2028. It is claimed on your income tax return, it phases out at higher incomes, and it does not reduce Social Security or Medicare tax. Check IRS guidance for how it applies to you.

State and local taxes

If your state or city has an income tax, it shows here. Some states also withhold a small amount for a state disability or paid family leave program. These follow state law and your withholding form.

Other deductions

Everything else that comes out is a deduction. Some you chose, like health insurance or a retirement plan. These deserve a closer look:

• Uniforms, aprons or required shoes
• Register shortages, breakage or customer walkouts
• Credit card processing fees taken from your tips
• Meal charges you never agreed to

Under federal law, deductions that mainly benefit the employer cannot take your pay below minimum wage, and many states ban some of them outright. The guide to paycheck deductions covers each one.

Net pay

Net pay is gross pay minus taxes, minus deductions, minus reported tips you already have. It is what actually reaches your account.

A tipped worker can get a check for a few dollars, or for $0. That alone does not mean something is wrong: a $2.13 cash wage does not go far once the tax on a week of cash tips comes out of it. What matters is that the lines above add up and that your cash wage plus tips reached minimum wage in each workweek.

Year-to-date columns

The YTD column shows totals since January 1. Use it to:

• Check that YTD reported tips match what you remember declaring.
• Catch adjustments: this stub's YTD gross should equal the last stub's YTD gross plus this check's gross. If it does not, something was reversed or corrected, and you can ask what.
• See when Social Security should stop, if your wages are near the wage base.
• Match your W-2 in January against the last stub of the year.

What to compare against your own records

A pay stub only shows what payroll thinks happened. To check it you need your own numbers. After each shift, write down:

• Clock-in and clock-out times, and breaks
• Card tips and cash tips from your checkout report
• Tip-outs you paid, and to whom
• Which role you worked, if you have more than one

Then on payday, check these against the stub:

1. Hours match yours, week by week.
2. Hours times rate equals the amount on each line.
3. Your cash wage is at least your state's tipped minimum.
4. Weeks over 40 hours show overtime at the right rate.
5. Card tips on the check match your checkout reports.
6. Reported tips match what you declared.
7. In each workweek, cash wage plus the tips you kept reaches minimum wage.
8. Every deduction is one you agreed to and is allowed in your state.

The free paycheck checker runs these comparisons in your browser using your state's rules. If you want somewhere to keep shift and tip numbers, Cashout is a tip tracker from the same developer.

If something looks off

Start by asking your manager or payroll, with the numbers in front of you. Many mistakes are honest and get fixed on the next check. The letter template gives you a short, polite way to put it in writing.

If it is not fixed, your state labor agency or the U.S. Department of Labor takes wage claims for free, and you do not need a lawyer. The next steps guide explains how. TruWage is a calculator, not legal advice.