--- updatedAt: 2026-09-25T15:11:39.000Z agentTools: projectIndex: https://docs.checkhq.com/llms.txt --- # Generating Paystubs Generating paystubs for your employees Paystubs are used by employees to understand their pay and often serve as proof of income. They are also subject to a patchwork of state-by-state compliance regulations. Check provides a paystubs endpoint for each employee that makes compliance and rendering easy. [List employee paystubs](https://docs.checkhq.com/reference/get-an-employees-paystubs) returns the employee's paystubs in no guaranteed order, in the standard paginated response type, and [Get a paystub](https://docs.checkhq.com/reference/get-a-paystub) returns an employee's paystub for a single payroll, and can return as JSON or rendered as a PDF. ## When paystubs are available Paystubs become available as soon as a payroll is approved. Approval moves the payroll to `pending` and saves its calculated taxes, net pay, and benefits (see [Life of a Payroll](https://docs.checkhq.com/docs/life-of-a-payroll#pending)). From then on you can list or retrieve an employee's paystub, as JSON or PDF, while the payroll is `pending`, `processing`, `paid`, or `partially_paid`. You don't need to wait for the payroll to reach `paid`. Draft payrolls, which haven't been approved, don't have paystubs. The `status` filter on [List employee paystubs](https://docs.checkhq.com/reference/get-an-employees-paystubs) accepts `pending`. ## Paystub PDF To return a Check-designed paystub as a PDF, make a request to the [Get a paystub](https://docs.checkhq.com/reference/get-a-paystub) endpoint with the HTTP header `Accept: application/pdf`. Check will return a fully rendered paystub for the employee. Note that the Check logo on a paystub can be easily replaced with a partner’s logo. ``` GET /employees//paystubs/ ``` **Note: State regulations generally require that all of the information in the paystub JSON response is rendered and the paystub is printable. Directly rendering a singular paystub to PDF will satisfy this requirement.** ## Paystub JSON You can also retrieve paystub data in a JSON format, if you want to provide a completely customized paystub for your companies and employees. Make a request to the [Get a paystub](https://docs.checkhq.com/reference/get-a-paystub) endpoint with the HTTP header `Accept: application/json` to retrieve all data used to render a paystub in JSON format. Example request: ```shell Paystub request curl https://sandbox.checkhq.com/employees/emp_MRQDxt1J4mrz4HZ4XwMx/paystubs/pay_bpp9oycVBI6GHT008a8G -H 'Content-Type: application/pdf' ``` Example response: ```json Paystub response { "payroll": "pay_904CPnfvRvNLo9Itg44Q", "payday": "2021-05-21", "period_start": "2021-04-24", "period_end": "2021-05-07", "company": { "trade_name": "Stark Industries", "legal_name": "Stark Industries, Inc.", "address": { "line1": "200 Park Ave", "line2": null, "city": "New York", "state": "NY", "postal_code": "10166", "country": "US" }, "phone": "5558675309" }, "void_of": null, "voided_by": null, "employee": { "first_name": "Tony", "middle_name": null, "last_name": "Stark", "residence": { "line1": "630 Bedford Road", "line2": null, "city": "Tarrytown", "state": "NY", "postal_code": "10591", "country": "US" }, "ssn_last_four": null }, "earnings": [ { "type": "Regular", "code": null, "earning_code": null, "amount": "5384.61", "amount_ytd": "5384.61", "hours": "40.00", "hours_ytd": "40.00", "name": "Regular", "current_earnings": [ { "description": "Regular", "amount": "5384.61", "hours": "40.00", "workplace": "wrk_aj8gIXWZ6HelAcx18Ppw", "rate": "134.615" } ] } ], "reimbursements": [ { "code": null, "amount": "123.43", "amount_ytd": "123.43", "current_reimbursements": [ { "description": "Office supplies", "amount": "123.43" } ] } ], "employee_taxes": [ { "amount": "333.85", "amount_ytd": "333.85", "description": "FICA" }, { "amount": "920.65", "amount_ytd": "920.65", "description": "Federal Income Tax" }, { "amount": "78.08", "amount_ytd": "78.08", "description": "Medicare" }, { "amount": "27.52", "amount_ytd": "27.52", "description": "New York Family Leave Benefits" }, { "amount": "1.20", "amount_ytd": "1.20", "description": "New York SDI" }, { "amount": "313.36", "amount_ytd": "313.36", "description": "New York State Tax" } ], "company_taxes": [ { "amount": "333.85", "amount_ytd": "333.85", "description": "Employer FICA Tax" }, { "amount": "32.31", "amount_ytd": "32.31", "description": "Federal Unemployment Tax" }, { "amount": "78.08", "amount_ytd": "78.08", "description": "Employer Medicare Tax" }, { "amount": "168.27", "amount_ytd": "168.27", "description": "New York State Unemployment Tax" }, { "amount": "4.04", "amount_ytd": "4.04", "description": "New York Reemployment Fund" } ], "employee_benefit_contributions": [ { "benefit": "401k", "description": "401k Benefit", "amount": "107.69", "amount_ytd": "107.69" } ], "company_benefit_contributions": [ { "benefit": "401k", "description": "401k Benefit", "amount": "50.00", "amount_ytd": "50.00" } ], "post_tax_deductions": [ { "type": "miscellaneous", "description": "Coffee Money", "calculation_method": "amount", "amount": "50.00", "amount_ytd": "50.00" }, { "type": "child_support", "description": "Child Support", "calculation_method": "amount", "amount": "100.0", "amount_ytd": "100.00", "agency": "CO", "external_id": "12345678" } ], "summary": { "earnings": "5384.61", "earnings_ytd": "5384.61", "reimbursements": "123.43", "reimbursements_ytd": "123.43", "employee_taxes": "1674.66", "employee_taxes_ytd": "1674.66", "company_taxes": "616.55", "company_taxes_ytd": "616.55", "employee_benefit_contributions": "107.69", "employee_benefit_contributions_ytd": "107.69", "company_benefit_contributions": "50.00", "company_benefit_contributions_ytd": "50.00", "post_tax_deductions": "50.00", "post_tax_deductions_ytd": "50.00", "net_pay": "3675.69", "net_pay_ytd": "3675.69" }, "total_hours": "40.00", "time_off_balances": { "pto_balance_hours": null, "sick_balance_hours": null, "state_covid_sick_balance_hours": null }, "payment_method": "manual", "paystub_info": {} } ``` You may also fetch all paystub data for a specific employee in JSON format with the [List employee paystubs](https://docs.checkhq.com/reference/get-an-employees-paystubs) endpoint. The order of the results is not guaranteed. To read a pay history in payday order, request a date window with the `start` and `end` query parameters, page through the full window, and sort the collected results by `payday`. ``` GET /employees//paystubs ``` ## Customizing Paystub Info If you want to return custom information on the paystub PDF or in the paystub JSON, you can use the `paystub_info` object on [Payroll Items](https://docs.checkhq.com/reference/the-payroll-item-object). This object allows you to define arbitrary key, value pairs that get returned on both the PDF and JSON paystub responses. You can add up to 15 keys, and a total of 500 characters (the total length of all keys and values) with `paystub_info` on a given payroll item. If provided, `paystub_info` is displayed on paystub PDFs under the **Pay summary** pane on the right side. For example: