Paycheck

A paycheck (US English) paycheque, or pay cheque (British and Commonwealth English) is traditionally a paper document (cheque) issued by an employer to pay employees for services rendered. In recent times, the physical paycheck has been increasingly replaced by electronic direct deposits to the employee's designated bank account or loaded onto a payroll card. Employees may still receive a pay slip to detail the calculations of the final payment amount.

A salary statement, commonly called a payslip, pay stub, paystub, pay advice, or sometimes paycheck stub or wage slip, is a document received by an employee that either includes a notice that the direct deposit transaction has gone through or that is attached to the paycheck. Each country has laws as to what must be included on a payslip, but this typically includes details of the gross wages for the pay period and the taxes and any other deductions the employer is required to make by law as well as other personal deductions such as retirement plan or pension contributions, insurances, garnishments, or charitable contributions taken out of the gross amount to arrive at the final net amount of the pay, also including the year to date totals in some circumstances.

Electronic paychecks

In most countries with a developed wire transfer system, payment of wages and salaries is increasingly being effected by electronic means, rather than by the use of a physical check. This saves the company money on printing and processing checks and reduce the problem of fraud. However, vocabulary referring to the figurative "paycheck" persists in some languages, but this commonly refers to a payslip or stub rather than an actual check. Some company payrolls have eliminated both the paper check and stub, in which case an electronic image of the stub is available on a website. Most of the provinces and territories in Canada allow employers to issue electronic payslips if the employees have confidential access to it and are able to print it.