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A Canadian pay stub can look intimidating at first glance, this guide walks through each section so you know exactly what you’re looking at. If you’re paid hourly, first confirm your rate meets the minimum wage in your province. To practice with real numbers, generate a sample stub with our pay stub calculator.
The four main sections of a pay stub
- Pay period information: the dates this stub covers, and your pay date.
- Earnings: your gross pay for the period, base pay, plus any overtime, bonus, or vacation pay.
- Deductions: federal tax, provincial tax, CPP/QPP, CPP2/QPP2, EI/QPIP, and any additional deductions.
- Net pay: what’s left after all deductions, the amount deposited to your account.
Year-to-date (YTD) totals
Most stubs also show YTD figures, your cumulative earnings and deductions for the calendar year so far. This is especially useful for tracking when you’ll hit the CPP or EI maximum, after which those specific deductions stop for the rest of the year.
Common things to check on your pay stub
- Does your gross pay match your expected salary or hours worked?
- Is your TD1 claim amount what you expect?
- Are CPP/EI deductions tracking toward the annual maximum?
- Do your YTD totals reconcile with your last pay stub plus this period’s earnings?
Gross Pay: Where Your Pay Stub Starts
Every pay stub starts with gross pay: the total amount you earned before anything is taken off. If you are salaried, this is your annual salary divided by the number of pay periods. If you are hourly, it is your hourly rate times hours worked, plus any overtime, bonuses, or commissions for that period. Always check this number first. If your hours or rate look wrong here, every number below it will be wrong too.
Deductions: Federal and Provincial Tax
The two biggest deductions for most Canadians are federal income tax and provincial income tax. Federal tax uses the same brackets for everyone in Canada. Provincial tax depends on where you work: Alberta has the lowest provincial rates, while provinces like Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador have the highest. Your employer estimates these using the CRA’s T4127 payroll formulas and the TD1 forms you filled out when you were hired.
Deductions: CPP and EI
Canada Pension Plan (CPP) contributions come off every paycheck until you hit the year’s maximum pensionable earnings. In Quebec, you will see QPP instead of CPP on your stub. Employment Insurance (EI) premiums are also deducted each pay period up to an annual maximum. These are not taxes, they are contributions that earn you future benefits, but they still reduce your take-home pay today.
Other Common Deductions
Beyond tax, CPP, and EI, your stub may show union dues, pension plan contributions, group health or dental premiums, and RRSP contributions. Taxable benefits also appear here: if your employer pays part of your health premiums, that value is added to your gross pay and then taxed, even though you never saw the cash.
Net Pay and Year-to-Date Figures
Net pay is the bottom line: gross pay minus every deduction. Most stubs show year-to-date (YTD) columns with running totals since January 1. YTD figures are useful at tax time: they should roughly match the boxes on your T4 slip.
Worked Example: What the Lines Add Up to on a $60,000 Salary
Examples make the sections above easier to follow. Here is what the main lines total over a full year for a $60,000 salary in British Columbia at 2026 rates. Gross pay is $60,000. Federal income tax is $6,192.73. BC income tax is $2,621.69. CPP contributions are $3,361.75, and EI premiums are $978.00. Total deductions are $13,154.17, leaving take-home pay of $46,845.83. Your stub splits these amounts across your pay periods, and individual cheques wiggle slightly because CPP uses a per-period exemption, but by December your year-to-date columns should land close to these totals. The full line-by-line breakdown is in our guide to tax deducted from a paycheck in BC.
Common Pay Stub Abbreviations
YTD means year to date. FED and PROV mean federal and provincial tax. CPP/QPP and EI are the pension and insurance contributions. VAC is vacation pay, STAT or HOL is statutory holiday pay, REG and OT are regular and overtime hours.
What to Do If a Line on Your Stub Looks Wrong
Start with the gross pay figure: hours, rate, and any overtime. If the gross is right but a deduction looks off, run the same salary and province through our payroll deductions calculator and compare the two results line by line. Most stub errors turn out to be a changed TD1 claim, a pay-period boundary on CPP or EI, or an honest payroll mistake. If the numbers still do not reconcile, ask your payroll department in writing and keep their reply with the stub. If payroll cannot explain the difference, your provincial employment standards office can advise on pay records, and the CRA handles questions about tax, CPP and EI remittances.
Frequently asked questions
Why did my EI deduction suddenly stop?
Once your year-to-date insurable earnings reach the annual maximum ($68,900 for 2026), EI deductions stop for the rest of the calendar year, a normal, expected change.
Should I keep my pay stubs?
Yes, they’re useful for verifying your T4 at tax time, applying for loans or mortgages, and tracking your CPP contribution history.
My pay stub shows no vacation pay. Is that allowed?
Yes, if your employer banks your vacation pay and pays it out when you take vacation instead of on each cheque. The accrual should still be tracked, and you can ask for the current balance at any time. If vacation pay is paid per cheque, it must appear as a separate line on the stub.
Is a pay stub the same as a T4?
No. A pay stub is your employer’s per-period record of one paycheque. The T4 is the official annual summary your employer files with the CRA by the end of February, and it is what you use to file your taxes. The year-to-date totals on your final December stub should roughly match the T4 boxes; if they differ by more than a few dollars, ask payroll why before you file.
Pay Stub Calculator · Payroll Deductions Guide