Pay Stub Abbreviations: A Glossary for Preparers

Pay stub abbreviations are short labels a payroll system prints for each line of earnings, tax and deduction, such as FIT, OASDI, SEC125 or GTL. They are not standardized, but most follow common patterns. For a return or the books, the useful question is which W-2 box each line reaches, which explains most stub-to-W-2 gaps.

Tax withholding pay stub abbreviations

Tax withholding abbreviations on a pay stub name the taxes taken out of each check. FIT or FED WH is federal income tax, SIT is state income tax, OASDI or SS is social security, MED is Medicare, SDI is state disability insurance, and a city or county code is local income tax. Each one lands in a specific W-2 box.

Federal income tax withheld appears as FIT, FITW, FED WH or FED TAX. The year-to-date total should match W-2 Box 2, which the 2026 Form W-2 employee instructions tell employees to enter "on the federal income tax withheld line" of the return.

Social security tax goes by OASDI (old-age, survivors and disability insurance), SS, SOC SEC or FICA-SS. The Instructions for Form 941 (03/2026) give the 2026 rate as 6.2% each for the employee and employer, and say it stops when an employee's wages and tips reach $184,500. A stub that shows OASDI dropping to zero in the fall is often just a high earner passing that limit. The year-to-date amount goes to W-2 Box 4.

Medicare tax shows as MED, MEDI, MEDICARE or FICA-MED, at 1.45% each with no wage cap. The 941 instructions add that employers withhold a 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax once an employee's wages pass $200,000, and some stubs show it on its own line as ADDL MED. The W-2 employee instructions say Box 6 includes both.

State and local withholding vary most. SIT, ST WH or a state code such as CA SIT usually means state income tax, which goes to W-2 Box 17. A city or school district code (for example, LIT, CITY or a district name) goes to Box 19. SDI, CASDI or NJ SDI is state disability insurance and goes to Box 14a, where the employer labels it, as the post on W-2 Box 14 entries explains. FLI or PFL is a state family leave contribution and also lands in Box 14a.

A glossary of common pay stub abbreviations

The labels below are common examples, not an official list. Your client's payroll system may use different wording for the same item. The W-2 column follows the IRS 2026 General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3 and IRS Publication 15-B (2026).

Pre-tax and after-tax deduction abbreviations on a pay stub

Pre-tax deduction abbreviations on a pay stub, such as 401K, SEC125, FSA, HSA and DEP CARE, mark amounts taken out before some taxes. After-tax ones, such as ROTH, come out after tax. The difference decides which W-2 boxes drop: a 401(k) deferral lowers only Box 1, while a cafeteria plan premium lowers Boxes 1, 3 and 5.

401K, 403B and 457. Elective deferrals to these plans are left out of Box 1. The W-2 instructions say not to include "elective deferrals (such as employee contributions to a section 401(k) or 403(b) plan)" in Box 1, but they do go into Box 3 and Box 5. The deferral is reported in Box 12 with code D, E or G. This is the single most common reason Box 1 is lower than Box 5.

ROTH. A designated Roth contribution is a deferral too, but it is taxed now. The W-2 instructions say Roth contributions "must be reported in boxes 1, 3, and 5," and in Box 12 with code AA, BB or EE. A stub with both 401K and ROTH lines lowers Box 1 only by the 401K line.

SEC125, S125 or CAF. These usually mean health, dental or vision premiums paid through a section 125 cafeteria plan. Publication 15-B says a cafeteria plan lets employees "receive qualified benefits on a pre-tax basis," and its exclusion table treats accident and health benefits as exempt from income tax withholding and from social security and Medicare tax. That is why these premiums lower Boxes 1, 3 and 5 together.

FSA. A health flexible spending account is funded through the cafeteria plan, so it reduces the same three boxes. The W-2 instructions say a cafeteria plan "may not allow an employee to request salary reduction contributions for a health FSA in excess of $3,400" for 2026.

HSA. An HSA contribution made through payroll is a cafeteria plan contribution. The W-2 instructions say it is not subject to income tax withholding or social security and Medicare tax when it is expected to be excludable, and that all of it goes in Box 12 with code W. The client may see it as their own deposit, but it is reported as an employer contribution.

DEP CARE. Dependent care assistance goes in Box 10. Publication 15-B lists it as exempt up to $7,500, and the W-2 employee instructions say "any amount over your employer's plan limit is also included in box 1."

After-tax lines. Voluntary after-tax pension contributions, union dues and similar items do not change any wage box. The W-2 instructions say an employer may report union dues and after-tax pension contributions in Box 14a, which is optional. Garnishments and child support withholding reduce net pay but have no W-2 box.

Payroll systems name the same deduction three different ways, so a sheet built from stubs needs one column per deduction type. The post on mapping deduction names into one pay stub sheet shows how to set that up.

What do earnings abbreviations on a pay stub mean?

Earnings abbreviations on a pay stub name the type of pay on each line: REG for regular pay, OT for overtime, PTO for paid time off, HOL for holiday pay, BON for a bonus, RETRO for back pay and TIPS for reported tips. Almost all are wages in Boxes 1, 3 and 5.

REG, PTO, VAC, HOL, COMM and RETRO are ordinary wages. RETRO is worth a second look because it pays for an earlier period but counts in the year it is paid; a large RETRO line in January can belong to work done the prior year.

BON gets one line in the W-2 instructions: employers should "report bonuses as wages and as social security and Medicare wages." Some systems run bonuses on a separate check, so a bonus can be missing from the stub the client kept even though it is on the W-2.

OT changes from 2026. The W-2 instructions add Box 12 code TT for "total amount of qualified overtime compensation" and explain that "only the 'half' portion of 'time-and-a-half' compensation would be reported using code TT." The OT line on a stub is the full overtime pay, so code TT will usually be about one third of the stub's year-to-date OT for time-and-a-half.

TIPS lines show tips the employee reported. The W-2 instructions put reported tips in Box 1 and social security tips in Box 7, and the 941 instructions explain that Medicare covers wages and tips together, so Box 5 includes them. From 2026, total cash tips also go in Box 12 with code TP.

Not every payment a client receives arrives on a pay stub. A pension paid by a former employer's plan is reported on Form 1099-R, and its codes are covered in the post on 1099-R distribution codes. Social Security benefits come on an SSA-1099, which the post on the SSA-1099 explained walks through.

Why does a pay stub abbreviation show an amount that was never paid?

A pay stub abbreviation can show an amount that was never paid when it is imputed income: the taxable value of a benefit, such as GTL for group-term life insurance or PU AUTO for personal use of a company car. The value is added to taxable wages, and an offset line takes it back out of net pay.

GTL is the most common case. Publication 15-B says the employer must include "the cost of group-term life insurance beyond $50,000 worth of coverage, reduced by the amount the employee paid," as wages in Boxes 1, 3 and 5, and in Box 12 with code C. No cash changes hands, so the stub shows the value as earnings and then backs it out.

A worked stub with imputed income

This example is fictional: one biweekly stub for Morgan Ellery (an example employee) at Example Analytics LLC.

The GTL line raises gross pay by $9.20, so social security and Medicare tax are figured on $3,259.20. The offset line takes the $9.20 back out of net pay, because Morgan never received it as cash. At year end, the $202.40 year-to-date GTL amount should appear in Box 12 with code C and be included in Boxes 1, 3 and 5.

Personal use of an employer vehicle works the same way, with one twist. The W-2 instructions say the employer "must withhold social security and Medicare tax" on it but may choose not to withhold federal income tax if it tells the employee. A PU AUTO line with OASDI and MED but no FIT change is often that choice, not an error.

Many employers add these values only once, near year end, which is one reason the W-2 can exceed the final stub. The post on fringe benefits on the W-2 but not the final pay stub covers that timing.

Pay stub abbreviations that mean different things by employer

Pay stub abbreviations are set by each payroll system and often by each employer, so the same code can mean two things. "MED" may be Medicare tax on one stub and a medical insurance deduction on another. "SS" usually means social security, but an employer could use it for a savings plan. Amounts settle most cases.

Check the math first. Medicare tax is 1.45% of Medicare wages under the 941 instructions, so a MED line that equals 1.45% of gross is tax. A flat MED amount every period, unrelated to pay, is almost certainly a premium. The same test separates OASDI at 6.2% from a savings deduction.

Check the section of the stub next. Most layouts group taxes apart from deductions, so a code under a "Taxes" heading is a tax even when its label is unclear. Why layouts and labels differ by provider is covered in the post on why pay stub layouts differ by payroll provider.

Ask for the code list when the amount matters and the math does not settle it. Payroll providers keep a list of earning and deduction codes for each employer, and the client's HR or payroll contact can usually send it. Keep it in the client file; the same codes come back every year.

Schema CPA reads pay stubs and payroll provider reports as well as W-2s, and exports to Excel or CSV, so a stub's year-to-date lines and the W-2 boxes can sit side by side in one spreadsheet. The document types it reads are on the homepage. To start with your own clients' stubs, get started.