Payslip Sample & Template: Free Excel, Word & PDF Download

What is a Payslip Template?

A simple payslip template is a pre-designed document that organizes and communicates employee compensation details clearly and systematically. From earnings like base salary and bonuses to deductions such as taxes and statutory contributions, it gives a complete picture of what an employee earned and what was taken out for a specific period.

Whether used for small businesses or large enterprises, this template supports your payroll processes, helps you meet labor law requirements, and cuts errors in record-keeping. For businesses that need to calculate employee hours before preparing payslips, see our free overtime hours calculator.

You will see the same document called a pay slip, a salary slip, a wage slip or a pay stub. Same job, different country, which is why a pay slip template, a salary slip format and a payslip template all look alike. Salary slip is the everyday term in India, payslip in South Africa, Malaysia and the Philippines, and pay stub in the US.

Here is what a payslip is not. It is not a payroll register, which lists every employee for the employer, and it is not a bank receipt, because a payslip explains how the net amount was reached, line by line.

Payslip Sample: Filled-In Example

Below is a completed payslip sample built in our template: a monthly payslip for October 2026 with overtime, a bonus, a pension deduction and year-to-date totals from January. The figures are currency-neutral, so read them in your own currency.

Net pay: 4,114.69 (Four Thousand One Hundred Fourteen and 69/100 Only)

Employer contributions, not deducted: pension 210.00, so the total cost to the employer is 5,178.08. Year to date: gross 45,018.08 | income tax 4,720.99 | net pay 36,997.09 | annual leave 20 days, 7 taken, 13 left.

Look at the pension line in this payslip example. The employee's 210.00 comes off their pay, while the employer's matching 210.00 sits in its own box and never touches net pay. Most payslip examples online mix the two up, and that one mistake makes a payslip look short.

Standard Payslip Format

There is no single legal payslip format, but every good one follows the same seven blocks, top to bottom:

1. Employer header: legal business name, address and the employer's tax or registration number.
2. Employee block: name, employee ID, position, the IDs your country uses (tax number, SSS, PAN, EPF) and the bank account paid.
3. Pay period and pay date: two different things. The period is when the work happened; the pay date is when the money moved.
4. Earnings: basic pay, allowances, overtime with the hours, bonuses, and unpaid leave with the days.
5. Deductions: income tax, each statutory contribution on its own line, loans and voluntary deductions.
6. Net pay: gross pay minus total deductions, often written in words as well.
7. Employer contributions and year to date: what the business paid on top, plus running totals since the start of the tax year.

Earnings on the left and deductions on the right is the most common payslip format because the eye reads gross, then deductions, then the bottom line. Even a simple payslip template should keep all seven blocks, and ours uses that layout in every file.

Importance of Payslip Template

Operational Efficiency

Every payslip comes out the same way, every payday, no matter who prepares it, and totals calculate instead of being added by hand.

Compliance and Risk Management

Labor laws decide what has to be on the slip, and a complete payslip is your first defense in a pay dispute. For HR teams managing attendance and leave alongside payroll, attendance management software feeds hours and absences straight into payslip generation.

Financial Management

For a complete breakdown of how payroll fits into your accounting system, read our payroll journal entries guide. While a payroll template handles the full compensation calculation for all employees, a payslip communicates that calculation to each individual employee.

What Does the Payslip Template Contain?

Most free templates online give you a box for gross pay, a box for deductions and a signature line. That is not enough to answer the question every employee eventually asks: "why is my pay lower this month?" Here is every field in our template and why it is there.

If you only get one field right, make it the year-to-date block. Lenders read it to judge whether income is steady, and tax offices compare it against your year-end certificate (the IRP5 in South Africa, Form 16 in India, the EA form in Malaysia). A YTD total that resets in the wrong month breaks both.

What Our Payslip Template Includes

I went through the top payslip templates and generators people actually download. Almost all of them are built for one country, usually the US. So I built ours the other way around: one file, four countries switched on, and the rules that trip people up handled for you.

A country switch that rewires the payslip

Pick South Africa, the Philippines, India, Malaysia or Generic in Settings. Deduction lines, ID fields, the tax label, allowance names, currency and the tax year all change together. Nothing to rename by hand.

Caps that a straight percentage gets wrong

UIF stops at a salary of R17,712. SSS stops at a 35,000 salary credit. Pag-IBIG maxes out at 200. SOCSO and EIS stop at RM6,000. The template applies each floor and cap before it multiplies, and every rate sits in an editable Statutory Rates sheet.

An employer box that never touches net pay

SDL, employer UIF, employer SSS, employer EPF and employer ESI print in their own box with the total cost to employer, so net pay stays right.

Year to date that follows your tax year

YTD restarts in March for South Africa, April for India and January for the Philippines and Malaysia. Starting mid-year? Type each employee's totals so far into the Opening YTD columns and your very first payslip is already correct.

One pay run row per employee, every payslip from it

You log one row per employee per pay date. The Payslip sheet builds from that row, and Print All lays out every payslip for the pay date, one per page.

A remittance summary for the month

Run Summary adds up a month of pay dates and shows what to pay over to the tax office and each fund, employee and employer shares included.

Net pay in words, leave balance and every format

Net pay prints in words, with lakh grouping for India, and the leave balance shows on every slip. The payslip template Excel file and the Google Sheets copy do all of the math with formulas only, no macros. The payslip template Word file and PDF hold a blank payslip, a filled sample, the four country samples and a checklist to run before you send.

Payslip vs. Pay Stub vs. Salary Slip vs. Payroll Register

The rule to remember: the payroll register is the employer's list of everyone, and the payslip is one employee's copy of their own line.

How to Use the Payslip Template

1- Set Your Country and Pay Frequency

Open Settings in the payslip template Excel file and fill in your business details. Pick your country and choose monthly, semi-monthly or weekly pay. In the Philippines, Article 103 of the Labor Code requires wages to be paid at least once every two weeks or twice a month, at intervals of no more than 16 days, so semi-monthly is the normal choice there.

2- Check the Statutory Rates

Open Statutory Rates and compare each line with the official source before the first payroll of every tax year. Rates as of October 2026 are filled in, and on Generic you set your own.

3- Add Your Employees

Add one row per employee on the Employees sheet: ID, name, position, IDs, bank details, monthly basic pay, recurring allowances and annual leave days. If you are starting part-way through the tax year, fill in the Opening YTD columns so year-to-date figures are right from day one.

4- Log the Pay Run

Every payday, add one Pay Run row per employee: days in the period, unpaid leave, overtime hours, bonus, loans and other deductions. Need the overtime figure first? Our free overtime pay calculator does it in seconds.

5- Enter Income Tax Yourself

Type in the PAYE, BIR withholding tax, TDS or PCB for each employee. I left this as an input on purpose. Income tax depends on each employee's declarations, reliefs and the current tables, and a template that guesses tax is a liability. Use your tax office's own calculator, then let the template handle everything else.

6- Print the Payslips

On the Payslip sheet, pick an Employee ID and pay date in the yellow box. To send everyone at once, open Print All and save the whole run as one PDF.

7- Pay Over and File

Open Run Summary for the month and pay each amount to the right fund before its deadline. Keep a PDF of every payslip by employee and pay date. In South Africa, section 31 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act requires employers to keep pay records for three years after the last entry.

How to Make a Payslip in Excel or Word from Scratch

Prefer to build your own? Here is how to make a payslip in Excel in six steps. The same structure works in Word.

1. Set up the page. Switch to Page Layout view so you design on a printable A4 or Letter page from the start.
2. Build the header. Company name and address on the left, the word PAYSLIP, the pay period, pay date and payslip number on the right.
3. Add the employee block. Name, ID, position, department, the IDs your country requires and the bank account.
4. Create earnings and deductions side by side. Total each column with =SUM() so gross pay and total deductions update as you type.
5. Calculate net pay. Use =Gross pay minus Total deductions, never a typed figure, then add year-to-date rows below.
6. Add signatures and test the print. Press Ctrl + P and make sure the whole payslip fits on one page before you save it as a PDF.

What the six steps leave out are caps, employer contributions, tax-year YTD and net pay in words, and those are already done in our free payslip template.

Payslip Requirements by Country

The payslip format barely changes between countries. The deductions, caps and tax year do. Here are the four countries the template covers out of the box, each with a payslip example.

South Africa

South Africa is the country where a missing line on a payslip turns into a labor dispute fastest. Section 33 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act requires employers to give employees written pay information on each day they are paid, including the employer's and employee's details, the pay period, the remuneration, every deduction with its purpose and the actual amount paid. Where pay depends on hours, the payslip has to show ordinary hours, overtime hours, and Sunday and public holiday hours.

UIF is 1% from the employee and 1% from the employer, on remuneration up to R17,712 a month, so the most either side pays is R177.12, according to SARS. The Skills Development Levy is 1% of payroll, paid only by the employer once annual payroll passes R500,000.

What to show on a South African payslip:

• PAYE and UIF as separate deduction lines
• Employer UIF and SDL in the employer box, never deducted
• Hours split into ordinary, overtime, Sunday and public holiday
• Year to date from March 1, matching the employee's IRP5

Practical note for South African businesses: UIF is the line most homemade payslips get wrong. On a salary of R24,500, 1% is R245, but the correct deduction is R177.12.

Philippines

Philippine payroll runs twice a month, and the payslip has to make three government funds and the BIR add up across both cutoffs. Since January 2025, SSS contributions are 15% of the monthly salary credit, split 5% employee and 10% employer, with the salary credit running from 5,000 to 35,000. The current schedule is on the SSS contribution table. PhilHealth is 5% of basic salary, split equally, with a 10,000 floor and a 100,000 ceiling. Pag-IBIG is 2% each on up to 10,000, so 200 at most.

What to show on a Philippine payslip:

• The cutoff dates (1 to 15, or 16 to the end of the month) and the pay date
• TIN, SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG numbers
• SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG employee shares on separate lines
• BIR withholding tax on compensation
• SSS or Pag-IBIG loan repayments by name

Practical note for Philippine businesses: deduct contributions all on one cutoff or half on each, then stick to it. Our template splits them evenly, so neither payslip takes a sudden dip.

India

India's payslip rules changed when the Labour Codes took effect on November 21, 2025. Section 50(3) of the Code on Wages, 2019 says every employer shall issue wage slips to employees, and monthly wages have to be paid before the 7th day of the following month. The Code also brings a new wage definition: if allowances are more than 50% of total pay, the excess counts as wages for PF and other benefits. The Ministry of Labour and Employment publishes the codes and the employer compliance handbook.

Salary slip format for India, what to show:

• PAN, UAN and the ESI IP number where ESI applies
• Basic, HRA, conveyance and special allowance as separate earnings
• Paid days and loss of pay (LOP) days
• EPF at 12%, ESI at 0.75% for employees earning up to ₹21,000 a month, professional tax and TDS
• Net pay in words, in rupees with lakh grouping

Practical note for Indian businesses: check your salary structure against the 50% rule before you change your payslips. Switch the 50% rule on in Settings and the template works out PF wages correctly.

Malaysia

Malaysian payslips carry four statutory lines, and two of them stop at the same ceiling. EPF is 11% from employees under 60, and the employer pays 13% on monthly wages of RM5,000 and below, or 12% above that, according to KWSP. SOCSO (0.5% employee, 1.75% employer) and EIS (0.2% each) are both capped at RM6,000 wages. Under section 19 of the Employment Act 1955, wages are due no later than the 7th day after the wage period ends, and EPF contributions by the 15th of the following month.

What to show on a Malaysian payslip:

• Income tax, EPF and SOCSO numbers
• EPF, SOCSO and EIS employee shares plus PCB (MTD) on separate lines
• Employer EPF, SOCSO and EIS in the employer box
• Overtime hours and rate
• Year to date from January 1, matching the EA form

Practical note for Malaysian businesses: KWSP and PERKESO work from wage-band tables, and KWSP rounds contributions up to the next ringgit. The template uses straight percentages, so check the odd ringgit before you pay.

Common Payslip Mistakes

• Deducting employer contributions from the employee. SDL, employer SSS and employer EPF are a business cost. Taking them from net pay is underpaying wages.
• Ignoring the caps. 1% UIF on R30,000 is R300 on paper, but the legal deduction is R177.12. The same goes for SSS, Pag-IBIG, SOCSO and EIS.
• Resetting YTD in January everywhere. South Africa's tax year starts in March and India's in April. Get this wrong and the YTD never matches the year-end certificate.
• Showing an absence as a lower number with no explanation. Show the unpaid leave days and the amount, so the employee can check it.
• One "deductions" line. Every deduction needs its own name and amount. A lump sum invites disputes.

Using a Payslip as Proof of Income

Banks, landlords and visa officers ask for payslips because they show steady, verifiable income. They usually want the last three, recent, with the employer's registration number, a pay period and year-to-date totals that match a bank statement. A missing employer number or a YTD that does not add up is often why an application stalls.

What about the self-employed? A payslip records wages an employer paid an employee, so a sole trader cannot honestly issue one to themselves. If you run your own business, prove income with your invoices, bank statements, profit and loss statement and tax returns instead. If you are a director on your own company's payroll, you are an employee, and a payslip is exactly right.

How Enerpize Handles Payslips

What happens when you have fifteen employees, overtime every week and three people asking HR for last March's payslip? A spreadsheet still works, but now you are the payroll system. Here is how Enerpize takes that off you.

Payroll

Set up each employee's contract and salary components once: basic pay, allowances, deductions and loans. Run payroll for a period and Enerpize generates every payslip from the pay run, with net pay calculated for each employee. Statutory items like UIF, SSS or EPF are set up as salary components with your rates. See how it works on our HR and payroll software page.

Attendance and Leaves

Sign-ins, late arrivals, absences and leave requests sit in the same system, so worked hours reach payroll without anyone retyping a timesheet.

The ESS App

With the Enerpize ESS app, employees view their payslips on their phone, with salary, allowances and deductions broken down, and scroll back through past months whenever they need proof of income. HR stops answering "can you resend my payslip?"

One honest note: Enerpize does not file your PAYE, SSS, EPF or KWSP returns for you. You still submit those through each authority's own system. What it removes is the hours of building payslips and chasing the numbers behind them.

Key Takeaways

• A payslip template shows gross pay, each deduction, net pay and year-to-date totals for one pay period, in a standard payslip format of seven blocks.
• Employer contributions belong in their own box and never reduce net pay.
• Caps matter: UIF stops at R17,712, SSS at a 35,000 salary credit, SOCSO and EIS at RM6,000.
• YTD has to follow the tax year: March in South Africa, April in India, January in the Philippines and Malaysia.
• India's Code on Wages, in force since November 21, 2025, makes wage slips mandatory and adds the 50% wage rule.
• Our free payslip template switches deduction lines by country, prints every payslip for a pay date and shows what to remit.

FAQs

What is a payslip sample?

A payslip sample is an example of a completed payslip showing how employee earnings, deductions, taxes and net pay are structured and presented. A sample payslip from our template comes in a generic version and in versions for South Africa, the Philippines, India and Malaysia.

What should a payslip include?

The employer's and employee's details, the pay period and pay date, gross earnings, each deduction on its own line, net pay and year-to-date totals. Employer contributions are shown separately, not deducted.

Is a payslip the same as a pay stub?

Yes, payslip and pay stub refer to the same document. "Payslip" is more common in South Africa, the UK, Australia, Malaysia and the Philippines, "salary slip" in India, and "pay stub" in the US.

How do I calculate net pay on a payslip?

Net pay equals gross earnings minus total deductions (income tax, statutory contributions, loans and other withholdings). Employer contributions are not part of the calculation. Our free overtime pay calculator can help you calculate overtime amounts before adding them to the payslip. If your pay includes sales commission, use our free commission sheet template to calculate the commission amount first.

Can I use this payslip template for any country?

Yes. South Africa, the Philippines, India and Malaysia are built in, and the Generic setting lets you enter your own deduction names, rates, caps, currency and tax year for any other country. For the UK and Australia, use our dedicated UK and Australian payslip templates, and for the US, our pay stub template.

How do I make my own payslip?

Here is how to make a payslip: start with a pay slip template, enter your business and employee details, the pay period, earnings and deductions, check that gross minus deductions equals net pay, and save it as a PDF.

How do I prepare a salary slip in Excel?

Build a one-page layout with earnings and deductions side by side, =SUM() totals and a net pay formula. For India, include basic, HRA, conveyance and special allowance, EPF, ESI, professional tax, TDS, LOP days and net pay in words. Our Excel file already has all of this.

Can a self-employed person make a payslip?

Not honestly. A payslip records wages an employer paid an employee, so use invoices, bank statements and tax returns as proof of income instead. A director on their own company's payroll is an employee and gets a normal payslip.

Can a payslip be used as proof of income?

Yes. Banks, landlords and visa officers commonly ask for the last three months of payslips and check the employer details, net pay against your bank statement, and year-to-date totals.

Paying staff in the UK, Australia or the US? Use our UK payslip template, our Australian payslip template or our pay stub template. Each one is built around that country's own rules.

About the Author

Omar El Bahr is a Senior Digital Growth Specialist at Enerpize, where he leads SEO, content strategy, and organic growth across international markets. He is a Forbes Communications Council contributor and has written for Entrepreneur on business communication and digital strategy.

Disclaimer

This payslip template and guide are for general business use and are not tax, legal or payroll advice. Sample companies and people are fictitious, and income tax amounts in the samples are illustrative. Statutory rates, caps and payslip rules change, so confirm them with the relevant authority or a payroll professional before each tax year.