Do you wonder what all those unknown letters on your pay stub mean? Are you confused about exactly where some of your hard-earned money is going? If you answer yes to either of these questions then this section is for you!
This information may differ slightly from company to company and state to state, (it may have a different location on the check, or have a different abbreviation), but the basic components will stay the same. Some examples are listed below.
Regular Pay – Base pay for each paycheck.
Overtime – Overtime pay for each paycheck.
Gross Pay – Pay before taxes or other deductions.
Net Pay – Take home pay for each paycheck.
FICA O – Stands for Old Age and Survivors Insurance. The federal government takes 6.2 percent of gross taxable wages after any pretax deductions for what is commonly known as Social Security. *This could also be listed as OASI on your paycheck.
FICA M – Stands for Medicare supplement. *This could also be listed as HI (Health Insurance) on your paycheck.
Federal Tax – Federal Income Tax
State Tax – State Income Tax. This could be listed as simply "State Tax" or by the state in which you work. Ex. "MA State Tax"
YTD – This stands for Year to Date, which simply means the amount of earnings, taxes, etc. that have accumulated since the beginning of the year. There may be a separate column or row for YTD items.
401-K – A retirement plan that is funded by employee contributions and (often) matching contributions from the employer. The contributions are taken from pre-tax salary, and the funds grow tax-free until they are withdrawn. The employee has a great deal of control over his or her investments; he/she decides which funds to invest in.
Resources
http://invest-faq.com/articles/ret-plan-401k.html