deductionAn amount subtracted from a worker's earnings. Taxes are one kind. Others, such as insurance or a retirement plan, are chosen by the worker.
direct depositAn electronic transfer of pay to the worker's account. The money can also go to a credit union account or a prepaid card.
gross payThe whole amount earned, with nothing yet subtracted. Forty hours at $15 an hour is $600 of gross pay.
hourly wagePay counted by the time worked, at a stated rate. Wages are usually worked out by multiplying the hourly rate by the number of hours.
net payWhat a worker actually takes home. Gross pay of $600 with $130 taken out leaves net pay of $470. Another name for it is take-home pay.
overtimeWork that runs past a job's standard hours. The word also names the pay for those hours.
pay periodThe stretch of working time that one payment covers. A pay period may be a week, two weeks, half a month or a month.
pay stubA statement showing how one payment was worked out. It is also called a payslip or a pay advice.
paycheckAn employer's payment of what a worker has earned. Many employers no longer hand out a paper check: the pay goes straight into a bank account or onto a payroll card.
paydayThe day on which workers receive their pay. A worker paid every two weeks has 26 paydays in a year.
salaryFixed pay for a period, whatever the hours worked. A salary of $52,000 a year comes to $1,000 a week in gross pay.
withholdingTax money held back from pay for the government. The amount kept back counts toward the tax the worker owes for the year.
Show all 36 terms (24 more)
Pay periods and kinds of pay 12
biweeklyEvery fourteen days: 26 paydays a year. The word can also mean twice a week, so a pay schedule often says every two weeks.
bonusA reward in money beyond regular wages or salary. A bonus often depends on results, such as a company's sales for the year.
commissionEarnings tied to how much a salesperson sells. A 5 percent commission on $2,000 of sales is $100.
minimum wageAn hourly rate that no covered job may pay less than. The federal rate has been $7.25 an hour since 2009. For workers who receive tips it is $2.13, as long as tips bring the total to $7.25.
monthlyOnce each month: 12 paydays a year. A salary of $48,000 a year is $4,000 on each monthly payday before deductions.
paid time offHours away from work that still count for pay. Employers grant it for vacations or personal events.
payrollA company's record of its staff and what each is owed. The word also names the department that works out the pay.
piece rateA fixed amount paid for each unit produced. A picker paid 50 cents a pound earns $60 for 120 pounds, however long the work takes.
semimonthlyTwice each month: 24 paydays a year. Semi means half: the pay covers half a month at a time.
time and a halfA pay rate 50 percent above the normal one. A worker who earns $16 an hour gets $24 for each hour at time and a half.
timesheetA form that logs how long an employee worked. Timesheets came into use in the 1800s, when they were called time books.
weeklyEvery seven days: 52 paydays a year. Dividing a yearly salary by 52 gives the gross pay for one week.
Taxes and other deductions 12
federal income taxWhat the national government collects on earnings. The money goes to national programs, defense and law enforcement among them.
FICAThe act that sets the two payroll taxes on wages. The letters stand for Federal Insurance Contributions Act.
Form W-2A yearly statement of wages paid and taxes withheld. Employers must give it to workers by January 31 of the following year.
Form W-4A worker fills it in to set tax withholding. The IRS suggests filling in a new one each year and whenever personal or financial circumstances change.
insurance premiumThe regular price of keeping a policy in force. Health, dental and life insurance are among the kinds a worker can pay for through a paycheck.
Medicare taxIt helps pay for the health plan of people 65 and up. The employee's share is 1.45 percent of wages, matched by the employer.
pretax deductionMoney taken out before income tax is figured. Payments for health insurance or into certain retirement accounts can come out of pay this way.
retirement contributionPay set aside in a savings plan for later life. A 401(k) plan takes the worker's share from each paycheck, and some employers add to it.
Social Security taxIt funds benefits for retired and disabled workers. The employee's share is 6.2 percent of wages, and the employer pays the same amount.
state income taxA levy on earnings below the national level. Nine states have no state income tax.
wage garnishmentPay held back by court order to settle a debt. Common causes are unpaid child support, student loans and taxes, and federal law limits how much can be taken.
year-to-dateThe running total since January 1. Some pay stubs show year-to-date totals beside the figures for the one pay period. The short form is YTD.
How this list was compiled: Term list chosen for this site on 2026-10-12. Each meaning is written in our own words and was checked that day against the English Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/), whose text is under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license, in the articles Paycheck, Payroll, Gross income, Net income, Tax withholding in the United States, Wage, Salary, Overtime, Direct deposit, Time-and-a-half, Commission (remuneration), Bonus payment, Piece work, Minimum wage in the United States, Timesheet, Annual leave, State income tax in the United States, Federal Insurance Contributions Act, Form W-4, Form W-2, 401(k), Garnishment and Year-to-date, and against the entries of Wiktionary, the free dictionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/), under the same license, for payday, pay stub, gross pay, net pay, take-home pay, deduction, withholding, biweekly, semimonthly, semi-, piece rate, time and a half, payroll and year to date. The second sources are the glossary of the youth financial education pages of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (https://www.consumerfinance.gov/consumer-tools/educator-tools/youth-financial-education/glossary/) for paycheck, pay period, gross and net income, wage, salary, direct deposit, commission, minimum wage, premium and the two income taxes; the glossary of Understanding Taxes of the Internal Revenue Service (https://apps.irs.gov/app/understandingTaxes/student/glossary.jsp) for wages, salary, bonus, commission, withholding and the Social Security and Medicare taxes; the Service's Topic no. 751 (https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc751) for the two tax rates and its pages About Form W-4 and About Form W-2 (https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-w-4, https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-w-2); the page Minimum wage of USA.gov (https://www.usa.gov/minimum-wage) for the federal rates; and the entry garnishment of Wex, the legal dictionary of the Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School (https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/garnishment). The sums in the examples are our own arithmetic. The other rows, and the fact after each meaning, rest on the Wikipedia articles. Licence: own work
How it works
A paycheck and pay period vocabulary worksheet for a personal finance or careers class: gross pay, net pay, deduction, withholding, pay period, overtime and six more terms to match to their meanings. The last page is the answer key.
Read the full guide
Pay periods and kinds of pay
In Set, the second sheet has weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, monthly, time and a half, commission, bonus, piece rate, minimum wage, timesheet, payroll and paid time off.
Taxes and other deductions
The third has federal income tax, state income tax, Social Security tax, Medicare tax, FICA, Form W-4, Form W-2, pretax deduction, insurance premium, retirement contribution, wage garnishment and year-to-date. Under the tool each term has a fact or a worked sum, checked against Wikipedia, the glossaries of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Internal Revenue Service, and USA.gov.
Tax rates and the minimum wage are federal figures read in October 2026 and can change. Nothing here is tax advice.
Questions and answers
What is the difference between gross pay and net pay?
Gross pay is everything earned in the pay period, before anything is subtracted. Net pay is what is left after taxes and other deductions: the amount that actually reaches the worker.
How many pay periods are in a year?
52 with weekly pay, 26 with biweekly, 24 with semimonthly and 12 with monthly. Biweekly paydays keep the same weekday; semimonthly paydays keep the same dates of the month.
What is taken out of a paycheck?
Federal income tax, Social Security tax and Medicare tax come out of most paychecks, and in most states a state income tax too. Amounts the worker agreed to, such as a health insurance premium or a retirement plan payment, may also come out.