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Salary slip format

A salary slip records what was earned, what was deducted and what was paid, for one month. Build it below and the gross, the total deductions, the net pay and the net pay in words are all computed for you, so the slip can never disagree with itself.

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Build your salary slip

Type of payslip

A full month worked, with PF and statutory deductions.

4 to go

Still needed before the letter is complete:

  • Company name
  • Salary for the month of
  • Employee name
  • Basic salary

Commonly 40–50% of gross. PF and gratuity are calculated on it, so it is the number that matters most.

The employee contribution, commonly 12% of basic.

A state levy. It does not apply in every state, and the slab differs where it does.

Live draft

SALARY SLIP

[Company Name] [Company Address]

Date: 02 September 2026

Employee: [Employee Name] · Employee ID: [Employee ID] Designation: [Designation] · Department: [Department] Date of joining: [Date of Joining] · PAN: [PAN] UAN: [UAN] · Bank A/c: [Bank A/c] Days paid: [Days]

Subject: Salary slip for [Month YYYY]

Gross earnings for the month: ₹[grossFmt]. Net pay after deductions: ₹[netFmt].

Net pay in words: [netWords].

EarningsAmount (₹)DeductionsAmount (₹)
Gross earnings0Total deductions0

For [Company Name]

[Signatory] [Designation]

This is a computer-generated salary slip and does not require a signature where issued electronically.

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Quick answer

A salary slip should show the employer and employee details, the month, the days paid, each earning component, each deduction, and the gross, total deductions and net pay. Basic salary is the component that matters most, because provident fund and gratuity are calculated on it. Employers covered by the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 are required to maintain wage records and issue wage slips.

Key takeaways

  • Basic salary drives provident fund and gratuity. A structure that keeps basic artificially low reduces both.
  • Show every deduction separately. A single "deductions" figure is what makes payslips useless as evidence.
  • Net pay in words prevents the most common payroll dispute, which is a misread figure.
  • Professional tax is a state levy — it does not apply everywhere, and the slab differs where it does.
  • A consultant is paid fees, not salary. There is no PF or ESI, and tax is deducted at source on the fee.

The components of an Indian salary slip

Almost every payslip in India is built from the same small set of components, and understanding what each one does explains why salary structures look the way they do.

Basic salary is the foundation and the most consequential number on the slip. Provident fund contributions and gratuity are calculated on it, so a structure that keeps basic low relative to gross reduces both the employee's retirement corpus and the employer's cost. It is commonly set between 40 and 50 per cent of gross.

House rent allowance sits on top of basic and is the component most employees think about, because it interacts with the exemption available on rent actually paid under the Income-tax Act. The remaining allowances — conveyance, medical, special — are largely structural: special allowance in particular is usually the balancing figure that makes the total add up to the agreed gross.

On the deduction side, provident fund is the employee's own contribution, commonly 12 per cent of basic, matched separately by the employer. ESI applies where the establishment and the employee both fall within the applicable thresholds. Professional tax is a state levy and simply does not exist in several states. Income tax deducted at source depends on the employee's declared investments and chosen tax regime.

What each line on the slip is doing
ComponentSideWhy it matters
Basic salaryEarningPF and gratuity are calculated on it — the most consequential figure
House rent allowanceEarningInteracts with the exemption for rent actually paid
Conveyance allowanceEarningA structural component in most legacy structures
Medical allowanceEarningA structural component; the standard deduction has largely replaced its old role
Special allowanceEarningUsually the balancing figure that makes gross add up
Provident fundDeductionThe employee's own contribution, commonly 12% of basic
ESIDeductionApplies only within the applicable wage and establishment thresholds
Professional taxDeductionA state levy; it does not apply in every state
Income tax (TDS)DeductionDepends on declared investments and the tax regime chosen

Rates, thresholds and slabs change. Confirm the current position for your state and establishment before relying on any figure.

Why the payslip matters more than people expect

A payslip is not an internal formality. It is the document most often produced as evidence of income, and the situations where it is needed are the ones where a missing or badly made slip costs real money.

Lenders use payslips to assess loan eligibility, and they read the structure as well as the total. Landlords ask for them. Visa officers use them to assess ties and means. A new employer verifying your previous compensation asks for the last three. And in a dispute about unpaid wages or a wrongful deduction, the payslip is the record that establishes what was agreed and what was actually paid.

That last use is why itemisation matters. A slip showing "Salary ₹78,000, deductions ₹9,800, net ₹68,200" proves almost nothing about whether a deduction was authorised. A slip that names each deduction can be tested against the law and against the employment contract.

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The obligation to keep wage records

Employers covered by the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 are required to maintain registers of wages and deductions and to display or issue wage slips, and the Act restricts the deductions that may lawfully be made from wages. State Shops and Establishments Acts impose similar record-keeping duties. Check the position for your establishment and state.

CTC, gross and net — three different numbers

The single most common confusion in Indian pay is between these three figures, and it causes more disappointment on the first payday than anything else.

Cost to company is the employer's total annual cost of employing you. It includes your gross salary and, on top of that, the employer's own contributions — provident fund, gratuity provision, insurance premiums — and sometimes the value of benefits you never see as cash.

Gross salary is the total of the earning components on your payslip before deductions. It is lower than CTC by the employer-side contributions.

Net pay, or take-home, is gross minus the deductions on the slip: your provident fund contribution, professional tax, ESI where applicable, and income tax.

The practical consequence is that take-home is meaningfully lower than the CTC figure discussed at offer stage — and the gap is larger where the structure has a high basic, because a high basic means a larger provident fund deduction. That is not a bad thing; it is deferred saving rather than lost money. But it is worth understanding before you plan around a number.

  1. 1CTC: everything the employer spends on you in a year, including its own contributions.
  2. 2Gross: the total of earnings on the payslip, before any deduction.
  3. 3Net: gross minus employee provident fund, professional tax, ESI where applicable, and TDS.
  4. 4The gap between CTC and gross is the employer-side contributions.
  5. 5The gap between gross and net is your own statutory deductions and tax.

Loss of pay, and what it should look like on the slip

When days are unpaid — leave without pay, unauthorised absence, or unpaid days in a joining or exit month — the payslip should say so on its face.

Show the number of paid days and the number of loss-of-pay days as separate fields, and compute the earnings against the paid days. A slip that simply shows a smaller basic salary without explaining why is the commonest cause of a payroll query, and it is impossible for the employee to check.

This matters in two months in particular: the month you join and the month you leave. Both are usually partial months, and both are the months where employees most often believe they have been underpaid. Stating the paid days answers the question before it is asked.

Consultants and contractors are not on a payslip

If you are engaged as a consultant or a contractor rather than as an employee, what you receive is a fee, not a salary, and the document is a professional fee statement rather than a payslip.

Three things follow. There is no provident fund and no ESI, because those attach to employment. Tax is deducted at source on professional fees under the provisions applicable to such payments, at a different rate and under a different section from salary. And no employer–employee relationship arises, which affects entitlements such as gratuity and statutory leave.

It is worth being accurate about this in the document itself. Issuing a "salary slip" to someone engaged as a consultant creates a record suggesting employment, which can matter later — for the individual claiming employment benefits, and for the organisation defending an assessment. The consultant variant in the generator above is worded to keep the distinction clear.

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Labels do not decide the relationship

Whether someone is an employee or a consultant is judged on the substance of the arrangement — control, integration, exclusivity, provision of tools — and not only on what the paperwork calls it. Where an engagement looks like employment in practice, calling the payment a fee will not by itself change the position.

Mistakes that make a payslip useless

  1. 1Showing a single lump deduction instead of naming each one, which makes the slip worthless as evidence.
  2. 2Omitting the paid days and loss-of-pay days, so a lower net cannot be checked.
  3. 3Leaving out PAN and UAN, which lenders and the provident fund portal both look for.
  4. 4Setting basic artificially low to suppress provident fund cost, which reduces the employee's retirement corpus and gratuity.
  5. 5Deducting professional tax in a state that does not levy it.
  6. 6Not stating the net pay in words, which is the cheapest possible protection against a misread figure.
  7. 7Issuing a payslip to a consultant, which creates a record suggesting employment.
  8. 8No employer name or address on the slip, which is the first thing a verifying lender checks.

Worked examples

Example 1: A standard monthly payslip

Basic
₹45,000
Other earnings
HRA ₹18,000, conveyance ₹1,600, medical ₹1,250, special ₹12,150
Deductions
PF ₹5,400, professional tax ₹200, TDS ₹4,200
  1. 1.Enter the earnings. Gross computes to ₹78,000 — the sum of basic, HRA, conveyance, medical and special allowance.
  2. 2.Enter the deductions. Total deductions compute to ₹9,800.
  3. 3.Net pay computes to ₹68,200, and the words line reads "Rupees Sixty Eight Thousand Two Hundred Only".
  4. 4.Note the relationship: PF of ₹5,400 is 12 per cent of the ₹45,000 basic, which is why basic is the figure that matters.
  5. 5.Add PAN and UAN before downloading — lenders and the provident fund portal both look for them.
Result

A slip where every figure is derived from the components rather than typed, so gross, deductions and net cannot contradict each other.

Example 2: A month with two unpaid days

Days paid
29
Loss of pay days
2
Effect
Earnings computed on paid days
  1. 1.Use the loss of pay variant, which prints the paid days and the LOP days on the face of the slip.
  2. 2.Enter the earnings as computed for the paid days rather than the full month.
  3. 3.The slip then explains its own lower net pay, which is what prevents a payroll query.
  4. 4.Use the same approach for a joining or exit month, which are the two partial months where disputes most often arise.
Result

An employee who can check the figure themselves, and a payroll team that does not spend the following week explaining it.

More questions about this page

What should a salary slip contain?▼
The employer name and address, the employee name, ID, designation and department, the month, the date of joining, PAN and UAN, the days paid, each earning component listed separately, each deduction listed separately, and the gross earnings, total deductions and net pay. Stating the net pay in words as well as figures prevents the commonest payroll dispute.
What is the difference between CTC, gross salary and net salary?▼
CTC is the employer's total annual cost of employing you, including its own provident fund and gratuity contributions. Gross salary is the total of the earning components on your payslip before deductions. Net pay, or take-home, is gross minus your own provident fund contribution, professional tax, ESI where applicable and income tax. Take-home is therefore meaningfully lower than the CTC figure quoted at offer stage.
How much of my salary should be basic?▼
Basic is commonly set between 40 and 50 per cent of gross. It matters because provident fund contributions and gratuity are calculated on it, so a structure with a low basic reduces both your retirement corpus and your gratuity entitlement while increasing immediate take-home. There is no single correct figure — it is a trade-off between cash now and deferred benefits.
Is an employer required to give a salary slip in India?▼
Employers covered by the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 are required to maintain registers of wages and deductions and to issue or display wage slips, and the Act also restricts the deductions that may lawfully be made from wages. State Shops and Establishments Acts impose comparable record-keeping duties. The exact obligation depends on your establishment and state, so check the applicable law for your case.
Why is professional tax deducted from my salary?▼
Professional tax is a tax levied by state governments on income from a profession, trade or employment, and where it applies the employer deducts it and pays it to the state. It does not exist in every state, and the slab and maximum differ between the states that levy it. If it appears on your slip, it should correspond to the slab for the state where you are employed.
Can I get a salary slip if my employer does not issue one?▼
Ask in writing, referring to the wage-record obligations that apply to your establishment, and keep the request. Where none is forthcoming, your bank statement showing the salary credit, your appointment letter, your Form 16 and your provident fund passbook together establish income for most purposes. Persistent refusal, particularly alongside unexplained deductions, is a matter you can raise with the labour authorities for your state.
Do consultants get a salary slip?▼
No. A consultant or contractor is paid professional fees rather than salary, so the correct document is a professional fee statement. There is no provident fund or ESI, tax is deducted at source on fees under a different provision from salary, and no employer–employee relationship arises. Issuing a "salary slip" to a consultant creates a record suggesting employment, which can cause problems for both sides later.
What does loss of pay mean on a payslip?▼
Loss of pay days are days for which no salary is payable — leave without pay, unauthorised absence, or unpaid days in a joining or exit month. A well-made payslip shows the paid days and the LOP days separately and computes earnings against the paid days, so the lower net pay is explained on the face of the slip rather than becoming a payroll query.

Official sources checked

The statutes, rules and regulator pages the statements on this page were checked against.

  • The Payment of Wages Act, 1936
    Wage registers, wage slips, and the deductions that may lawfully be made from wages.
  • The Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952
    Provident fund contributions and the wage base on which they are computed.
  • The Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948
    ESI applicability, which depends on establishment coverage and wage thresholds.
  • State professional tax legislation
    Professional tax is levied by state governments; it is not levied in every state and slabs differ.

Full samples you can read before you fill anything in

Standard monthly salary slipNote that gross, total deductions and net are derived from the components, and that PF is 12% of the basic.
                            SALARY SLIP

Northline Systems Pvt. Ltd.
Plot 22, Sector 62, Noida 201309

                                                    Date: 02 September 2026

Employee: Ravi Menon · Employee ID: NS-1184
Designation: Senior Engineer · Department: Engineering
Date of joining: 11 July 2023 · PAN: ABCDE1234F
UAN: 100XXXXXXX45 · Bank A/c: XXXXXX4402
Days paid: 31

Subject: Salary slip for August 2026

Gross earnings for the month: ₹78,000. Net pay after deductions: ₹68,200.

Net pay in words: Rupees Sixty Eight Thousand Two Hundred Only.

Earnings                Amount (₹)    Deductions              Amount (₹)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Basic salary                45,000    Provident fund               5,400
House rent allowance        18,000    ESI                                0
Conveyance allowance         1,600    Professional tax               200
Medical allowance            1,250    Income tax (TDS)             4,200
Special allowance           12,150    Other deductions                 0
Other earnings                   0
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gross earnings              78,000    Total deductions             9,800

For Northline Systems Pvt. Ltd.


Meera Krishnan
Head — Human Resources

This is a computer-generated salary slip and does not require a signature where
issued electronically.
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