An integral part of the hiring process in the United States is the employer’s review of the prospective employee’s background. Background checks verify education and employment history and review possible criminal records. A document that is becoming more and more common in these checks is the employee’s of paystubs from prior employers.

An applicant’s of paystubs reveals important details about the applicant’s financial stability, job responsibilities, level of employment, and consistency of employment. All these details help the employer assess the accuracy of claims made in the applicant’s job application. If paystubs are accurate, they can facilitate the hiring process for both full-time employees and freelancers.

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Reasons An Employer Requests Paystubs

Employers want paystubs to help confirm:

Salary history
Length of employment
Employment stability
Salary honesty
Financial honesty

Employers are aware that paystubs, unlike many of the documents submitted by applicants, are difficult to falsify. Creating false paystubs is a risky venture that may end with the creation of many visible false elements, including incorrect deductions and inaccurate year-to-date amounts.

What Paystubs Show In A Background Check

Employers can learn a lot about their employees by reviewing paystubs from prior employers. They review and analyze the following information:

Pay and position Paystubs outline the employee’s position and level of pay, therefore confirming what the employee stated.
Pay period

Paystubs can identify the billing period for the current employer (weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly).

Recordkeeping and Employee Taxes

As processing payroll accurately is one working with an employee and keeping records.

Year to Date Totals

Earnings year to date is a way to verify the length of service a person worked with a company.

Company Name and Location

This verifies the employment information is legit.

When Employees Need Their Pay Stubs

Background employment checks need pay stubs for:

Negotiating salary
Verifying employment history
Employment verification
Internal audits (for advanced positions)
Promotion or transfer activities

Using pay stubs eliminates guesswork and increases the speed of checks.

Why Job Applications Require Pay Stubs for Freelancers

Most freelancers do not have pay stubs from an employer because:

They have more than one client
Their income is inconsistent
They do not get payroll slips from clients

However, outfits hiring freelancers, especially for contracting, want to confirm that the worker is professional and stable financially. Using paystubmaker tools, freelancers can create pay stubs for their clients. This maintains activity records and income records.

Why Background Checks Speed Up With Pay Stubs

Pay stubs helps employers:

Skip reaching out to former employers
Quick salary confirmation
Instant employment verification
Validate discrepancies within the resume
Eliminate the risk of falsification

This enables candidates to obtain an offer sooner.

What Actions May Be Taken If I Cannot Provide A Paystub?

An employer may:

Request bank statements.
Request tax documents (W-2 or 1099).
Delay processing.
Offer a lower salary.
Withdraw an offer (very rarely).

Being ready with paystubs will help avoid these problems.

Paystubmakers And Employment And Income Verification

With Paystubmakers, users are able to

Create paystubs that look professional and clean.
Use accurate wages and employer information.
Set custom pay schedules.
Include consistent year-to-date (YTD) figures.
Create and download paystubs that are in PDF verification format.

Prompt and correct paystubs are useful and trusted.

Final Thoughts

Paystubs are essential for employment background checks in the U.S. They offer proof of income, employment history, and work consistency. It does not matter if you are applying for a new position, negotiating a new salary, or verifying a prior employment; paystubs help with maintaining a level of professionalism. Paystub Makers will help you with professional, full, and clear paystubs for the hiring process.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do employers ask for paystubs in the hiring process?

Employers ask for paystubs because they want to confirm your employment history and keep your professional background in check. Paystubs show proof of employment, and they confirm if you worked where you said you did. They are also used for salary verifications, and they show what your prior job title was, and if you were full or part time. This is a professional and financial background check. It assures the hiring authority to make a valid and sound hiring decision.

Can freelancers create generated paystubs?

Yes, freelancers as well as independent contractors can create generated paystubs. However, these must be created very carefully. Since freelancers are self-employed, they do not have an employer who provides them with a pay stub. Therefore, they have to create their own proof of income.

Many freelancers do this by using paystub generators online or with a paystub generator software. These documents are generally accepted as long as they do include:

Actual earnings and deductions.
Bank statements or 1099 tax forms, depending on how they are paid.
A clean appearance and professionalism with all of the required sections including gross pay, net pay, other pay, taxes and pay period.

But always be truthful. Fraud is using a generator with false income to create paystubs.

Can online paystubs be used for background checks?

Yes, online paystubs can be used for background checks, as long as they are real. Most businesses do not hand out paper paychecks anymore. Most businesses pay their employees digitally with pay services like Stubcheck or ADP.

Background check companies know people are using online paystubs now, and they know it is legitimate if it contains:

Employers name and address.
Employee name and social security number. Parts of the social security number can be used.
The pay period and pay dates.
Total YTD earnings.

A background screening company might request further verification documenting proof of tax deposits or tax recordings if there is a concern about the documents or if these important elements are absent.

How many paystubs are required?

Most companies only request two or three of the most current paystubs. This is enough to demonstrate a steady income and a history of employment without inundating the hiring personnel with too much information.

Apartment renting: 2-3 paystub months are required by most landlords.
Mortgage lending: Some lenders are more demanding, requiring paystubs from the last 30 to 60 days to see a full month or more of recent paystubs.
New employment: Most employers request just one or two of the most recent paystubs to confirm you are about to change jobs.

You should always have your last few months pay records ready incase an employment prospect arrives.

What if my paystub is not in alignment with my resume?

A resume and a corresponding paystub do not always jibe, and while this is not always a negative, the reason for the inconsistency may not matter.

Job Titles: It is not unusual for your internal HR title (e.g., “Sales Associate II”) to differ from your working title (e.g., “Senior Account Manager”). Be ready to clarify what your real job duties are.
Salary: If your resume claimed a higher salary than what is on your paystub, it will break trust and could lead to a retracted job offer.
Employment Dates: If your paystub indicates that you left a position months earlier than you stated, it creates a gap that you did not want to expose.