Paystub Abbreviations Explained: A Complete 2026 Guide
FICA, OASDI, FIT, SIT, MED, SDI, YTD. A plain-English decoder for the abbreviations payroll systems print on a pay stub, and why the labels differ between employers.
A pay stub has to fit a dozen payroll concepts into a narrow column, so almost every label is abbreviated. The codes are not standardised: two employers using different payroll providers can print different abbreviations for the same deduction. Once you know the families they fall into, an unfamiliar stub stops being a puzzle.
Tax Abbreviations
- FIT or FED — federal income tax withheld, calculated from your Form W-4 and the IRS tables.
- SIT or ST TAX — state income tax, where your state levies one.
- FICA — the umbrella for Social Security and Medicare.
- OASDI — Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance, the formal name for Social Security tax.
- MED, Fed MED/EE or Fed MWT EE — the Medicare portion.
- SDI — state disability insurance, in the handful of states that run such a programme.
The EE and ER Suffixes
These two are worth learning first because they change how you read everything else. EE means employee: the amount came out of your pay. ER means employer: the company paid it on top of your wages. An ER line is informational and does not reduce your net pay, which is why a stub can show a large health insurance figure that never touched your deposit.
Earnings and Benefit Codes
REG is regular hours, OT is overtime, HOL is holiday pay, PTO or VAC is paid leave. On the deduction side you will meet 401K for retirement contributions, GTL for the taxable value of group-term life insurance over the exempt amount, and LTD or STD for long-term and short-term disability premiums.
YTD: the Column That Matters Most
Next to almost every line sits a year-to-date figure. It is the running total since January, and it is what your year-end wage statement is built from. If a cumulative number moves by more than the current period amount, something was corrected or paid retroactively, and the stub is where you will find it.
Because the codes vary so widely between payroll providers, it helps to have a reference you can search. I keep an expanded decoder, covering the less common abbreviations and the regional variations, in my complete guide to pay stub abbreviations for Online Paystub.
When a Code Is Not Listed Anywhere
Employers can create custom labels for their own deductions, and no public glossary will have them. Ask payroll what the line represents and ask them to confirm whether it is pre-tax or post-tax. That single question usually explains why the deduction affects your taxable wages the way it does.
