[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":472},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-how-long-to-keep-pay-stubs":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"date":460,"description":461,"draft":462,"extension":463,"keyword":464,"meta":465,"navigation":466,"path":467,"seo":468,"stem":469,"updated":470,"__hash__":471},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-long-to-keep-pay-stubs.md","How long to keep pay stubs",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":439},"minimark",[9,13,16,21,24,29,32,43,53,56,60,71,75,82,93,97,100,178,181,184,188,198,202,205,209,212,215,219,222,248,251,255,258,269,272,275,279,305,309,316,320,323,330,348,352],[10,11,12],"p",{},"\"How long should I keep pay stubs\" is really two questions wearing one coat. If you run payroll, retention is a legal duty with specific periods attached and penalties for getting it wrong. If you receive the stubs, nothing compels you to keep any of them — the question is how long they remain useful, and there is one deadline where the answer is unexpectedly sharp.",[10,14,15],{},"Both answers are below. The employer's is the one with the numbers.",[17,18,20],"h2",{"id":19},"if-you-are-the-employer","If you are the employer",[10,22,23],{},"Four separate bodies of law impose retention duties on the same documents, with different periods, and the operative rule is simply the longest one that applies to you.",[25,26,28],"h3",{"id":27},"federal-wage-law-three-years-and-two-years","Federal wage law: three years and two years",[10,30,31],{},"The Fair Labor Standards Act recordkeeping regulation splits records into two tiers.",[10,33,34,38,39,42],{},[35,36,37],"strong",{},"Three years",", from the last date of entry, for ",[35,40,41],{},"payroll records"," — the employee data the regulation requires, plus collective bargaining agreements and the certificates and notices named elsewhere in the part, kept three years from their last effective date.",[10,44,45,48,49,52],{},[35,46,47],{},"Two years"," for the ",[35,50,51],{},"supplementary records the payroll was computed from",": time and earning cards showing daily start and stop times, wage rate tables and schedules used to compute straight-time or overtime pay, and the records behind additions to and deductions from wages.",[10,54,55],{},"The distinction is worth internalising because it is the opposite of intuitive. The document you produced is kept longer than the raw material you produced it from. In practice most employers keep both for the longer period, since the two-year records are what prove the three-year records correct.",[25,57,59],{"id":58},"age-discrimination-law-three-years-and-one-year","Age discrimination law: three years, and one year",[10,61,62,63,66,67,70],{},"Separately from the FLSA, the ADEA regulation requires every employer to make and keep for ",[35,64,65],{},"three years"," payroll records showing each employee's name, address, date of birth, occupation, rate of pay, and compensation earned each week. Personnel records about hiring, promotion, demotion, transfer, layoff or discharge are kept ",[35,68,69],{},"one year"," from the personnel action.",[25,72,74],{"id":73},"tax-law-four-years-and-sometimes-longer","Tax law: four years, and sometimes longer",[10,76,77,78,81],{},"The IRS requires employment tax records to be kept ",[35,79,80],{},"at least four years after the date the tax becomes due or is paid, whichever is later"," — which is a later starting point than the wage regulations use, and often makes this the binding constraint.",[10,83,84,85,88,89,92],{},"Two pandemic-era credits stretch it further: records substantiating qualified sick and family leave wages for leave taken after March 31, 2021 and before October 1, 2021 must be kept ",[35,86,87],{},"six years",", and records for qualified wages under the employee retention credit ",[35,90,91],{},"seven years",".",[25,94,96],{"id":95},"state-law-three-to-six-years","State law: three to six years",[10,98,99],{},"States set their own, and the longest ones are meaningfully longer than the federal floor:",[101,102,103,119],"table",{},[104,105,106],"thead",{},[107,108,109,113,116],"tr",{},[110,111,112],"th",{},"State",[110,114,115],{},"Retention",[110,117,118],{},"Note",[120,121,122,138,151,165],"tbody",{},[107,123,124,132,135],{},[125,126,127],"td",{},[128,129,131],"a",{"href":130},"\u002Fpay-stub-requirements\u002Fnew-york","New York",[125,133,134],{},"6 years",[125,136,137],{},"Contemporaneous, true and accurate payroll records",[107,139,140,146,148],{},[125,141,142],{},[128,143,145],{"href":144},"\u002Fpay-stub-requirements\u002Fhawaii","Hawaii",[125,147,134],{},[125,149,150],{},"The duty follows the electronic record too",[107,152,153,159,162],{},[125,154,155],{},[128,156,158],{"href":157},"\u002Fpay-stub-requirements\u002Fcalifornia","California",[125,160,161],{},"3 years",[125,163,164],{},"At the place of employment or a central California location",[107,166,167,173,175],{},[125,168,169],{},[128,170,172],{"href":171},"\u002Fpay-stub-requirements\u002Fillinois","Illinois",[125,174,161],{},[125,176,177],{},"Paper or electronic, and even if the employment ended",[10,179,180],{},"Two of these carry an access duty on top of the retention duty, and it is the access duty that usually causes trouble. California employees may inspect or copy their payroll records, and an employer who does not comply within 21 calendar days owes a $750 penalty. Illinois employees — including former ones, for a year after leaving — may demand copies twice a year and must receive them within 21 days. Illinois adds a duty at the exit door: if electronic stubs stop being reachable after someone leaves, the employer must offer a record of the past year by the final pay period, and write down whether the offer was accepted.",[10,182,183],{},"A stub that was retained but cannot be produced on time fails these rules just as surely as one that was destroyed.",[25,185,187],{"id":186},"the-practical-rule","The practical rule",[10,189,190,191,194,195,197],{},"Take the longest period that touches you. For most employers that is the ",[35,192,193],{},"four-year IRS clock",", measured from when the tax was due or paid, and for employers in New York or Hawaii it is ",[35,196,87],{},". Keeping everything for the longest applicable period is far cheaper than maintaining separate destruction schedules for time cards and pay records, and it removes the risk of applying the two-year tier to something that was never in it.",[17,199,201],{"id":200},"if-you-are-the-employee","If you are the employee",[10,203,204],{},"Nothing requires you to keep a single stub. What follows is about usefulness, and it has one hard deadline in it.",[25,206,208],{"id":207},"until-your-w-2-arrives-keep-everything","Until your W-2 arrives: keep everything",[10,210,211],{},"The immediate job of a year's stubs is to check the W-2 against them. Your final stub's year-to-date columns should reconcile: year-to-date gross against Box 1 after adding back pre-tax deductions, year-to-date Social Security wages against Box 3, Medicare wages against Box 5. If they disagree, the stubs are the evidence you raise it with, and the disagreement is far easier to resolve in February than in November.",[10,213,214],{},"Once the W-2 is reconciled, the W-2 becomes the durable record and the stubs become supporting material.",[25,216,218],{"id":217},"three-years-six-years-seven-or-forever-the-tax-ladder","Three years, six years, seven, or forever — the tax ladder",[10,220,221],{},"The IRS states the retention periods for individual records in terms of the assessment window:",[223,224,225,231,236,242],"ul",{},[226,227,228,230],"li",{},[35,229,161],{}," in the ordinary case.",[226,232,233,235],{},[35,234,134],{}," if you did not report income you should have and it is more than 25% of the gross income shown on the return.",[226,237,238,241],{},[35,239,240],{},"7 years"," if you claim a loss from worthless securities or a bad debt deduction.",[226,243,244,247],{},[35,245,246],{},"Indefinitely"," if you did not file a return, or filed a fraudulent one.",[10,249,250],{},"For most people that is three years from filing, and the record that matters at the end of it is the W-2, not the stubs.",[25,252,254],{"id":253},"the-deadline-nobody-expects-your-social-security-earnings-record","The deadline nobody expects: your Social Security earnings record",[10,256,257],{},"This is the one place where old pay stubs are genuinely irreplaceable.",[10,259,260,261,264,265,268],{},"Social Security keeps a record of your earnings, and it is what your benefit is eventually computed from. That record can be corrected — but only for a limited window. The regulation defines the time limit as ",[35,262,263],{},"3 years, 3 months, and 15 days after the year in which the earnings were received",". Before that limit, SSA records are evidence of your earnings but not conclusive evidence. After it, they become ",[35,266,267],{},"conclusive",", subject to a narrow list of exceptions.",[10,270,271],{},"In plain terms: if an employer under-reported your wages for 2026, you have until roughly April 15, 2030 to prove otherwise, and after that the agency's figure generally stands. What proves otherwise is your W-2 and your pay stubs.",[10,273,274],{},"So the practical answer for an employee is: check your earnings record against your own documents while you still can, and keep the underlying paper until you have. Keeping every stub for four years costs a folder; a decade of unnoticed under-reporting costs benefit dollars for life.",[25,276,278],{"id":277},"when-someone-asks-for-older-ones","When someone asks for older ones",[223,280,281,287,293,299],{},[226,282,283,286],{},[35,284,285],{},"Mortgage applications"," want recent stubs, not old ones. Fannie Mae's Selling Guide asks for a most recent paystub dated no earlier than 30 days before the application, showing all year-to-date earnings, plus W-2s covering the most recent one or two years — and it will accept a year-end paystub in place of the W-2. Note which document is doing the work there: the stub qualifies because of its year-to-date columns.",[226,288,289,292],{},[35,290,291],{},"Disability, workers' compensation and unemployment claims"," may reach back further, and wage history is central to the benefit calculation.",[226,294,295,298],{},[35,296,297],{},"Wage claims"," run on your state's statute of limitations, which is frequently longer than the employer's retention duty — one reason your own copies matter.",[226,300,301,304],{},[35,302,303],{},"Immigration filings"," often ask for employment and income history over multiple years.",[25,306,308],{"id":307},"a-workable-personal-rule","A workable personal rule",[10,310,311,312,315],{},"Keep the current year's stubs until the W-2 reconciles. Keep the last full year's set as well. Keep every ",[35,313,314],{},"W-2"," indefinitely — they are one page a year and they are what the Social Security record gets checked against. Keep stubs for any year in which something was disputed, corrected, or unusual, for as long as the dispute could plausibly resurface.",[17,317,319],{"id":318},"storing-them","Storing them",[10,321,322],{},"If your stubs are electronic, download them rather than relying on the portal. Access disappears when employment ends — the reason Illinois wrote an exit-door duty into its statute is that people were losing their records at exactly the moment they needed them.",[10,324,325,326,329],{},"A stub is a document with your name and at least the last four digits of your Social Security number on it. If any of yours shows the ",[35,327,328],{},"full"," SSN, that is worth raising with payroll: several states restrict it, and it is a poor thing to have sitting in an unencrypted folder or an email archive regardless.",[10,331,332,333,337,338,342,343,347],{},"Related reading: ",[128,334,336],{"href":335},"\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-to-read-a-pay-stub","how to read a pay stub"," covers reconciling year-to-date columns against a W-2, ",[128,339,341],{"href":340},"\u002Fblog\u002Fwhat-to-include-on-a-pay-stub","what to include on a pay stub"," covers the underlying federal recordkeeping list, and your ",[128,344,346],{"href":345},"\u002Fpay-stub-requirements","state's requirements page"," gives the local retention and access rules.",[17,349,351],{"id":350},"sources","Sources",[223,353,354,362,369,376,383,390,397,404,411,418,425,432],{},[226,355,356],{},[128,357,361],{"href":358,"rel":359},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.ecfr.gov\u002Fcurrent\u002Ftitle-29\u002Fsection-516.5",[360],"nofollow","29 CFR § 516.5 — Records to be preserved 3 years",[226,363,364],{},[128,365,368],{"href":366,"rel":367},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.ecfr.gov\u002Fcurrent\u002Ftitle-29\u002Fsection-516.6",[360],"29 CFR § 516.6 — Records to be preserved 2 years",[226,370,371],{},[128,372,375],{"href":373,"rel":374},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.ecfr.gov\u002Fcurrent\u002Ftitle-29\u002Fsection-1627.3",[360],"29 CFR § 1627.3 — Records to be kept by employers (ADEA)",[226,377,378],{},[128,379,382],{"href":380,"rel":381},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.irs.gov\u002Fpublications\u002Fp15",[360],"IRS Publication 15 — Employer's Tax Guide",[226,384,385],{},[128,386,389],{"href":387,"rel":388},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.irs.gov\u002Fbusinesses\u002Fsmall-businesses-self-employed\u002Fhow-long-should-i-keep-records",[360],"IRS — How long should I keep records?",[226,391,392],{},[128,393,396],{"href":394,"rel":395},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.ecfr.gov\u002Fcurrent\u002Ftitle-20\u002Fsection-404.802",[360],"20 CFR § 404.802 — Definitions",[226,398,399],{},[128,400,403],{"href":401,"rel":402},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.ecfr.gov\u002Fcurrent\u002Ftitle-20\u002Fsection-404.803",[360],"20 CFR § 404.803 — Conclusiveness of the record of your earnings",[226,405,406],{},[128,407,410],{"href":408,"rel":409},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.nysenate.gov\u002Flegislation\u002Flaws\u002FLAB\u002F195",[360],"New York Labor Law § 195",[226,412,413],{},[128,414,417],{"href":415,"rel":416},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.capitol.hawaii.gov\u002Fhrscurrent\u002FVol07_Ch0346-0398\u002FHRS0388\u002FHRS_0388-0007.htm",[360],"Hawaii Revised Statutes § 388-7 — Notification, posting, and records",[226,419,420],{},[128,421,424],{"href":422,"rel":423},"https:\u002F\u002Fleginfo.legislature.ca.gov\u002Ffaces\u002Fcodes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=LAB&sectionNum=226",[360],"California Labor Code § 226",[226,426,427],{},[128,428,431],{"href":429,"rel":430},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.ilga.gov\u002Flegislation\u002Filcs\u002Ffulltext.asp?DocName=082001150K10",[360],"820 ILCS 115\u002F10",[226,433,434],{},[128,435,438],{"href":436,"rel":437},"https:\u002F\u002Fselling-guide.fanniemae.com\u002Fsel\u002Fb3-3.1-02\u002Fstandards-employment-documentation",[360],"Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-3.1-02 — Standards for Employment Documentation",{"title":440,"searchDepth":441,"depth":441,"links":442},"",2,[443,451,458,459],{"id":19,"depth":441,"text":20,"children":444},[445,447,448,449,450],{"id":27,"depth":446,"text":28},3,{"id":58,"depth":446,"text":59},{"id":73,"depth":446,"text":74},{"id":95,"depth":446,"text":96},{"id":186,"depth":446,"text":187},{"id":200,"depth":441,"text":201,"children":452},[453,454,455,456,457],{"id":207,"depth":446,"text":208},{"id":217,"depth":446,"text":218},{"id":253,"depth":446,"text":254},{"id":277,"depth":446,"text":278},{"id":307,"depth":446,"text":308},{"id":318,"depth":441,"text":319},{"id":350,"depth":441,"text":351},"2026-08-24","Two different questions with two different answers: how long your employer must retain payroll records, and how long the stubs are worth anything to you.",false,"md","how long to keep pay stubs",{},true,"\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-long-to-keep-pay-stubs",{"title":5,"description":461},"blog\u002Fhow-long-to-keep-pay-stubs",null,"sdnR6xPfUmNdOGq9aWi7vCgxz21NFGBysXkbrHxAJ2o",1789202124575]