Year-to-Date (YTD)

Year-to-Date (YTD) paystub meaning: The running total of a pay stub line from January 1 through this check — the column that reconciles to your W-2, and...

The running total of a pay stub line from January 1 through this check — the column that reconciles to your W-2, and usually won't match Box 1.

YTD is the second number beside almost every line on your stub: the current pay period on the left, the total since January 1 on the right. There is a YTD figure for gross, for each earnings type, for each tax and for each deduction. It resets on the first check dated in January — dated, not earned — so a December pay period paid on January 2 belongs to the new year's YTD. The YTD column is the most auditable thing on your stub, because its figures have to be internally consistent. YTD Social Security should be exactly 6.2% of YTD Social Security wages up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500, and YTD Medicare exactly 1.45% of YTD Medicare wages, per IRS Topic 751. If those percentages do not come out, something is worth asking about in June rather than the following February. What YTD gross will not do is match W-2 Box 1. Box 1 is your gross minus the deductions excluded from federal taxable wages — 401(k) elective deferrals, pre-tax medical, HSA, FSA — plus any taxable fringe added back. Boxes 3 and 5 sit closer to YTD gross, because 401(k) deferrals stay in Social Security and Medicare wages and are reported separately in Box 12 with code D. Three different totals from the same stub is normal, not a mistake. Some stubs also print QTD, MTD, or a PTO total running on your hire anniversary rather than the calendar. Read the column heading before comparing anything to anything.

Earnings lines should identify the applicable rate, hours or units, current amount, and year-to-date total. Reconcile them with time records, the pay period, the employment agreement, and the employer-issued statement.

When this term appears on a statement, read its label, current amount, year-to-date amount, pay-period context, and any adjacent rate or hours together. Resolve a mismatch with the original issuer or the cited authority rather than changing a record to force a preferred result.