Your paycheck holds a lot of important information, but for most people, as long as the money is coming in, the actual paystub is out-of-sight and out-of-mind. The fact is, your paystub can be the difference between a tax refund or bill at tax time, as well as a playing a key role in getting a loan, or even verifying your identity in the fight against tax fraud. Below are the Top 3 Reasons why it’s a good idea to make sure you have access to your paystubs, either online or in hardcopy, and why it’s important to check them periodically.
- Getting a Refund vs. Owing Money at a Tax Time: Changes in tax laws, marital status, or even a slight bump in your income that puts you in a higher tax bracket can unwittingly leave you owing money at the end of they ear when you used to see a refund. The best way to prevent this from happening is to periodically look at your paystub to see exactly how much is being taken out of each one based on your “withholding allowances.” Unfortunately, withholding is one of those things that is usually set up on the first day of a new job as part of the paperwork, and never looked at again. There are basic guidelines about who should claim how many allowances based on your number of dependents, Head of Household status, but with so many people working second or part-time jobs, or joint filers with spouses who work, the standard guidelines don’t always make sense if you want to avoid owing money at tax time. See our previous post about where on your paycheck you’ll find your withholding elections, and if too much or too little is being taken out every month, you should fill out a new form W-4. The sooner you do it, the smaller the adjustment needs to be to rebalance your tax debt to your preference.
- Identity Theft & Fraud Prevention: With the widespread tax fraud across the country this year—particularly with respect to unemployment, paystubs have taken on even greater importance. As efforts increase at both the state and federal level to guard against tax fraud, paystubs are among the documents being requested to verify identity. For this reason, we are urging clients to make sure they have a copy of their last paystub of the year readily available—either electronically or in hard copy. We have seen instances where processing tax returns has been denied until these documents are produced.
- Income Verification: There are seemingly mountains of documents that lenders require when applying for a loan—whether it’s a mortgage, Home Equity line of credit, or a personal loan. Paystubs are just part of the equation, but lenders want to know that you’ve got money coming in so you’ll be able to pay them back for the money going out. Depending on the frequency with which you get paid, they may ask for two or more paystubs, but regardless how many, they must be the most recent ones. Having easy access to your paystubs is one step toward making the process easier.
