What's on a Canadian pay stub?
Every Canadian pay stub has three parts: earnings (what you earned this pay period), deductions (what was taken off), and net pay (what landed in your bank account). Most also show year-to-date (YTD) totals for each line.
In Ontario, your employer must give you a wage statement every payday showing your pay period, wage rate, gross wages, each deduction and your net pay. The codes vary by payroll system — Payworks, ADP, Ceridian Dayforce and QuickBooks all label things differently — but the lines mean the same thing.
Sample pay stub: $60,000 salary in Ontario
Here's what a typical biweekly pay stub looks like for someone earning $60,000 a year in Ontario in 2026, with no benefits or pension deductions.
| Line | This period | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Regular earnings (REG) | $2,307.69 | $60,000 ÷ 26 pays |
| Gross pay | $2,307.69 | Total before deductions |
| CPP | −$129.30 | Canada Pension Plan, 5.95% above the basic exemption |
| EI | −$37.62 | Employment Insurance, 1.63% |
| Federal income tax | −$205.32 | Withheld for the CRA |
| Provincial income tax | −$114.70 | Ontario tax, including the Ontario Health Premium |
| Net pay | $1,820.76 | Deposited to your account |
These figures are full-year averages from our Ontario paycheque deductions guide. Payroll software calculates each cheque individually, so your actual lines can differ by a few dollars.
Earnings lines explained
- REG / Regular / Salary — your normal hours × your hourly rate, or your salary ÷ number of pays.
- OT / Overtime — overtime hours at 1.5× (in Ontario, hours over 44 in a week).
- StatPay@1.0 / Holiday pay / PH Pay — public holiday pay for a stat day off. In Ontario it's your wages plus vacation pay from the four work weeks before, divided by 20.
- StatPay@1.5 / Holiday worked — premium pay for hours you worked on a stat holiday, at 1.5× your rate. You can see both StatPay lines on the same stub.
- VacEachPay / Vac Pay / VP — vacation pay paid out on every cheque instead of being saved for when you take time off. It's 4% of your gross wages (6% after five years in Ontario).
- Bonus, commission, shift premium, tips — extra earnings, usually taxed at a higher withholding rate on that cheque.
- Taxable benefits — employer-paid items like group life insurance. You don't receive this as cash, but it's added to your taxable income so tax is withheld on it.
Deduction lines explained
- CPP — Canada Pension Plan: 5.95% of earnings over $3,500 a year, up to $74,600 (maximum $4,230.45 in 2026). CPP2 appears only if you earn over $74,600: 4% up to $85,000.
- EI — Employment Insurance: 1.63% of earnings up to $68,900 (maximum $1,123.07).
- FIT / Federal tax and PIT / Provincial tax — income tax withheld based on your TD1 forms. In Ontario, the Ontario Health Premium is included in the provincial line.
- QPP and QPIP — Quebec workers see these instead of CPP, plus a lower EI rate.
- Union dues, RRSP, pension, benefits — voluntary or contract deductions. Pension and group RRSP contributions reduce your taxable income, so less tax is withheld.
What the YTD columns mean
YTD (year-to-date) shows the running total of each line since January 1. It's the easiest way to see when you'll hit the CPP and EI maximums — once YTD EI reaches $1,123.07 and YTD CPP reaches $4,230.45, those deductions stop until January and your cheques get bigger.
Your December YTD totals should match the boxes on your T4 slip: box 14 (employment income), box 16 (CPP), box 18 (EI) and box 22 (income tax deducted).
How to check your pay stub is right
- Check your hours and rate against your schedule or timesheet — this is where most errors start.
- Check overtime is at 1.5× for the right hours.
- Check stat holiday pay after a holiday like Thanksgiving with our stat holiday pay calculator.
- Check vacation pay is 4% (or 6%) of gross if it's paid on each cheque.
- Compare net pay with the hourly paycheck calculator. A big gap usually means a TD1 setting, a benefit deduction or a payroll error.