Quick answer
To replace a lost pay stub, request a copy from your employer or payroll provider, or download it from your payroll portal. If you keep your own records, retrieve your saved copy.
Where to look first
- Your employer’s HR or payroll department
- An online payroll or employee self-service portal
- Your own saved records or email
Prevent it next time
Save a digital copy of every pay stub in a secure, organized folder to make future retrieval easier.
How to get a replacement pay stub
1. Check the payroll portal. Look under pay statements, earnings statements or paycheck history. Select the correct employer and pay date, then download the original PDF if available. Use the portal’s account-recovery process if you cannot sign in.
2. Contact payroll or HR. Give your name as it appeared on payroll, the pay date or date range, and whether you need one statement or several. Use the employer’s established contact channel. Ask how to verify your identity securely; do not send a full Social Security number in an ordinary email.
3. If you left the company, ask the former employer how former employees retrieve statements. Access may use a different portal or require payroll assistance. A payroll provider may direct you back to the employer that controls the account.
4. Check the copy before sharing it. Confirm the employee and employer, pay-period dates, payment date, gross earnings, deductions, net pay and YTD amounts. See how to read a pay stub.
A simple request you can adapt
Subject: Request for copy of pay statement
Hello Payroll Team, please provide a copy of my pay statement for [pay date or pay-period dates]. My name on payroll is [name], and I worked in [department or location]. Please let me know the secure steps needed to verify my identity and retrieve the statement. Thank you.
Send the request to your employer, not to PayStubPro. PayStubPro cannot access another employer’s payroll portal or retrieve a statement issued by another payroll service.
What if the employer cannot provide the copy?
Ask whether archived statements or a payroll register can support a replacement issued by the employer. If a lender, landlord or agency requested the document, ask which alternative records it accepts before submitting anything else. A bank deposit shows money received, but usually does not show all earnings, taxes and deductions for that pay period.
The IRS provides tax records and transcripts, which may help with annual tax documentation. They are not a duplicate of an individual employer pay stub. Acceptance of alternative records depends on the recipient.
Can I recreate a lost pay stub myself?
First try to obtain the original statement. A generated document does not become an employer-issued original merely because the layout looks similar. Employers and authorized recordkeepers preparing a replacement should use actual payroll records and clearly identify any reconstruction or correction. Do not guess wages, deductions or YTD balances, or present unverified figures as a statement from an employer.
If you are self-employed, keep the invoices, receipts and other records that support your income. A self-prepared earnings summary is different from an employee pay statement. Read about self-employed income records.
Frequently asked questions
Can I replace a stub using only a bank deposit? A deposit can help identify a payment, but it normally cannot reconstruct gross pay, each deduction and YTD figures. Request the underlying payroll records.
What if the replacement contains an error? Contact the issuing payroll team, identify the affected period and explain the discrepancy. Keep the original and corrected versions with a record of the correction; do not silently edit the employer’s copy.
Does losing a pay stub mean I need a replacement paycheck? No. The pay stub explains a payment. If the payment itself is missing or a check was lost, contact payroll about that separate issue.
How should I store the replacement? Save it in a protected folder with a clear employer and pay-date filename. Keep a secure backup and share it through the recipient’s approved channel.
Preparing an authorized payroll record?
Use actual payroll records when preparing a document. To retrieve an existing employer-issued statement, contact the employer or payroll provider first.