Payroll · format guide

Salary slip format, explained field by field.

Every block on an Indian payslip — company & employee details, earnings, statutory deductions, gross and net pay — with a filled example so you know exactly what should be on yours.

Reviewed July 2026
5 min read
CA Anil Agarwal & the TatvaBooks team

What is a salary slip (payslip) format?

A salary slip — also called a payslip or pay stub — is what an employer gives an employee at the end of each pay period. It shows what the employee earned, what was deducted, and what actually landed in their bank account. In India, a correct payslip has three clear blocks: who and when (company and employee details, pay period), Earnings (Basic, HRA, allowances) and Deductions (PF, ESI, Professional Tax, TDS) — ending in Gross Pay, Total Deductions and Net Pay.

There isn't one single legally-prescribed template, but the Payment of Wages Act and state Shops & Establishments rules require employers to give a clear, itemised wage statement. The format below is what most Indian employers — and most payroll software, including TatvaBooks — actually produce.

Example: a filled payslip

Here's a worked example for a mid-level employee in Maharashtra, on the old tax regime with TDS deducted. Amounts are illustrative.

Aarav Textiles Pvt. Ltd.

Plot 14, MIDC, Pune, Maharashtra — 411019

Payslip — June 2026

Employee name: Priya Deshmukh

Designation: Senior Accountant

Employee code: EMP-0142

UAN: 1008XXXXXXXX

Pay period: 01 – 30 Jun 2026

Days paid: 30 / 30

Earnings	Amount	Deductions	Amount
Basic	₹35,000	Provident Fund (PF)	₹4,200
House Rent Allowance (HRA)	₹14,000	ESI	₹450
Conveyance Allowance	₹1,600	Professional Tax (PT)	₹200
Special Allowance	₹9,400	TDS	₹1,850
Gross Earnings	₹60,000	Total Deductions	₹6,700

Net Pay

₹53,300

Amount in words: Rupees Fifty-Three Thousand Three Hundred only.

This is a static example to show the layout — TatvaBooks generates this from your actual payroll run, not a template you fill in by hand.

Earnings side — what goes in it

Basic — the fixed core of pay; PF and gratuity are usually calculated off this figure.
House Rent Allowance (HRA) — commonly ~40–50% of Basic; partly tax-exempt if the employee pays rent and claims it.
Conveyance Allowance — a fixed travel component, often a flat amount.
Special Allowance — the balancing figure that brings total earnings up to the agreed CTC-linked monthly pay.

Deductions side — what goes in it

Provident Fund (PF) — 12% of Basic (up to the statutory wage ceiling), matched by the employer separately.
ESI — applies only below the ESI wage threshold; a small percentage of gross pay.
Professional Tax (PT) — a state-level slab deduction; varies by state and sometimes doesn't apply at all. See our Professional Tax guide for state-wise slabs.
TDS — income tax withheld under Section 192 on projected annual salary; see our TDS guide for how it's computed.

Gross Pay is the sum of all earnings. Net Pay is Gross Pay minus Total Deductions — the amount actually credited to the employee's bank account, usually also written in words on the slip.

Generate payslips automatically instead of building one in Excel

A hand-built Excel payslip template is where most payroll errors start — a stale PT slab, a PF ceiling miscalculated, TDS not updated after a mid-year revision. TatvaBooks payroll (₹1,099/month on Growth, up to 25 employees) computes PF, ESI, state-correct Professional Tax and TDS for every employee and generates the payslip straight from that run — no template to maintain, no formula to get wrong. See payroll software for India.

Frequently asked questions

What is a salary slip (payslip) format?

A salary slip — also called a payslip or pay stub — is the document an employer gives an employee each pay period showing gross earnings, statutory and other deductions, and the net amount paid. In India it typically has three blocks: employee & company details (name, designation, PAN, UAN, pay period), an Earnings side (Basic, HRA, conveyance, special allowance), and a Deductions side (PF, ESI, Professional Tax, TDS), followed by Gross Pay, Total Deductions and Net Pay, usually with the net amount also written in words.

What fields are mandatory on an Indian payslip?

There's no single law mandating an exact layout, but in practice a compliant Indian payslip includes: employer name and address, employee name, designation and employee/UAN code, the pay period (month and days paid), each earning component (Basic, HRA, allowances), each statutory deduction (PF, ESI where applicable, Professional Tax per your state, TDS if deducted), gross pay, total deductions and net pay. The Payment of Wages Act and state Shops & Establishments rules require employers to give employees a clear wage statement.

How is Professional Tax shown on a payslip different by state?

Professional Tax is a state-level deduction, so the slab and even whether it applies depends on where the employee is on your rolls — Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal and others each set their own monthly slabs, while several states (like Haryana or Punjab) don't levy it at all. On the payslip it always appears as a single line under Deductions, but the amount behind it comes from the state slab. Our professional tax guide has the state-by-state slabs.

Why does TDS vary month to month on a payslip?

TDS on salary under Section 192 is computed on the employee's projected annual income and the tax regime they've chosen, then divided (and adjusted) across the remaining months of the financial year. That's why the TDS line can change — a bonus, a new declaration of investments, or a mid-year salary revision all shift the projected annual liability and the monthly deduction with it. Our TDS guide explains the calculation.

Can I generate salary slips automatically instead of using Excel?

Yes. Manually rebuilding a payslip in Excel every month is where PF, ESI, PT and TDS errors creep in. TatvaBooks payroll calculates PF, ESI, Professional Tax (state-correct) and TDS for each employee automatically and generates the payslip from the same run — no separate template to maintain. See TatvaBooks payroll software for India.

Keep going.

Payroll compliance

TatvaBooks

Payroll · PF, ESI, PT & TDS built in

Stop rebuilding payslips in Excel every month.

TatvaBooks payroll calculates PF, ESI, Professional Tax and TDS correctly for every employee and generates the payslip automatically — no template, no formula to get wrong.

See payroll software Professional Tax guide