The salary slip is one of the most important documents for an employee. Your salary slip provides an accurate classification of the earnings and deductions across various salary components, while also serving as proof of employment. It is shared with the employee every month as it informs them of their earnings and deductions for the month.
Since a salary slip contains all the information related to the employee’s salary, it is kept confidential within payroll software. It contains various information related to the employee and their employment, such as their employee ID, company name, designation, bank details, and more.
Hence, let us check out the salary slip format with the help of a few templates and understand the various components of a salary slip.
The salary slip is a document shared by the employer to their employees informing them of the amount they will be receiving for a specific salary cycle.
Hence, a salary slip is shared with employees every salary cycle, which provides them with the exact amount they will be receiving in the form of earnings and deductions, including the statutory and other deductions. Modern organizations have automated the process of sharing payslips by letting their HRMS or payroll systems share the soft copies using the ESS portal, mobile app or via emails.
The salary slip format includes multiple company details like company logo, name, employee details, payment period, salary components, etc. It provides a clear understanding of each component of the employee’s salary to ensure complete understanding.
We have provided a basic salary slip format for your reference here; feel free to download and edit it according to your needs. We have also provided the salary slip formats in Microsoft Excel (.XLSX), Microsoft Word (.DOCX), and Portable Document Format (.PDF):
Creating salary slips manually can become unnecessarily frustrating due to the various kinds of employees and departments in your organization. The manual salary slip creation process involves:
Pocket HRMS eliminates all these issues by completely automating payroll processing and salary slip generation, while catering to customized salary structures. Our smHRt® Payroll algorithm uses Machine Learning to calculate salaries accurately and deliver payslips in seconds via our HRMS Software. It ensures accuracy, saves time, and keeps your HR team free to focus on other strategic tasks than repetitive administrative ones.
Pocket HRMS is designed to take the headache out of payroll with the help of:
Since salary slips are essential for employees and employers, it is essential to understand the salary slip format and the various components of salary slips. Having a clear understanding of these components in a payslip will help in consulting with the HR teams to tweak it for maximum tax savings as well as planning for investments.
Hence, let us understand these components in a payslip better:
Earnings are the components that you receive in your compensation. They include:
Basic salary is the most important component of the salary since the other components are calculated as a percentage of it. Hence, it is usually 35% to 50% of the overall salary, with companies varying their percentage based on various factors. The basic salary is often relatively higher in junior positions, with allowances becoming more significant as the employee gets promoted.
Dearness Allowance is the component of the salary used to deflect the effects of inflation on the employees’ lives. Hence, it is usually 30 to 40 per cent of the basic pay. Since it is based on the cost of living at different locations, a company may provide different DA to similarly designated employees with similar work experience, living in different geographical locations.
The house rent allowance is provided to employees living in rented homes. For metro cities in India, the HRA is defined to be 50% of the basic pay, while it is 40% of the basic pay for other cities. Employees can claim tax exemption on the HRA, up to a certain limit, provided they can declare their rent agreement details.
Leave Travel Allowance is provided to the employee to help them undertake leisure trips. Hence, it is meant to promote family time and a healthy work-life balance. LTA covers the travel expenses of the employee’s immediate family members as well. However, tax exemption on LTA is allowed only for 2 journeys undertaken over 4 years.
The conveyance allowance is provided to the employees to help with their daily commute to the office. It is exempt from income tax either up to ₹ 1600 per month or the actual conveyance allowance received by the employee. Hence, it helps the employee manage their daily commuting effectively.
Medical allowance is the amount paid to an employee to cover their medical expenses. Hence, the medical allowance is exempted from income tax – up to ₹ 15000 per annum – only if they submit the medical expense proofs. The medical allowance encourages the employer to take care of employee well-being and ensure a safe workplace for their staff.
Apart from the allowances discussed above, employers may choose to provide their staff with additional allowances. These include overtime allowances, special allowances, performance allowances, and more. It is completely taxable and hence, employers provided a bifurcation of the same in the salary slips.
Bonuses have been a part of the employee salary structure since the introduction of statutory bonuses. An employer can also pay ex gratia payment as a bonus to their employee for excellent performance. In both cases, these details should be included in the salary slip since it is a part of the employee’s earnings for the current salary cycle.
Deductions are also included in salary slips to help the employee understand the various components the company has deducted from their salaries. These include:
The employee provident fund is a fund managed by the government for the benefit of the employee. The employee and the employer are required to pay the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) equal contributions an amount that is 12% of the employee’s basic salary, each salary cycle. Hence, the employee contribution for EPF is deducted from their salaries.
The Professional Tax (PT) is a pre-defined amount levied by the state governments on employed individuals, and hence, it is payable only within some states in India. Since it is deducted from the employee salaries, it is mentioned in the employee salary slips. Professional tax is levied on both employed individuals and businesses.
Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) is the amount deducted by the employer to pay towards the employee’s income tax. The employer is responsible for deducting the amount when paying the employee and depositing it with the government. Employees can reduce the deductions by investing in equity funds such as PPF, NPS, ELSS, etc.
Employee State Insurance (ESI) scheme is a social security scheme provided by the government, that helps the employees financially whenever required. It is mostly used for financial aid during medical emergencies, making it crucial for employee well-being. The employee is required to contribute 0.75% of their basic pay, while their employer is required to pay 3.25% of the employee’s basic pay towards ESI.
Gratuity is the amount provided to an employee for their prolonged services in an organization. It is governed by the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 for Indian employees. Indian employees are provided with gratuity once they complete 5 years in an organization, and in cases where they get disabled due to an accident, injury or disease.
The Labour Welfare Fund is a statutory deduction towards the Labour Welfare Fund, which is managed by the Labour Welfare Board of different states. Hence, the difference between the amount and frequency of deduction are also determined by the individual states. Similarly, it does not apply to all staff members since it is mainly geared towards factory workers.
There are various formulae used in calculating the numerous components of salary slip format. These formulae ensure accurate calculations for determining the various components of the employee salary structure.
Hence, we are sharing some of the most relevant formulae in salary slip format:
A salary slip is a document which is crucial for the employee and the employer as it provides robust proof of employment by the employer. Also known as a pay slip, it also helps the employee understand the various components of their salaries, helping them plan their taxes. It also helps with requesting credit such as loans and government subsidies.
Hence, it is essential to have a good idea of salary slips and its format to understand its various components. That is why Pocket HRMS provides you with simplified options to create and download employee salary slips. It comes with a dedicated ‘Payslip Designer’ that helps you create custom payslips including your company’s details and logo. Additionally, Pocket HRMS also helps you distribute payslips to your employees via WhatsApp, mobile app, and their ESS portal, making the process of accessing payslips extremely easy for them.
‘Salary slip’ and ‘payslip’ are different names for the same document that provides detailed information about the earnings and deductions for a specific salary cycle.
Yes, a salary slip can be used as proof of income. Since it is an official document shared by the organization employing a worker, it is accepted as official proof of income even in several governmental institutions.
Salary slip plays a crucial role in taxation as it provides a complete breakdown of an employee’s earnings and deductions, which also provides the amount deducted as Tax Deducted at Source (TDS).
Indian laws state that a salary slip should be shared with the employee every month, either physically or digitally, and that it should include a detailed breakdown of earnings and deductions. It should also be compliant with the Minimum Wages Act, Payment of Wages Act, and the Shops and Establishments Act.
Since payroll software calculates and processes employee salaries without manual intervention, it can also generate and share salary slips automatically. By automating this process, HRs and the finance team avoid any manual errors, which can prove costly.
The major details included in a salary slip are:
To download your salary slip online, you will need to log into your organization’s website or ESS portal. If your organization provides an app to manage your employment, you can also download your salary slip from the app itself.
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