8 Tips For How To Make Fake Pay Stubs

Whether you're moving into a new apartment or applying for a loan, there are several situations where you might be asked to provide proof of income during an application process. Sometimes a signed letter from your employer will suffice, but in most cases, a pay stub is preferred.
According to federal law, it isn't mandatory for employers to provide pay stubs; which can put you in a tight position when it's time to prove that you have stable employment and a salary. If you've found yourself in need of documentation that your employer doesn't provide, you can make your own paystubs.
Keep reading to find out how to make fake pay stubs that look realistic.

How to Make Fake Pay Stubs

There has been some confusion as to whether creating pay stubs is legal. If you are out of work and filling pay stub templates in with made up business and salary information, you are performing an illegal act.
If you're caught faking this type of information, you can end up in jail. Or even paying a large fine as high as $1 million. To keep yourself out of trouble, make sure all the information on your pay stubs is factual. Below, are 8 more tips to help you generate paystubs legally.

Also read: What Are the Main Differences Between Salary and Hourly Paystubs?

1. Dollar Amounts Should be Exact

Professional accountants create legitimate paystubs. These are people who are very particular about accounting for every dollar and cent. So, if you are working on a pay stub, you should refrain from excessively using estimations and roundups because they look less professional. This is also a red flag to anyone you're submitting your pay stubs to. Because lenders and landlords look at these documents regularly, too many roundups will look unrealistic.

2. Review and Proofread the Pay Stub

You should always make sure the information you're providing is accurate, but also easy to read and understand. When you think you are finished with your paystub, review it and check for common issues including:

• Whether the numbers add up properly
• The neatness of the formatting
• The quality of the printing
• Typos and spelling errors
• Clarity and legibility

Make sure you are giving the best possible representation of yourself. A pay stub with poor quality also makes a more difficult job for the person who has to approve your paperwork.

3. Don't Leave Out Important Information

If you aren't an accounting or payroll professional, it's easy to forget to include some vital information on your paystubs. To make sure you are putting your best foot forward, these are items you shouldn't leave out:

Gross Pay- The amount of money you're paid before deductions are taken out.

If you are paid hourly, you will need to multiply your hourly rate by the number of hours you worked. If you're paid a salary, you will have to divide the full annual salary by the number of pay periods in the year.

Taxes, Deductions, and Contributions- Several factors go into reducing your gross pay. Basic items that are subtracted from the final amount include tax deductions from the IRS and state tax departments, payroll tax, health and medical benefits, and 401K contributions.
These items vary depending on your location and what's included in your company's benefits package.

Net Pay- This is the amount that's left after the deductions are taken out. This is the money that's yours to spend.

4. Use a Professional Program

To simplify the process of making your own pay stubs, you should use a pay stub maker. These programs are designed to work for you whether you're self-employed or you work for a small company that simply doesn't have the accounting resources to create them.
Paystub generators only take a few minutes to use. You can customize your stub as much as you need with things like overtime, garnishments, and charitable contributions. Then you can print or email the final product as a PDF document.

5. How to Tell if the Program is Legitimate

There are plenty of pay stub programs online that promise to help you create pay stubs. Some of the programs are free to use while others charge a small fee. Unfortunately, many of these programs can hurt you more than they help as they create fake stubs with invalid data. Because of this, you need to know how to spot a program that isn't reputable.

Look for things like:

• Uniform decimal points that create a perfect line
• Consistent columns and headers
• Business history and reputation
• Customer service that's truly available
• Is the site secure
• Does the company have a social media presence

The last thing you want is to be held liable for producing a fake pay stub. Especially if you're an unknowing victim. Practice due diligence before using a pay stub tool.

6. This Shouldn't be a One Time Thing

Most people don't begin to worry about pay stubs or similar documents until they are asked by a company to prove their employment status and income. However, you should make creating pay stubs a regular occurrence even if you aren't using them for a specific purpose.
The reason is, having your pay stubs on hand can help you with things like verifying the accuracy of your W-2 forms during tax season, budgeting, and tracking retirement savings. Additionally, if you have an emergency where you need to apply for a personal loan right away, having paystubs on hand can save you time in a situation where you might be rushed or panicked.

7. Know How Long to Keep Paystubs on Hand

You should keep paystubs in a safe place like a locked file cabinet with your tax documents. Remember to discard both sets of information when the tax documents are no longer valid. Since the IRS can go back three years for audits, you should keep paperwork for that amount of time.

8. And How to Safely Throw Them Out

You never want to simply throw a pay stub or any other financial records in the trash can. Instead, you should shred these documents so that no one can obtain sensitive information on them.
Many people have become victims of identity theft and fraud because of the contents of their trash. If you don't own a shredder, there are shredding services you can use. Some communities even have free shredding events.

Also read: What Should I Do If My Employer Won’t Provide A Pay Stub?

Contact Us

If you need more information about how to make fake pay stubs, contact us today. Our 24-hour support team would be happy to walk you through the process and answer your questions. Or, you can just get started right away to create your paystubs in less than two minutes.