Payroll register template

A payroll register in Excel: hours, gross pay, Social Security, Medicare, federal and state withholding and net pay per employee, with the rates in input cells.

🇺🇸 US format · Letter size
Free

This is a sample form. Check that the terms and pay match federal and state labor rules and your company policy.

Pick your options and the preview updates. The file opens in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers.

The file is built in your browser. Nothing is uploaded or saved.

Sheets

How to use
Payroll: one row per employee with hours per workweek, rate, regular and overtime pay, gross, pre-tax deductions, Social Security and Medicare (formulas), withholding (typed), net pay, totals and employer taxes
Rates: Social Security and Medicare rates, 2026 wage base, Additional Medicare threshold, overtime multiplier and weekly hour limit in yellow input cells

Color key

Yellow cells: fill these in
Blue cells: formulas, leave them as they are
Gray rows: examples you can delete

1 / 1

Payroll register, pay period starting ____________

Employee	ID	Hours week 1	Hours week 2	Hourly rate	Regular pay	Overtime pay	Salary or other pay	Gross pay	YTD FICA wages before this period	Pre-tax health (Section 125)	Pre-tax 401(k)	FICA wages	Income tax wages	Social Security	Medicare	Federal withholding	State withholding	Other deductions	Net pay
Jordan Lee	1001	40	44	26.5	2,120	159		2,279	38,947	64	106	2,215	2,109	137.33	32.12	182.4			1,757.15
Taylor Kim	1002				(auto)	(auto)	3,200	3,200	183,000		192	3,200	3,008	93	46.4	412			2,456.6
Sam Park	1003	22.5	18	18	729	0		729	14,200			729	729	45.2	10.57	38			635.23
					(auto)	(auto)		(auto)				(auto)	(auto)	(auto)	(auto)				(auto)
Totals		=SUM(…)	=SUM(…)		=SUM(…)	=SUM(…)	=SUM(…)	=SUM(…)		=SUM(…)	=SUM(…)	=SUM(…)	=SUM(…)	=SUM(…)	=SUM(…)	=SUM(…)	=SUM(…)	=SUM(…)	=SUM(…)

This shows the first part of each sheet as it prints on Letter paper. The file also has a how-to sheet and formulas, and every column fits one page width when you print from Excel.

How to use it

Pick weekly or biweekly pay and the period dates, then download the file. On the Payroll sheet, give each employee a row with hours for each workweek and the hourly rate, or a salary amount. Add the pre-tax deductions and the withholding from your payroll records. Gross pay, overtime, Social Security, Medicare and net pay fill in by formula, and the block under the totals shows the employer's share of the taxes.

All rates sit in yellow cells on the Rates sheet, so when the Social Security wage base changes in January you change one cell.

Things to watch

The sheet does not calculate federal or state income tax withholding. Take those amounts from the employee's W-4 and IRS Publication 15-T, or from your state's tables. Overtime here follows the federal rule of 1.5 times pay for hours over 40 in a workweek; a few states, California among them, also count daily overtime, which you would enter by hand.

Fill in YTD FICA wages for each employee. Without it the sheet cannot stop Social Security at the wage base or start the extra 0.9% Medicare for high earners.

Calculators that go with this

Frequently asked questions

What is a payroll register?

A record of one payroll run: who was paid, gross pay, each deduction and net pay, with totals. Employers keep it to reconcile the bank account, fill out quarterly Form 941 and answer wage questions later. The IRS asks employers to keep employment tax records for at least 4 years.

Why is Social Security zero for one employee?

Their wages this year have reached the Social Security wage base ($184,500 for 2026). Social Security stops for the rest of the calendar year, but Medicare keeps going, and the extra 0.9% starts once wages pass $200,000.

Does it work in Google Sheets?

Yes. The formulas use SUM, IF, ROUND, MIN, MAX, AND and N, which work the same way in Google Sheets. Upload the file to Drive and open it with Google Sheets.

Is what I type saved anywhere?

No. Everything stays in your browser and nothing is sent to our server. If you refresh the page it is gone, so print, save a PDF or download the DOCX when you are done.