Final Paycheck Calculator
Estimate your last check after quitting or termination: unpaid hours, overtime, unused PTO payout, and severance, minus FICA and withholding, to the cent.
Final Paycheck Calculator
Hours and pay
Drives regular pay, overtime, and the PTO payout.
Hours you worked but have not been paid for yet.
Federal FLSA overtime is 1.5x. Use 2x for double-time rules.
PTO and severance
Fractional hours are fine (for example 12.5).
A flat lump sum. For a severance-only check, try the 22% preset below.
Income-tax withholding
Severance and other one-off pay are commonly withheld at the 22% federal supplemental flat rate.
Copy the exact dollars from a real stub if you have one.
Advanced: Social Security wage base
Social Security stops at the 2026 wage base of $184,500. A single final check rarely hits that cap unless your year-to-date wages are already near it. Leave at 0 if you are not sure.
Your fixed withholding amount is larger than gross final pay, so net is floored at $0.00. Check the dollar figure you entered.
This is a simplified estimate: flat FICA plus a flat income-tax assumption, not the full IRS withholding tables. The Additional Medicare Tax (0.9% above $200,000 year-to-date) is not included. Use it to sanity-check your last check, then build the itemized stub.
How to calculate your final paycheck
A final paycheck is built from up to four earning sources, and the calculator above adds them in the same order your last stub should. Start with the unpaid regular hours you worked in the final pay period, valued at your hourly rate. Add any unpaid overtime, valued at time-and-a-half (1.5x) or double time (2x) depending on your state and policy. Add the payout on unused PTO or vacation hours, also valued at your hourly rate. Finally, add any severance as a flat lump sum.
Those four lines sum to your gross final pay. From gross, the deductions come out: Social Security at 6.2%, Medicare at 1.45%, and income-tax withholding. Subtract the total withheld from gross and you have the estimated net, which is the number that should land in your account. Read the breakdown top to bottom (regular, overtime, PTO, severance, then each deduction) and you get the same order a clean stub follows.
When your final paycheck is due (final pay laws by state)
There is no federal deadline for a final check. The FLSA requires that you be paid for all hours worked, but it leaves the timing to each state, and the rules vary widely. A group of states requires the check immediately or within roughly 24 hours when an employer ends the job, among them California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Montana, and Nevada. Many other states let the employer wait until the next regular payday.
Whether you quit or were let go can change which rule applies. Some states set a faster deadline for involuntary termination than for a voluntary resignation, and a few give the employer extra days when you leave without notice. This is general information, not legal advice, so confirm your own state deadline with your state labor department before counting on a date.
PTO payout and severance in your last check
Whether unused PTO gets paid out depends on where you work and what your handbook says. A minority of states (including California, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, and North Dakota) treat accrued vacation as earned wages that must be paid. In the rest, a payout is owed only when the employer's written policy promises one, which is why a use-it-or-lose-it clause or a stated cap matters so much. Where payout is required, it belongs in the final check itself.
Severance is taxable wages. Social Security (6.2%) and Medicare (1.45%) apply, and so does federal income-tax withholding. Because severance is a supplemental wage, employers commonly withhold federal income tax at the flat 22% supplemental rate (up to $1 million per year) rather than running it through your W-4. That is why the calculator offers a 22% preset on the rate field, handy for a severance-only check.
From estimate to a real pay stub
The number above is an estimate. It uses flat FICA and a flat income-tax assumption, so once you know the ballpark, the next step is an itemized document that shows every line. That is what Payslip44 builds: reusable employer, employee, and line-item templates, a separate PTO-payout line, a severance line, per-line deductions, and decimal-precise money math that will not drift by a cent. Everything runs on-device, and finished stubs export to PDF, PNG, CSV, or plain text.
Want to plan the reverse, where you know the net you should receive and need the gross that produces it? The Gross-Up Calculator solves that. And if you are checking a running total across the year, the YTD Earnings Calculator works from a single stub.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about final paycheck calculator
When is my final paycheck due?
Federal law (the FLSA) sets no deadline, so timing is governed by state law. Several states, including California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Montana, and Nevada, require the final check immediately or within 24 hours when the separation is involuntary. Most other states allow it by the next regular payday. Quitting versus being fired can change the deadline, so check your own state rule.
Do I get paid for unused PTO or vacation in my final check?
It depends on state law and employer policy. A handful of states (including California, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, and North Dakota) treat accrued vacation as earned wages that must be paid out. The other roughly 42 states do not require payout unless the employer's written policy promises it. California requires the PTO payout to be included in the final paycheck itself.
Is severance pay taxed?
Yes. Severance is taxable wages subject to federal income tax, Social Security, and Medicare. Employers often withhold federal income tax at the flat 22% supplemental rate (up to $1 million per year), or treat it as regular wages under your W-4.
How is overtime handled in a final paycheck?
Any overtime hours worked in the final pay period are still owed at your overtime rate: time-and-a-half (1.5x) under the federal FLSA, or 2x (double time) where state law or company policy requires it. Enter those hours separately from your regular hours so they get the correct multiplier.
What taxes come out of a final paycheck?
The same taxes as any check: Social Security at 6.2%, Medicare at 1.45%, plus federal (and any state or local) income-tax withholding. Unused-PTO payouts and severance are wages too, so FICA applies to them as well.
Can my employer withhold my final paycheck if I owe them money or did not return equipment?
Generally no. You must be paid for hours worked. Deductions for unreturned property or debts are tightly limited by state law and are often prohibited if they would drop your pay below minimum wage. Check your state's wage-deduction rules before assuming an amount can be held back.
What if my final paycheck is late or wrong?
Many states impose waiting-time penalties (California, for example, can charge up to 30 days' wages). If your check is late or short, you can file with your state labor department or the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division.
Is this final paycheck calculator exact?
No, it is an estimate. It uses flat FICA rates and a flat income-tax assumption, not full IRS withholding tables, so your real net may differ. Use it to sanity-check the number, then build the actual itemized stub in Payslip44.