# How bookkeepers request a pay stub from clients

Source: https://dokutrak.com/requests/bookkeepers/pay-stub
Author: Arthur Teboul, DokuTrak
Published: 2026-11-06
Language: en-US

> When the client runs payroll outside the books, ask for the pay stubs or payroll register for every pay date in the month, all employees and the owner if paid through payroll. You need gross wages, each withholding, employer taxes and net pay to record payroll correctly and tie it to the withdrawals on the bank statement.

## Why bookkeepers need a pay stub

A payroll provider that is not synced with QuickBooks or Xero leaves only bank withdrawals in the books: net pay in one debit, taxes in another. Recording those as a single wage expense hides the employer payroll taxes and the amounts withheld from employees. The stubs or register give you the breakdown to record gross wages, the withholding liabilities and the employer taxes, and to check that the tax deposits cleared.

## What exactly to ask for

A payroll register or summary for each pay date in the month, or the pay stub of every employee for each pay date if no register exists. Include the owner’s stubs if they draw a salary through payroll, and any off-cycle or bonus run. On a cleanup, ask for every pay date since payroll was last recorded.

## What to check when it arrives

- Net pay across all stubs for a pay date matches the payroll debit on the bank statement.
- Pay period and pay date are printed, and no pay date in the month is missing.
- Employer taxes appear somewhere, on the register or the provider’s tax report, since stubs show only employee amounts.

## Email to send your client

Subject: Payroll details for this month

```text
Hi [Client name],

Your payroll runs outside the books, so the bank only shows me the totals. To record wages and payroll taxes correctly, I need the payroll details for each pay date this month.

The easiest is the payroll register or summary from your payroll provider, usually under Reports. If you only have pay stubs, please send the stub for every employee, plus any bonus or off-cycle run.

Could you send them by [date]? If you are not sure where to find the report, tell me which provider you use and I will point you to it.

Thank you,
[Your name]
```

## Ask once. DokuTrak does the chasing.

- Your client uploads from one link, with no account and no password.
- Reminders go out on a schedule, by default 2, 5, 10 and 14 days after the request, until the file arrives.
- With AI review switched on in your workspace (it is off by default), each upload gets a first pass that flags a file that is not a pay stub, an unreadable or blurry scan or a copy where one of these is missing or cut off: the employee’s name, the net pay, the pay period dates. It says so when it is not sure.
- You accept every file or mark it for re-upload, and your client gets the note by email. The AI never accepts a file.

14-day free trial, no card. Add one only to keep going.