Texas Pay Stub Requirements & Payroll Taxes

Texas has no state income tax, which makes a Texas pay stub shorter than a California one — but it does not make the stub optional. The Texas Minimum Wage Act requires a written earnings statement at the end of every pay period, and the Texas Payday Law sets when wages are due, when final pay is due, and what an employer may lawfully deduct. This page summarizes those rules, with every figure linking back to the statute or state agency it comes from.

It's a general guide, not legal or tax advice. For your specific situation, check the source links below or talk to a licensed payroll, tax, or employment-law professional.

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Is a pay stub required in Texas?

Yes. Texas Labor Code § 62.003 requires an employer to give each employee a written earnings statement at the end of every pay period. The requirement sits in the Texas Minimum Wage Act rather than the Payday Law, which is why it is often missed — but it applies all the same.

Required on every wage statement — Texas Labor Code § 62.003:

The name of the employee
The rate of pay
The total amount of pay earned by the employee during the pay period
Any deduction made from the employee's pay, and the purpose of that deduction
The amount of pay after all deductions are made
The total number of hours worked, if the employee is paid by the hour
The total number of units produced during the pay period, if the employee is paid on a piece rate

Penalty for non-compliance (Texas Labor Code § 61.018; TWC, Texas Payday Law enforcement): Texas sets no per-pay-period statutory damages for a defective earnings statement the way California does. Enforcement runs through a wage claim filed with the Texas Workforce Commission, and the Payday Law allows an administrative penalty against an employer who repeatedly fails to pay wages on time — up to $1,000 or the amount in dispute, whichever is less — with persistent violations able to trigger a bonding requirement. Separately, Texas Labor Code § 61.018 bars an employer from withholding or diverting any part of an employee's wages unless ordered by a court, authorized by state or federal law, or permitted by the employee's written authorization for a lawful purpose.

How often must employees be paid?

Employees who are exempt from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act must be paid at least once a month. Everyone else must be paid at least twice a month, and where wages are paid twice a month each pay period must consist, as nearly as possible, of an equal number of days. Paydays have to be posted at the employer's office and at any outlying location where employees normally gather.

Source: Texas Labor Code § 61.011

Texas minimum wage

Texas does not set a minimum wage of its own above the federal floor. The Texas Minimum Wage Act adopts the federal rate by reference, so the figure to run payroll against is the federal minimum wage.

$7.25 per hour statewide, effective July 24, 2009 (federal rate, unchanged since)Because the state rate is the federal rate rather than a separate Texas figure, it does not rise with a Texas legislative schedule the way California's does — it moves only when Congress moves the federal minimum. Confirm any rules specific to your city, county or industry before relying on the statewide position alone.

Tipped employees: Texas Labor Code § 62.052 applies the federal tip credit under section 3(m) of the Fair Labor Standards Act rather than setting a separate state tipped wage.

Source: Texas Labor Code §§ 62.051, 62.052

Overtime & double time

Texas has no state overtime law that adds to the federal standard. Overtime for non-exempt employees is governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act alone, which is the main practical difference from California — there is no daily threshold and no seventh-day rule, so a 12-hour Texas shift carries no overtime unless the week passes 40 hours.

Trigger	Pay rate
Daily overtime	No state daily overtime rule — hours beyond 8 in a day do not trigger overtime on their own.
Weekly overtime	1.5× the regular rate for hours worked beyond 40 in a single workweek, under the federal FLSA standard.
7th consecutive workday	No state seventh-consecutive-day rule — working seven days in a row does not by itself trigger a premium rate.

Source: Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 207; Texas Labor Code ch. 62

Meal & rest break requirements

Texas law does not require employers to provide meal periods to adult employees, and neither does federal law. Where a meal break is offered and the employee is fully relieved of duty for 30 minutes or more, it is generally unpaid.

Texas law does not require rest breaks for adult employees. Where short breaks of roughly 5 to 20 minutes are offered, federal rules generally treat them as paid work time.

If a break is missed:There is no Texas equivalent of California's premium-pay remedy — no extra hour of pay is owed for a missed meal or rest period, because no such period is required in the first place.

Source: Texas Labor Code ch. 62; Fair Labor Standards Act

Texas state income tax

Texas does not impose a personal income tax, so a Texas pay stub carries no state income tax withholding line at all. The taxes withheld from a Texas paycheck are the federal ones: federal income tax, Social Security at 6.2% up to the annual wage base, and Medicare at 1.45% with no cap. State revenue comes from sales tax, the franchise tax and property tax rather than from wages.

There is no bracket table on this page because there are no Texas brackets to show. That is the whole of the state income tax position, and it is worth stating plainly rather than leaving a reader to wonder whether the figures are simply missing: a Texas employee's withholding is federal withholding. The comparison table in the next section sets out which state-level payroll taxes Texas does and does not levy.

Source: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts — Taxes

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Vacation & paid time off (PTO)

Texas does not require employers to offer paid vacation or PTO, and — unlike California — it does not treat accrued vacation as wages that must be paid out when employment ends. What governs is the employer's own written policy or agreement.

Accrued vacation becomes payable at separation only to the extent a written policy or agreement promises it. Without that promise, there is no statutory right to a payout, which is the single biggest difference between leaving a job in Texas and leaving one in California.

"Use-it-or-lose-it" policies:"Use-it-or-lose-it" policies are permitted in Texas. An employer may lawfully provide that unused time is forfeited at year-end or at separation, provided the policy is written and applied consistently.

Paid out at termination?Paid out only if the employer's written policy or an agreement says so. Read the handbook section on leave payout before resigning — in Texas that document, not the statute, is what decides.

Source: Texas Labor Code ch. 61 (wages payable under an agreement); TWC, Final Pay

Final paycheck rules

Texas sets two deadlines, and which one applies turns on how the employment ended rather than on how much notice the employee gave.

Situation	Final wages due
Fired or laid off	An employer must pay a discharged employee in full not later than the sixth day after the date of discharge.
Quits, resigns or retires (notice makes no difference)	An employee who leaves other than by discharge must be paid in full not later than the next regularly scheduled payday. Texas draws no distinction based on whether notice was given.

Late final pay:Texas has no waiting-time penalty equivalent to California's day-of-wages-per-day-late remedy. An employee who is not paid on time files a wage claim with the Texas Workforce Commission, which can order the wages paid and, for repeated violations, assess an administrative penalty. Withholding a final paycheck because company property was not returned or a timesheet was not signed is not permitted — a deduction for that has to meet the § 61.018 conditions, including written authorization.

Source: Texas Labor Code § 61.014

Other Texas payroll taxes employers should know

Only one state-level payroll tax applies in Texas, and employees do not pay it: state unemployment insurance, owed by the employer on the first $9,000 of each employee's wages each year. Texas has no state disability insurance and no paid family and medical leave payroll tax, so nothing in this group is deducted from a Texas employee's pay. The rows below record the absences as well as the one charge, because what a state does not levy is exactly what someone comparing two states needs to know.

Tax	Rate	Notes
State Unemployment Insurance (SUI) — employer only	For 2026 the Texas Workforce Commission's rate-setting calculated a minimum of 0.36% and a maximum of 7.86%, made up of an experience-rated General Tax Rate (0.00%–6.00%), a Replenishment Tax Rate of 0.21%, an Obligation Assessment of 0.01%, a Deficit Tax Rate of 0.04%–1.54% and the 0.10% Employment and Training Investment Assessment	Taxable wage base is the first $9,000 of each employee's wages per year. Discretionary components remain subject to Commission decisions under the Texas Unemployment Compensation Act, so confirm your own assigned rate on the annual TWC rate notice rather than from the range.
State income tax withholding	None	Texas imposes no personal income tax, so no state withholding line appears on a Texas pay stub.
State Disability Insurance (SDI)	None	Texas operates no state disability insurance program, so there is no employee deduction of the kind California's SDI line represents.
Paid Family and Medical Leave	None	Texas has no state paid family or medical leave payroll contribution. Any such benefit is a voluntary employer plan rather than a state program.

Source: TWC, Unemployment Insurance Tax Rates and 2026 tax rate determination

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Guides that go with this page

Texas's rules decide what has to appear on the stub. These cover what the figures on it actually mean, wherever you work.

What a pay stub is, line by line — Every section of a stub and what each figure means.
Gross pay vs. net pay — Why the amount that reaches your bank is a quarter smaller than your salary.
Social Security and Medicare in 2026 — The federal payroll taxes that apply in every state, and the wage base that stops one of them.
Pay stub mistakes worth catching early — The errors that are easy to fix this month and hard to fix next year.

Sources & references

Every figure on this page links back to the primary source below. State and federal payroll rules change — always confirm current-year figures directly with the agency before relying on exact dollar amounts.

Last checked: October 2026. See our editorial standards & sources for how these figures are verified.