Free resource · Excel + print-to-PDF format
A salary slip format that reads like an Indian payslip should.
Earnings on the left, statutory deductions on the right, net take-home at the bottom. Download the blank .xlsx or the print-to-PDF format. No email, no sign-up.
- No base fee
- Per active employee
- GST extra
PF, ESI, Professional Tax and TDS each carry an effective date and a named reviewer from our statutory registry, not a bare number typed into a blog post.
Real released UI screenshots remain required before public indexing.Quick answer
What a salary slip format is.
A salary slip, also called a payslip, is the monthly statement an employer gives an employee showing how gross pay becomes take-home pay: earnings on one side, deductions on the other, net pay at the bottom. Under the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, an employer must record wages paid and deductions made, and a payslip is the standard record of that. The India format below uses Basic, HRA, DA, conveyance and special allowance as earnings, and PF, ESI, Professional Tax and TDS as the statutory deductions.
The format
An annotated salary slip, with an example.
One worked example for scale. The figures are illustrative, not a calculation for any real employee.
- PFProvident Fund
- ESIState Insurance
- PTProfessional Tax
- TDSTax Deducted at Source
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
| Earnings | Amount (₹) | Deductions | Amount (₹) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | 20,000 | EPF (Provident Fund) | 2,640 |
| House Rent Allowance (HRA) | 8,000 | ESI | — |
| Dearness Allowance (DA) | 2,000 | Professional Tax (PT) | 200 |
| Conveyance allowance | 1,600 | TDS (income tax) | 1,500 |
| Special allowance | 4,400 | Other deduction | 0 |
| Gross earnings | 36,000 | Total deductions | 4,340 |
| Net pay (take-home) | 31,660 |
Illustrative example, not a calculator. Your figures will differ. This example contributes PF on the full Basic + DA (₹22,000); an employer that caps PF at the ₹15,000 statutory wage ceiling would deduct ₹1,800 instead of ₹2,640. ESI shows a dash because this example's gross (₹36,000) is above the ESI wage ceiling of ₹21,000, so the employee is not covered. The PT row assumes a PT state such as Maharashtra or Karnataka; states like Delhi and Uttar Pradesh levy no Professional Tax. Statutory rates and thresholds appear with their effective dates below.
What each column does
- Earnings
- What the employer pays before anything is withheld. Basic is the anchor the rest hangs off; HRA, DA, conveyance and special allowance make up the balance. Gross earnings is their sum.
- Amount (₹)
- Illustrative figures only. In the real file, Gross earnings is =SUM of the earning cells and Net pay is Gross minus total deductions.
- Deductions
- What is withheld from gross. The four statutory heads (PF, ESI, Professional Tax, TDS) are named below with their effective-dated rates; any loan or advance recovery sits under Other deduction.
Download
Get the blank template, no email.
The Excel file computes only your own arithmetic (Gross = sum of earnings, Net = Gross minus deductions). The PF, ESI, PT and TDS cells are labelled but you fill them. The print-to-PDF version is for filling in a browser and saving as PDF.
Earnings, line by line
What each earning head means.
- Basic
- The base pay every other figure hangs off. It drives your PF contribution, gratuity and the HRA exemption, so it is rarely a small number; most structures keep it around 40 to 50 percent of CTC.
- House Rent Allowance (HRA)
- Paid toward rent. Part of it is exempt from income tax if you actually pay rent, based on your city and rent, so it is one of the more tax-efficient heads on the slip.
- Dearness Allowance (DA)
- A cost-of-living component, common in government, PSU and some private structures. It counts alongside Basic when PF and gratuity are worked out.
- Conveyance allowance
- A commute-cost component. It is a named head on many slips, though its old blanket tax exemption was folded into the standard deduction.
- Special allowance
- The balancing figure that makes gross add up after the named heads are set. It is fully taxable and carries no PF or exemption benefit, so a structure that is mostly special allowance is worth a second look.
Deductions, line by line
The four statutory deductions, dated.
Each rate and threshold here is read from our statutory registry and shown with the date it took effect and who reviewed it. No number below is typed into the copy by hand.
EPF (Provident Fund)
An employee contributes 12% of basic plus DA to their own EPF account. The mandatory PF contribution is anchored to a ₹15,000 monthly wage base; contributing on wages above that is voluntary by joint option.
Effective , reviewed 12 Jul 2026.EPFO — present rates of contribution (FAQ) — https://www.epfindia.gov.in/site_en/FAQ.php
Effective , reviewed 12 Jul 2026.Ministry of Labour & Employment notification dated 29 May 2026 re-declaring the ₹15,000 ceiling under SS Code Chapter III; EPFO gazette GSR 609(E) dated 22 Aug 2014 / Employees' Pension (Amendment) Scheme 2014 — https://www.scconline.com/blog/post/2026/06/01/15000-wage-ceiling-epf-coverage-membership-contributions/
ESI (State Insurance)
For employees whose gross wage is up to ₹21,000 a month, the employee share is 0.75% of wages. Above that ceiling the employee is not covered, which is why the example slip shows a dash for ESI.
Effective , reviewed 12 Jul 2026.ESI (Central) Rules 1950, Rule 50 (amended); ESIC — https://www.esic.gov.in/contribution
Effective , reviewed 12 Jul 2026.Ministry of Labour & Employment GSR 423(E) dated 13 Jun 2019; ESIC — https://www.esic.gov.in/contribution
Professional Tax (PT)
A state-levied tax, not a Union one. The Constitution caps it at ₹2,500 per person per year; each state sets its own slabs within that cap, and several states levy none at all. See the state comparison below.
Effective , reviewed 12 Jul 2026.Constitution of India, Article 276(2), as amended by the Constitution (Sixtieth Amendment) Act, 1988 — https://www.legislative.gov.in/
TDS (income tax)
Income tax deducted at source against your projected annual liability and your chosen tax regime. It depends on total income, declared investments and the regime, so there is no single slip-level rate; the amount is worked out by payroll across the year, not from a flat percentage of one month's pay.
Person-specific: no fixed statutory rate applies at the payslip line.
Professional Tax honesty
Why PT is not one national number.
Most templates print a single Professional Tax figure. That is wrong in the general case, because PT is levied by each state. The Constitution sets a ceiling of ₹2,500 per person per year under Article 276(2); within it, every state writes its own slabs, and states like no-PT ones charge nothing. Here are three states to show the spread.
Maharashtra
Annual maximum ₹2,500.
Effective , reviewed 12 Jul 2026.Maharashtra State Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 1975 (schedule); cross-ref ClearTax PT guide — https://cleartax.in/s/professional-tax
Karnataka
Annual maximum ₹2,500.
Effective , reviewed 12 Jul 2026.Karnataka Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 1976 (schedule), as amended by the Karnataka Professional Tax Amendment Act 2025; greytHR Karnataka PT slab note (Apr 2025); cross-ref ClearTax PT guide — https://cleartax.in/s/professional-tax
West Bengal
Annual maximum ₹2,400.
Effective , reviewed 12 Jul 2026.West Bengal State Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 1979 (schedule); cross-ref ClearTax PT guide — https://cleartax.in/s/professional-tax
The right figure to put on a slip is the one for the state where the employee works, not a copied national number.
CTC vs gross vs net
Three numbers people mix up.
- CTC (cost to company)
- The full annual figure an employer books for you. It folds in the employer's own PF and ESI share, gratuity and any bonus, so it is always higher than what lands in your account.
- Gross salary
- The sum of your earnings for the month before any deduction. On the slip it is the left-column total, Gross earnings.
- Net salary (take-home)
- Gross minus PF, ESI, Professional Tax, TDS and any recoveries. It is the figure that reaches your bank, and the one at the bottom of the slip.
How to make one
From a blank template to a finished slip.
- Fill the header block. Company name and address, the pay month, then the employee's name, ID, designation, PAN, UAN, bank account and paid days.
- List the earnings. Basic first, then HRA, DA, conveyance and special allowance. Gross earnings is their sum.
- List the deductions. PF, ESI where the employee is covered, Professional Tax for their state, and TDS. Put any loan or advance recovery under Other deduction.
- Read net pay. Net pay is Gross earnings minus total deductions. Write it in figures and in words, and the slip is done.
Honest scope
A format, not a payroll engine.
This page hands you a format and a blank template. It does not run payroll, and it does not compute a real employee's net pay. The reason is deliberate: turning a wage structure into correct statutory deductions needs the wage-reclassification logic under the Code on Wages, where allowances beyond half of total pay get pulled back into "wages" for PF and gratuity. That belongs in a reviewed payroll engine, not a spreadsheet or a web calculator.
A guided payslip generator that fills these figures for you is planned but not yet available, so it is mentioned here without a link until it ships. What is provable today is the record underneath it: LekhaHR's employee management keeps one governed employee record, with attendance and leave preserved as reviewed inputs that a payroll run reads forward later.
FAQ
Questions before you download.
Is a salary slip mandatory in India?
An employer has to keep a record of wages paid and deductions made under the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, and issuing a salary slip is the standard way to do that. Most companies issue one every month, on paper or as a PDF. The exact obligation is set by that Act and each state's Shops and Establishments Act, so treat a payslip as expected practice for any regular employee rather than optional.
What is the difference between a salary slip and a payslip?
None. Salary slip, payslip and pay stub are three names for the same monthly statement showing earnings, deductions and net take-home pay. "Salary slip" is the more common phrasing in India; "payslip" and "pay stub" turn up in international templates.
What do PF, ESI, PT and TDS mean on a salary slip?
PF is your Employees' Provident Fund contribution, a fixed share of basic plus DA that goes into your retirement account. ESI is Employees' State Insurance, a small contribution for medical cover that applies only up to a wage ceiling. PT is Professional Tax, a state-levied tax that varies by state. TDS is Tax Deducted at Source, income tax withheld against your annual liability. Each is explained with its effective-dated rate in the deductions section above.
What is the difference between CTC, gross salary and net salary?
CTC is the total annual cost to the company, which includes the employer's own PF and ESI share, gratuity and any bonus, so it is always more than what reaches your account. Gross salary is the sum of your earnings for the month before deductions, the left-column total on the slip. Net salary, or take-home, is gross minus PF, ESI, Professional Tax, TDS and any recoveries. The number people quote as "my salary" is usually CTC; the number that hits the bank is net.
Can I use this salary slip for a loan, visa or credit card?
Lenders and visa offices usually ask for the last three months' salary slips alongside bank statements. For that, the slip has to be a genuine one issued by your employer, with your real figures, PAN and UAN. This template is a blank format to help an employer lay out a correct slip; it is not a way to produce a slip for an employer you do not work for. A fabricated payslip is fraud, and lenders cross-check against bank credits and Form 26AS.
Is the Excel template free, and do I need to sign up?
Yes and no, in that order. It is a direct .xlsx download with no email form and no account. There is also a print-to-PDF HTML version if you want to fill it in a browser and save as PDF for the salary-slip-format-in-PDF case.
Does this template calculate PF, ESI or income tax for me?
No. The file computes only your own arithmetic: Gross earnings is the sum of the earning cells, and Net pay is Gross minus total deductions. The PF, ESI, PT and TDS cells are labelled but you enter the amounts. Turning a wage structure into correct statutory deductions needs wage-reclassification logic under the Code on Wages, which is a payroll engine's job, not a spreadsheet's. This page shows the rates with their sources so you can check them; it does not compute them for a specific employee.
How do I make a simple salary slip in Excel?
Download the template, fill the header block (company, month, employee name, ID, PAN, UAN, bank, paid days), enter each earning in the left column and each deduction in the right, and the Gross, Total deductions and Net pay cells recalculate. Duplicate the sheet or the file each month. For a smaller organisation you can leave the ESI row blank when nobody is covered and keep only the heads you actually pay.
Why does the Professional Tax amount differ between states?
Because Professional Tax is levied by each state, not by the Union government, so there is no single national figure. The Constitution caps it at ₹2,500 per person per year; within that cap each state sets its own slabs, and several states levy no Professional Tax at all. Maharashtra and Karnataka top out at ₹2,500 a year, West Bengal at ₹2,400. Enter the figure for the state your employee works in.