UNDERSTANDING YOUR PAYSTUB – PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS
The LEFT side of your paystub will indicate contracted salary plus additional pay such as an extended
contract, coaching, etc. For hourly employees, it will show other pay such as holiday, sick pay, vacation pay,
etc. Note that there is a Current Column for the last pay period, and a YTD column for the year to date pay
since from January 1. The TOP part of the paystub may indicate number of days or hours remaining in leave
balances. The RIGHT side of your paystub indicates all deductions such as those listed below:
FIT = Federal income tax withheld & federal filing status (For example: S 0 = single and zero exemptions, M 4
= married & 4 exemptions)
MEDICARE = Medicare tax withheld
SIT IA = State of Iowa tax withheld & state filing status
SOC SEC = Social Security tax withheld
IPERS = Iowa Public Employees Retirement System (retirement $ withheld) – Represent 5.95% of wages that
employers are required to contribute to IPERS (district pays 8.93%)
DENTAL – FLEX = Dental premium withheld; either single or family; Flex = pretax was elected
PPOxxxx OR BLUE CHOICE- FLEX = Medical premium withheld (PPO500/1000/500); Either “Single Rate” or
“Family Rate”
INS ADD-IN = Amount the district pays to you for insurance that is not IPERs taxable. It is an addition, NOT a
deduction and does not have brackets ( ) around it. The amount is equal to Single High Deductible Health
Plan (the lowest cost plan we offer) + Single Dental ($379.16 + $28.58 = $407.74).
INS ADD-IPERS = Amount the district pays to you for insurance that is IPERs taxable (per an IPERs Ruling).
Once again, it is an addition, NOT a deduction and does not have brackets ( ) around it. The amount is equal
to $205.53. The INS ADD-IN and INS ADD-IPERs added together is the total amount the district pays to you
for insurance ($584.69+$28.58=$613.27). NOTE: This applies to full time eligible staff members only.
ADD-IN ADJ = Amount of the district’s portion of FICA and IPERs on your cash benefit. Most employees will
not see this on their paystub unless they elected benefits that were less than the district benefit. Your cash
benefit is the amount the district pays you for insurance above and beyond what you have elected for your
health and dental coverage. For example, an employee selects Single PPO2500 ($485.83) & single dental
($28.58) for a total of $514.41. The district (in this example we’ll use a full time teacher) pays the benefit of
single PPO1000 & dental ($613.27 value). The district’s portion of FICA (7.65%) & IPERS (8.93%) on that cash
benefit is 16.58% so in the above example, $613.27 minus the $514.41 elected = $98.86. Take that times the
FICA & IPERS 16.58% = $16.39. Employees electing a cash benefit instead of coverage have varying
amounts subtracted here.
FLEX _____ = Amount withheld for medical or dependent care reimbursement account.
RIC/XXXXX = Amount deducted for Retirement Investors Club.
LIFE-FLEX = Voluntary life insurance (optional) & amount (for example, Vol 40/Dis 15 would indicate $40,000
voluntary life insurance and $15,000 district paid life insurance)
LTD – There should be an amount withheld, then an amount paid by the district. LTD rates are taxable in
order to allow any benefits to be paid to us without being taxed additionally.