Ages 10+ · Money · Earning and jobs
Pay slips and take-home pay
Hours and rate: 8 at 5 coins Gross pay: 40 coins Tax: 6 coins Take-home pay: 34 coins Reading Rosa's pay slip from the top. The big idea Gross pay is what you earn. Take-home pay is what is left after tax.
How it works Aunt Rosa's pay slip shows how her pay was worked out. It starts with the hours and the rate: 8 hours at 5 coins an hour.
Hours times the rate is her gross pay, everything earned before anything is taken out: 8 × 5 = 40 coins.
Tax is a share every worker pays the town. It keeps up the roads, the school, the park and the library. Anything taken out of pay is a deduction.
What is left is take-home pay, also called net pay. It is what really arrives, so Rosa plans her week with it.
Rosa's slip 0 10 20 30 40 40 Gross pay 6 Tax 34 Take-home pay coins Gross pay, the tax and what Rosa takes home. Gross pay • Everything earned • Before tax is taken out • 8 hours at 5 coins is 40 Take-home pay • What is left after tax • What really arrives • 40 take away 6 is 34 Two numbers on one slip. Example 1: Finding gross pay Rosa works 8 hours at 5 coins an hour. Hours times the rate: 8 × 5 = 40. Her gross pay is 40 coins. Example 2: Finding take-home pay Gross pay is 40 coins and the tax is 6 coins. Take the tax away: 40 − 6 = 34. Her take-home pay is 34 coins. Example 3: Checking the slip Start from the take-home pay, 34 coins. Add the tax back: 34 + 6 = 40. It matches the gross pay, so the slip adds up. Example 4: Another slip A slip says gross pay 50 coins and tax 8 coins. Take the tax away: 50 − 8 = 42. The take-home pay is 42 coins. Words to know gross pay Everything earned, before anything is taken out. tax A share every worker pays the town for roads, schools, parks and libraries. deduction Anything taken out of pay. Tax is one. take-home pay What is left after the deductions. Also called net pay. rate The coins paid for each hour of work. Watch out Gross pay is not what arrives. The tax is taken out first. Plan with take-home pay, not gross pay. Tax is taken away, never added on. A slip that does not add up is one for a grown-up to ask the bakery about. Try it Rosa works 8 hours at 5 coins an hour. What is her gross pay? Her gross pay is 40 coins and her tax is 6. What is her take-home pay? Should Rosa plan her week with gross pay or take-home pay? A slip says gross pay 50 coins and tax 8 coins. What is the take-home pay? Answers: 1. 40 coins · 2. 34 coins · 3. Take-home pay · 4. 42 coins
Try at home With a grown-up, look at a pay slip, with private numbers covered. Find gross pay and take-home pay.
For grown-ups If you can, look at a real pay slip together with the private numbers covered, and find the gross line and the take-home line. Nothing here asks about your family's pay.