Minnesota Pay Stub, Paycheck & Tax Guide

Minnesota payroll in 2026 has a major new element: the state's Paid Leave program. Employers still need to calculate federal and state withholding, issue a detailed earnings statement and maintain payroll records, but Paid Leave premiums now add another payroll item for covered employment.

A Minnesota Earnings Statement Has Specific Required Fields

Minnesota employers must provide a written earnings statement or pay stub at the end of each pay period. The statement needs enough detail for an employee to identify the rate of pay, hours, gross earnings, deductions, net pay and employer information.

• Employee name
• Rate or rates of pay and the method of pay
• Hours worked unless the employee is exempt from the relevant hours requirement
• Gross pay for the period
• A list of deductions
• Net pay after deductions
• Pay period end date
• Employer legal name and operating name if different
• Employer business address and telephone number

Minnesota guidance also states that earnings statements should show earned sick and safe time hours available for use plus the amount used during the pay period. Employers must keep copies of earnings statements for three years.

Those fields provide a useful checklist when preparing a Minnesota employee earnings statement from actual payroll records.

Minnesota Paid Leave Changed Payroll in 2026

Minnesota Paid Leave began in January 2026 with a total premium rate of 0.88% of covered wages for the standard program. The regular rate is generally split between the employer and employee, which means payroll systems need to track the employee share correctly when withholding it from wages.

The program is separate from federal income tax, Minnesota income tax, Social Security and Medicare. Qualifying small employers can receive a reduced Paid Leave premium rate, so employers should use the rate assigned to their account rather than assume every business has the same cost.

Minnesota State Income Tax Uses Four Rates in 2026

Minnesota uses a progressive individual income-tax system with rates of 5.35%, 6.80%, 7.85% and 9.85% for 2026. The income ranges depend on filing status, so a single flat percentage is not enough to describe every employee's state tax position.

For the actual bracket thresholds by filing status, see the 2026 Minnesota income tax brackets rather than treating this payroll overview as a full state tax calculation.

Take-Home Pay Is the Result of Several Payroll Layers

Minnesota net pay is gross pay after applicable federal withholding, state withholding, Social Security, Medicare, Paid Leave withholding and other authorized deductions. Pre-tax deductions may also change the wages used for some tax calculations.

A Minnesota take-home pay calculator is useful when you want to test salary, hourly pay or a different pay frequency without rebuilding the full payroll record.

Pay Stub Records and Payroll Records Serve Different Purposes

The pay stub is the employee-facing summary for a specific pay period, while payroll records support the calculations behind that summary. Minnesota requires employers to keep copies of earnings statements for three years, which makes consistent period-by-period records especially important.

If your business needs to create online paystubs from genuine earnings data, keep the source time, wage and deduction records available so the final document can be checked against the underlying payroll activity.

A Business Can Have Payroll and Sales Tax Obligations at the Same Time

Minnesota payroll taxes relate to employee compensation, while sales tax relates to taxable transactions with customers. A company can have both obligations, but sales tax should never be treated as a payroll deduction.

Businesses that sell taxable products or services can review Minnesota sales tax rules separately from the employee payroll process.

Keep Payroll Documentation Accurate and Lawful

Payroll documents should represent real work, real compensation and real deductions. Online PayStub can be used to organize accurate payroll information into a professional record, but users remain responsible for entering truthful employer, employee, earnings and payment details.

Do not use generated pay documents to fabricate employment, inflate income, alter payment history or mislead a lender, landlord, employer, bank or government agency.