Salary Slip Format in Excel: Free 2026 Template (Form V, With Formulas)
A salary slip is the monthly statement that shows what an employee earned, what was deducted and what actually reached their bank account. In India it is not optional: section 50 of the Code on Wages requires every employer to issue one, and since the Code on Wages (Central) Rules, 2026 were notified on 8 May 2026, rule 52 of those Rules says it must be issued in Form V, electronically or on paper, on or before the day wages are paid.
That is the part most salary slip templates on the internet have not caught up with. The four Labour Codes came into force on 21 November 2025, and they changed both the shape of the wage slip and the definition of the word "wages" that sits underneath your PF and gratuity maths. This page gives you a free salary slip format in Excel built to Form V, with the formulas already written in, plus an explanation of every line on it.
What you get
- A Form V salary slip that pro-rates earnings for loss of pay days and works out PF, ESI, gross and net pay on its own.
- A monthly register so you can run the whole team on one sheet.
- A rates tab holding every statutory rate in one place, so when a rate changes you edit one cell instead of hunting through formulas.
- A 50 percent wage rule checker that flags anyone whose allowance structure now pushes up their PF and gratuity base.
What changed in November 2025, and why your old template is out of date
Two things happened, and they pull in different directions on the same payslip.
The wage slip got a prescribed form. Rule 52 of the Code on Wages (Central) Rules, 2026 requires the wage slip to be issued in Form V. Older templates were built around Form XI under the Minimum Wages Act, or around no form at all. Form V is a shorter, flatter list than most commercial payslips, and the fields it asks for are specific.
The definition of wages changed. This is the one that actually costs money. Wages now means Basic plus dearness allowance plus retaining allowance, and if the allowances you pay on top of that exceed half of total remuneration, the excess gets added back into wages for statutory purposes. Structuring a salary as a small Basic and a large special allowance, which was standard practice for years precisely because it kept PF and gratuity down, no longer has that effect.
The Form V salary slip format, field by field
These are the fields Form V asks for, in the order the Rules list them. The template follows this order exactly.
| Form V field | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Date of issue, establishment name and address, period | Your company details and the month the slip covers. |
| 1. Name of employee | As it appears in your records and on the bank account. |
| 2. Father's, mother's or spouse name | One of the three, matching your personnel file. |
| 3. Designation | The role, which also drives which statutory registers apply. |
| 4. UAN | The Universal Account Number for provident fund. Leave blank only if the employee is genuinely outside PF. |
| 5. Bank account number | The account the salary was paid into. |
| 6. Wage period | The dates the slip covers, for example 01-09-2026 to 30-09-2026. |
| 7. Rate of wages payable: Basic, DA, allowances | Form V splits earnings three ways. Breaking allowances down further into HRA, conveyance and special allowance is permitted and is normal practice. |
| 8. Total attendance or unit of work done | Days paid for a monthly employee, or units produced for piece rate work. |
| 9. Overtime wages | Kept separate from ordinary wages. It counts toward the 50 percent test. |
| 10. Gross wages payable | Everything earned before deductions. |
| 11. Total deductions: PF, ESI, others | Professional tax, TDS, salary advances and anything else sit under others. |
| 12. Net wages paid | What reached the bank. |
| Employer or pay-in-charge signature | Required where the register is kept physically. |
Source: Form V, Code on Wages (Central) Rules, 2026. These are the Central Rules, which apply where the Central Government is the appropriate government. State governments notify their own rules for establishments in the state sphere, so confirm the form your state prescribes.
Earnings: what each component is for
Only the first two lines below carry statutory weight. The rest are structuring choices you make, which is exactly why the 50 percent rule now matters.
| Component | Statutory or discretionary | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | Statutory weight | The core of wages. PF, gratuity and bonus all key off it. |
| Dearness allowance (DA) | Statutory weight | Counts as wages alongside Basic. Many private employers pay none and fold it into Basic. |
| House rent allowance (HRA) | Discretionary | Common because employees can claim an exemption against actual rent paid. It is an allowance for the 50 percent test. |
| Conveyance allowance | Discretionary | A travel allowance. Also an allowance for the test. |
| Special allowance | Discretionary | The balancing figure most employers use to reach the agreed gross. This is the line the 50 percent rule is aimed at. |
| Overtime | Paid at the statutory or contractual rate | Shown separately as Form V field 9, and included in the 50 percent calculation. |
The 50 percent wage rule, with the government's own example
The Ministry of Labour and Employment published an illustration of how the rule works. Reproduced exactly:
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Total remuneration | Rs 76,000 |
| Basic pay plus dearness allowance | Rs 20,000 |
| Allowances | Rs 40,000 |
| Gratuity and retrenchment compensation | Rs 16,000 |
| Maximum allowance for the wage calculation, 50 percent of total remuneration | Rs 38,000 |
| Excess allowance over the 50 percent limit | Rs 2,000 |
| Wages used for statutory compliance | Rs 22,000 |
Source: Ministry of Labour and Employment, FAQs on the Labour Codes, FAQ 7.
So the employer in that example thought wages were Rs 20,000 and they are actually Rs 22,000 for PF, gratuity and bonus purposes. A later set of FAQs cleared up three edge cases worth knowing: overtime does form part of the 50 percent calculation; employer PF and pension contributions and statutory bonus are counted toward total remuneration; and gratuity, ESI and other retirement benefits are not.
The checker in the template
Deductions: what comes off, and how the template works it out
| Deduction | Rate | How the template handles it |
|---|---|---|
| Provident fund | 12 percent of Basic plus DA, each side | Capped at the Rs 15,000 statutory wage ceiling, so Rs 1,800 a month. Raise the ceiling on the rates tab if you contribute on full Basic under a joint request. |
| ESI | 0.75 percent employee, 3.25 percent employer | Applied only while gross wages are within Rs 21,000 a month. Switches itself off above that. |
| Professional tax | Set by your state | You type this in. Slabs differ by state and several have moved recently. The annual maximum anywhere is Rs 2,500 under Article 276(2) of the Constitution. |
| TDS | Section 192 | You type this in. It depends on annual income, the employee's regime choice and declared investments, so it cannot come from one month's slip. |
| Loss of pay | Pro rata | Enter LOP days and every earnings line scales down automatically. |
| Salary advance | Whatever you agreed | A plain input line so the recovery is visible to the employee. |
A worked example
The figures below are the ones sitting in the template when you open it, so you can check the formulas against them.
| Line | Amount | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | Rs 10,000 | Input |
| HRA, conveyance, special allowance | Rs 8,000 | Input, Rs 4,000 plus Rs 1,600 plus Rs 2,400 |
| Gross wages payable | Rs 18,000 | Sum of earnings, pro-rated for LOP days |
| PF | Rs 1,200 | 12 percent of Rs 10,000, which is under the Rs 15,000 ceiling |
| ESI | Rs 135 | 0.75 percent of Rs 18,000, which is within the Rs 21,000 ceiling |
| Professional tax | Rs 200 | Typed in for this example. Use your own state's figure |
| Total deductions | Rs 1,535 | PF plus ESI plus professional tax |
| Net wages paid | Rs 16,465 | Gross minus deductions |
| 50 percent check | Passes | Allowances Rs 8,000 against a limit of Rs 9,000, so wages stay Rs 10,000 |
The employer side is shown too, because it is not a deduction from the employee and should never be presented as one: Rs 1,200 of employer PF, of which Rs 833 goes to pension and Rs 367 to the provident fund, plus Rs 585 of employer ESI.
Doing this by hand for more than a few people?
The template is the right tool for a small team. Once you are producing a slip per person per month, chasing attendance and generating PDFs one at a time, a payroll system does the same maths and files the returns as well. Fuzen Payroll Pro handles PF, ESI, professional tax and TDS, generates payslip PDFs and a self service portal, and produces the PF ECR, ESI Pehchan, professional tax challans and Form 24Q, 26Q and Form 16 files.
How to use the workbook
Three tabs, in the order you will touch them.
- Rates and Notes. Open this first. Every statutory rate the workbook uses lives here, with a note on each and the sources at the bottom. When a rate changes you change it here once and both other tabs follow.
- Salary Slip (Form V). Fill in the amber cells: your company details, the employee's Form V fields, days in the period, LOP days, the monthly rate for each earnings line, and your professional tax and TDS figures. Everything blue calculates.
- Monthly Register. One row per employee with the same maths, a totals row, and the 50 percent flag as a column. Copy the formula rows down as you hire.
If you want the background on running the rest of the cycle, we have a step by step guide to processing payroll in India.
Five mistakes worth avoiding
- Treating the employer PF contribution as a deduction. It is the employer's cost. Showing it in the deductions column understates net pay and confuses people.
- Setting Basic very low. This used to reduce PF and gratuity. Under the Code on Wages the excess allowance is added back, so the saving largely disappears and you are left with a structure that is harder to explain.
- Forgetting the UAN. Form V asks for it explicitly, and it is the field employees need when they change jobs.
- Issuing the slip after payday. Rule 52 says on or before the day wages are paid.
- Copying one state's professional tax into every slip. If you employ people in more than one state, professional tax differs per state and per employee.
When a spreadsheet stops being the right answer
Be honest about where the line is. A spreadsheet is genuinely fine while the team is small and the structures are simple. It starts to cost you when you are re-keying attendance every month, when people work across states with different professional tax, when you need to produce the statutory return files rather than just the slips, or when employees keep asking you to resend last March's payslip. Those are the jobs that payroll software exists to do, and it is worth reading what to look for before you buy anything. If payroll is one piece of a wider people problem, the same maths sits inside HR management software alongside attendance and leave.
Frequently asked questions
What is the correct salary slip format in India in 2026?
Since the Code on Wages (Central) Rules, 2026 were notified on 8 May 2026, rule 52 requires the wage slip to be issued in Form V. Form V asks for the establishment name and address, the date of issue and the period, then the employee's name, parent or spouse name, designation, UAN and bank account number, the wage period, the rate of wages split into Basic, DA and allowances, total attendance, overtime wages, gross wages payable, total deductions split into PF, ESI and others, and net wages paid. These are the Central Rules; a state government notifies its own rules for establishments in its sphere, so check yours.
Is a salary slip legally required in India?
Yes. Section 50 of the Code on Wages requires the employer to issue a wage slip, and rule 52 of the Central Rules says it must go out electronically or on paper on or before the day wages are paid. It is not something you produce only when an employee asks for a home loan.
How do I calculate PF on a salary slip?
Provident fund is 12 percent of Basic plus DA from the employee and 12 percent from the employer. The statutory wage ceiling is Rs 15,000 a month, so the statutory contribution works out to Rs 1,800 a month on each side. Contributing on a Basic higher than the ceiling is allowed but needs a joint request from the employee and the employer under para 26(6) of the EPF Scheme. The template caps PF at the ceiling by default and you can raise the ceiling on the rates tab if you contribute on full Basic.
How is ESI calculated on a salary slip?
The employee pays 0.75 percent of gross wages and the employer pays 3.25 percent, so 4 percent in total. ESI applies while gross wages are within Rs 21,000 a month, and Rs 25,000 for a person with disability. In the template ESI switches itself off automatically once gross wages cross the ceiling.
What is the 50 percent rule for allowances?
Under the Code on Wages, wages means Basic plus DA plus retaining allowance. If the allowances you pay on top exceed 50 percent of total remuneration, the excess is added back to wages for statutory purposes, so PF, gratuity and bonus are then computed on the higher figure. Gratuity and retrenchment compensation are left out of the test and overtime is included in it. The template checks this for you and tells you the number to use.
Does the template calculate professional tax and TDS?
No, and that is deliberate. Professional tax is a state tax and the slabs differ by state, with several states having moved their thresholds recently, so the template gives you a cell to type your own state's figure into rather than guessing. The only professional tax number that is the same everywhere is the constitutional maximum of Rs 2,500 a year. TDS under section 192 depends on estimated annual income, the regime the employee has chosen and their declared investments, which cannot be derived from a single month's slip.
Can I send a salary slip by email or WhatsApp?
Rule 52 allows the wage slip to be issued electronically or in physical form, so emailing a PDF is fine. What matters is that it goes out on or before the day wages are paid and that it carries the Form V fields.
How many employees can this Excel template handle?
The register tab is set up for a small team and you can copy the formula rows down for more. In practice a spreadsheet starts to hurt somewhere around twenty to thirty people, because every month you are re-entering attendance, re-checking rates and manually producing one PDF per person. That is the point at which payroll software pays for itself.
Stop rebuilding the same spreadsheet every month
Fuzen Payroll Pro runs the same calculations across your whole team, generates payslip PDFs and lets employees pull their own, then produces the statutory files. It is Rs 25,000 one time at the current launch price, down from Rs 50,000 for the first 100 businesses, with no per employee fee.
