How to read and audit a Brazilian payslip, line by line

The payslip is a statement of account

Before decoding the acronyms, understand what the document is in legal terms. CLT art. 464 states that "salary must be paid against a receipt signed by the employee", and its sole paragraph gives a bank-deposit slip the force of a receipt. Art. 465 sets when and where: on a business day, at the workplace, during or right after working hours. The burden of proving payment falls on the employer; that is why the receipt has to itemize every amount paid and every amount deducted. The payslip is that itemized receipt. You have the right to check the accuracy of every line.

Since eSocial was adopted, that itemization became standardized. Every payroll item is a "rubrica" sent in event S-1010 and mapped to Table 3, Nature of Payroll Items, which defines, for each item, whether it feeds (or not) the INSS, FGTS and IRRF bases. This is the same logic you will apply when reading the payslip: for each line, ask what its nature is (earning, deduction or informational) and which base it hits.

Three calculation bases, not one

The most frequent conceptual mistake is to assume INSS, IRRF and FGTS all hit the same number. They do not. The payslip prints the three bases separately precisely because they diverge, and understanding the difference is half the audit.

INSS base

Total earnings of a salary nature (base pay, overtime, premiums, paid rest). The progressive INSS bracket table runs on it.

IRRF base

The INSS base minus INSS itself and legal deductions (dependents, alimony, private pension). It is always smaller than the INSS base, see IRRF: base and deductions.

FGTS base

Usually matches the INSS base, but it generates an 8% deposit paid by the employer, not a deduction. It appears only for you to track.

A concrete example: a base salary of R$ 3,000.00 plus a habitual night premium of R$ 200.00 add up to R$ 3,200.00 of taxable earnings. That is the number that feeds the INSS and FGTS bases. The IRRF base, however, starts from R$ 3,200.00 and further subtracts INSS and the deductions, so it comes out smaller. And FGTS does not flow into net pay: the 8% becomes a deposit.

Each line: legal basis, formula and common error

This is the reference table for the audit. For each frequently occurring item, it gives the legal basis (to cross-check), the formula (to redo the math) and the error that most often shows up on that line. Use it as a map: walk your payslip top to bottom and check each line against its formula.

Overtime and the paid-rest reflex that almost always goes missing

Every overtime hour starts from the hourly rate. For a monthly-paid worker, the hourly rate is the salary divided by a divisor that represents the paid monthly hours, 220 for a 44-hour week, 200 for a 40-hour week (TST Precedent 431). The divisor is not arbitrary: it equals the daily schedule times 30 days of salary in the month.

The overtime premium applies on top of the hourly rate: the Constitution, in art. 7, XVI, guarantees pay "at least fifty percent" above the normal hour. Collective agreements and work on Sundays and holidays can raise that (60%, 100%), but 50% is the floor.

Here lies the costliest and quietest error: habitual overtime must reflect into paid weekly rest. Law 605/1949 guarantees paid rest, and TST Precedent 172 is blunt: "habitual overtime is counted in the paid-rest calculation." So beyond paying the overtime, the employer must pay a proportional paid-rest reflex on it. Many payslips show the overtime and simply do not carry that second line.

Example 1, overtime with its paid-rest reflex. A base salary of R$ 2,200.00 and a 44-hour week, so divisor 220 and an hourly rate of R$ 10.00. During the month, the worker did 10 overtime hours at 50%. Each overtime hour is worth R$ 15.00 (10.00 × 1.5), so the 10 hours total R$ 150.00. The month has 25 business days and 5 rest days (4 Sundays + 1 holiday). The paid-rest reflex on the overtime is 150.00 ÷ 25 × 5 = R$ 30.00. The correct earning is not R$ 150.00: it is R$ 180.00. If the payslip shows only R$ 150.00, R$ 30.00 is missing.

Night premium: when seven hours become eight

The urban night premium has two rules working together. First: work between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. (art. 73, §2) gets an increase of at least 20% over the daytime hour (art. 73, head). Second, almost always forgotten: the night hour is shortened. Art. 73, §1 states that "the night working hour shall be counted as 52 minutes and 30 seconds." Because each clock hour "is worth" more than a normal hour, 7 clock hours equal 8 night hours.

Example 2, night premium with the reduced hour. Same salary of R$ 2,200.00, divisor 220, hourly rate R$ 10.00. The worker does a shift from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.: 7 clock hours. Under the reduced hour, those 7 clock hours equal 8 night hours (7 × 60 ÷ 52.5 = 8). The 20% premium applies to the 7 actual hours: 7 × 10.00 × 20% = R$ 14.00. And the reduction creates an 8th hour, paid as a normal hour: (8 − 7) × 10.00 = R$ 10.00. The night premium for that shift adds up to R$ 24.00, not the R$ 14.00 of someone who forgets the reduced hour.

The audit routine (and the three traps)

With the line-item map and the formulas in hand, the audit becomes a procedure. Before the routine, three details that trip up most checks, open each one.

1. Add the earnings and check the INSS baseEvery earning of a salary nature (base pay, overtime, premiums, paid rest) feeds the INSS base. Add them and compare with the printed base.
2. Recompute INSS by bracketINSS is progressive: each bracket has its own rate. Redo it bracket by bracket in the net-salary calculator.
3. Build the IRRF baseIRRF base = earnings − INSS − dependents − alimony. Apply the current table with its deductible portion.
4. Redo overtime and premiumsCheck the hourly rate against the right divisor, the premium (min. 50%), the reduced hour at night and, always, the paid-rest reflex.
5. Verify the unhealthy-work/hazard basesUnhealthy-work on the minimum wage; hazard at 30% of base salary. Never both at once.
6. Check the transport voucher and FGTSTransport voucher: at most 6% of basic salary. FGTS: 8% of remuneration as informational, it must not be among the deductions.
7. Close the arithmeticNet = total earnings − total deductions. If it matches the printed value, the payslip is consistent; if not, the next step is HR.

• Does the INSS base equal the sum of taxable earnings?
• Is the IRRF base smaller than the INSS base (INSS and deductions already removed)?
• Does the overtime carry its paid-rest reflex line?
• Did the night premium use the reduced hour (7 clock hours → 8)?
• Unhealthy-work on the minimum wage and hazard on the base salary?
• Is the transport-voucher deduction at most 6% of basic salary?
• Is FGTS listed as informational, outside the deductions?
• Earnings − deductions = the printed net pay?