Is This Salary Slip Real or Fake? HR Seeks Your Help to Verify It

This is Heena (HR). Attached is the salary slip. Please let me know whether it is fake or genuine.

Thanks in advance,

Heena

First of all, this is not the right way to verify a document. Citehr is an open forum where any document in its original form should not be uploaded.

Still, the attached salary slip seems to be fake as the calculation of EPF is wrong. The EPF contribution should be Rs. 798 (12% of the basic salary) and not Rs. 558 as mentioned in the slip.

Secondly, the employer's side contribution towards EPF is never deducted from the employee's gross salary. It is illegal to deduct the employer's share of EPF/ESIC, etc., from the employee's salary.

Reasons Why the Payslip is Fake

It is fake for the following reasons:

1. PF Calculation is wrong. It must be a minimum of Rs 780 (12% of Rs 6500).
2. No IT deduction is shown.
3. Sodexo is never shown in the payslip. It is given as coupons. If they give money to buy Sodexo coupons, then it is taxable.

Regards,
Sivasankaran

Document Verification Concerns

First of all, as rightly pointed out by Kamal, this is not the right forum to verify such a document. You have to consider the privacy of the person this document pertains to, as well as the organization that purportedly issued it.

The most surefire and foolproof method to authenticate a document is by calling up the HR department of the company and asking them to verify it.

Regarding the views of the above contributors, the contents may be genuine, as some organizations do not follow the rule book deliberately or due to a sheer lack of knowledge. I have seen all kinds of payslips but have encountered the kinds of mistakes as pointed out in the attached document.

One of the simplest ways is to look at the document properties: It was created using openoffice.org 3.1 and prepared on a computer registered to "Rashid Jamal."

When such a document is generated through any software system, it will contain the name of the software as the author and mostly will have a PDF printer or writer software as PDF Producer. Also, most payroll software outputs will contain the disclaimer that the document is a digital output and does not require a signature. In the absence of such a disclaimer, a signature and seal are required for the authentication of the document.

Regards,
Savio

Thank you very much for your response. Yes, I do agree I should not upload original documents, and I am sure that I'll not upload them in the future. I have contacted the HR department of the company, and they have cleared all the doubts I had about this payslip. In fact, the payslip is genuine. I now understand that by just looking at a payslip, one cannot determine its authenticity without verifying it with the HR department of the company.

Once again, thanks to all of you.

Regards,
Heena

I still have doubts because the basic salary and EPF contributions will not match in any EPF returns Form 5/10/12A, 3A, and 6A. A person earning 30K per month falls into the income tax bracket. How is there no heading for income tax deductions/TDS?

Please find the attached salary breakup Excel sheet.

Regards,
Swapna

Professional tax is a state tax and not applicable in all states of the country, so it is possible that PT may not be mentioned in the salary slip if not applicable.

You can check if this is original or fake by verifying his bank account statement. If his pay slip shows the account number, it means the company is depositing the salary into that account through RTGS or cheque.

@venkatesh_oh

A bank cannot disclose a bank account details to a third party without the written consent of the customer. It is against the secrecy policy of banks operating in India.

Banks can disclose account details to a third party only under compulsion of law or to a public authority.

I feel this payslip is manipulated. None of the HR departments would prepare the structure as it shows. The basic salary is above 6500/-, so PF contributions should be 780 or 12% of the actual basic. HRA is more than the basic salary. As other colleagues suggested, for this salary, there are chances for TDS, but that doesn't matter because it shall be calculated and deducted from next month onwards as the payslip stands for the month of April.

I suggest you cross-check with the HR of the company. If possible, take the confirmation via email (from the official mail ID) and request the candidate to provide the bank statement. This will help clarify the situation.

I feel it's not a genuine payslip.

You can find the attached salary calculator for your perusal. It may be helpful to you.

Regards,
Bhavi

When in doubt, ask for three months' salary slips and the same duration bank statement. You'll be able to corroborate both. Whether through online remittance or cheque payment, both transactions will show up. If he's being paid in cash, he's not worth hiring.

This salary slip seems to be fake for simple reasons; however, you need to verify its validity through official or reference check sources.

1. Employer contribution against PF is mentioned in the salary slip, which I have not seen anywhere.
2. Sodexo passes are mentioned, which is not typically done as they are exempted from tax. If included in the salary slip, they will be taxable.
3. PF contribution should be ₹780 if the minimum basic is considered ₹6,500 or 12% of the actual basic. Here, it is incorrect.
4. There are other reimbursements that are not usually included in the salary slip if the bills are produced, such as for books.

Regards,
Vinod Bidwaik

Observation on Insurance as Earnings

One more observation: Insurance is shown as earnings, which is not possible. The company directly pays the insurance premium to insurance companies.

Regards,
Vinod Bidwaik

The payslip is in its original state. It is not a fake one, regardless of the calculations made on the slip.

Thank you.

I have a query regarding the salary slip.

Company Name and Registration

The company name is listed as something Inc. It does not have a registered address either. A search for it on Google turns up nothing, which is quite strange for a software company. I wonder if the company itself is fake. It is not an Indian company or a registered entity in India. In that case, it would be using US$ instead of rupees.

Salary Slip Authenticity

Furthermore, an American company would not issue a payslip of this type. They would have proper software to do it; otherwise, they would be too small to have an office in India. A salary slip from an American company would not include so many details of Indian regulations. This seems to be a fake salary slip. It looks like someone tried to take the stated CTC and show it on a salary slip. The person may be receiving the salary (check the bank statement) but not from this company and not for the amount stated.

Verification Steps

How did you speak to HR? Where did you get the number? It is possible that the person is not from HR or not from that company. Actually, this is getting very interesting. Is this a genuine query you have, or is it an academic one?

A short and sweet verification is to request a bank statement from him because the salary was deposited in the bank account.

Regards,
Ashok More

As I had mentioned earlier, the user has uploaded it to this forum to check if it will withstand the scrutiny of HR professionals and to ascertain what the HR department may request or do to verify its authenticity. I believe it is evident that this is a fraudulent document, and it would be advisable to cease offering suggestions that could assist the creator in producing a foolproof document.

Regards,
Savio

Dear Heena,

This is a fake salary slip. It was prepared by the employee himself. In case of any doubt, you can ask him to submit his previous 3 months' bank statements.

Thanks

There are so many doubts about the payslip, and it seems fake. There are many reasons to doubt, and all of you have also raised concerns. However, I want to draw your attention to the monthly bonus as well. If it is as per "The Payment of Bonus Act," then it is not in compliance with the rules. It is over 20% of Basic+DA, which is the maximum limit for a bonus. In any case, it seems fake or very improper, which gives a negative impression of the company.

Thank you.

Don't worry about the impact on the company; the company is fake too. It does not exist. The actual company (I checked) has a name spelled differently.

Analysis of the Attached Salary Slip

The attached salary slip appears to be fake because the calculations for PF and ESI are incorrect. It also indicates that employer-side deductions have been made from the employee's salary. Lastly, the HRA is more than the basic salary, which further suggests it is fake.

Regards,
Himanshu Mani Tripathi
Manager-HR (T & D)

What was the authenticity of the HR you spoke to? Was it genuine? Did you dial the office extensions or a mobile number? Most of the salary parameters mentioned do not comply with the existing laws. Also, the owner of the attachment is the same as the user.

Regards,
Anand Dhruv

Sure, this is a fake one. You have to know the general contributions and deductions to determine whether this is fake or correct. Instead of that, you shouldn't circulate it in public.

Regards,
Prabakar

I agree with Mr. Kamal and Savio's views that any document should not be shown publicly.

Verification of Salary Slip Authenticity

Bank passbooks or statements can be part of verifying the authenticity of a salary slip. The credited amount (monthly salary amount), name, and account number should match those printed on the salary slip. Generally, when an account number is printed on a salary slip, it is assumed that the amount is directly credited to the bank. The narration in the bank passbook or statement should always show as "salary" or "salary with month," sometimes with the company name, but it should not include a cheque number or personal name.

PF calculation is always a good point for verifying the authenticity of a salary slip as per the PF deduction rate for that period. As mentioned by Mr. Sivsankaran, no IT deduction is shown.

I agree it should be part of the salary slip, but I feel this salary slip was for the month of April 2012. So, it may be possible that in the month of April, tax calculation can be avoided, or the person has a good investment history. I mean, for tax purposes, the salary's month and individual tax calculation should be considered along with the investment history of the candidate.

Regards

Vikas Wadhawan

[Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]