Employment and exit · verified August 2026

What is Salary certificate?

Also called income certificate from employer.

Definition

A salary certificate is a letter on company letterhead certifying an employee current compensation, issued at their request for a bank, a landlord or a consulate.

How it works

It differs from a payslip in that it is a one-off document carrying a company signature and addressed to a named recipient, rather than a monthly record of what was paid. Lenders usually ask for both, plus bank statements, and reconcile the three.

What it means in India

No statute prescribes its format, which is precisely why accuracy matters: the figures will be compared against salary credits and tax documents. State whether the amounts are monthly or annual in words, exclude reimbursements, and give the certificate to the employee rather than sending it onward yourself, since it is their financial information.

What people get wrong

Leaving out whether the figures are monthly or annual, which is the most common ambiguity in the document.
Including reimbursements as income.
Sending it directly to the bank instead of to the employee.

Work out your own number

The arithmetic on this page is easier to check against a real salary than to follow in prose, so there is a free page that does it for you. No sign-up.

Salary certificate format and template

Terms this one depends on

Net salary. Net salary, or take-home, is what actually reaches the employee bank account: gross salary minus the employee provident fund contribution, professional tax, employee state insurance where applicable, tax deducted at source, and any recoveries.Reimbursement. A reimbursement repays an employee for money they spent on the company behalf. It is not salary, and it should not appear in a salary certificate as income.Form 16. Form 16 is the annual certificate an employer issues to an employee showing the salary paid and the tax deducted at source during a financial year. It is the primary document an employee uses to file their income tax return.

More on employment and exit

Probation Notice period Full and final settlement Workman Continuous service Standing orders Shops and Establishments Act

Where this shows up in practice

Almost everything on this page ends up as a line on a payslip or a figure in a register. Shiftelio keeps attendance, leave, salary structure and the statutory deductions in one place, so the number in the letter and the number in the payslip come from the same record.

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This entry was written and checked in August 2026 for Indian employers. It is general information, not legal or tax advice. Statutory thresholds, contribution rates and slab tables are revised from time to time, and several of the rules described here come from state legislation that genuinely differs between states, so check the position that applies to your own establishment before acting. If you believe anything here is inaccurate, write to support@shiftelio.com and we will correct it.