Salary Slip Verification Guide India 2026
How to verify a candidate's salary slips, catch forgeries, and know when to call in a professional.
What is salary slip verification?
Salary slip verification is the process of confirming that a candidate's payslips are genuine and accurately reflect their employment history and compensation. HR teams run this check to:
- Confirm the candidate actually worked where they claim
- Verify the CTC and designation match what was declared
- Prevent inflated salary claims during negotiations
- Comply with regulatory and audit requirements in some industries (BFSI, healthcare)
Salary forgery is more common than most HR teams expect. A 2024 industry survey found that 1 in 6 candidates submits at least one modified document during hiring.
What a legitimate salary slip must contain
A genuine Indian salary slip should always have all of the following:
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Company name & address | Must match registered company name — not a trade name or abbreviation |
| Employee name & ID | Employee ID should be consistent across multiple slips |
| PAN of employer | Verifiable against MCA/Income Tax records |
| PF deduction (EPF) | If basic salary > ₹15,000, PF deduction is mandatory — its absence is a major red flag |
| TDS deduction | Should align with income tax slab; zero TDS on high salaries is suspicious |
| ESI (if applicable) | Required if gross salary ≤ ₹21,000/month |
| Month & year | Payslip period must be clearly stated and consistent with stated tenure |
Red flags that indicate a forged payslip
These are the most common signs of a tampered or fabricated salary slip:
The most reliable signal. PF is legally mandatory for most employers. Its absence on a mid-to-high salary slip almost always means the document is fake or the person was employed informally.
Genuine payroll software produces consistent formatting. Mixed fonts, irregular spacing, or misaligned columns are signs of manual editing in Word/Excel.
Real payroll calculations produce odd numbers (HRA = 40% of basic, PT varies by state). Perfectly round numbers in every field suggest manual entry.
Basic + HRA + allowances should total to gross; gross minus deductions should equal net pay. If the math is off, the slip has been edited.
If the company name can't be found in the MCA21 portal, it doesn't exist as a registered entity. "ABC Consultants Private Limited" with no MCA record is a dead giveaway.
How to verify a salary slip: step by step
Go to mca.gov.in → Master Data → search the company name. Confirm it's an active registered entity. Check the CIN and PAN match.
Ask the candidate for their Form 16 or ITR. The TDS amount on the payslips should aggregate to match the Form 16. A mismatch means the slips have been altered.
Ask the candidate to share their EPFO passbook (via the UAN member portal). PF deduction amounts should match those on the payslips month by month.
Find the company's official HR contact through the MCA website or LinkedIn — not the number given by the candidate. Confirm: did this person work here, and what was their last drawn salary?
For high-volume hiring, manual checks don't scale. MPloyChek's AI verification layer detects formatting anomalies, pixel-level edits, and metadata inconsistencies automatically.
Free HR Salary Slip Verification Checklist
Print this checklist and use it when reviewing salary slips manually.
Salary Slip Verification Checklist
Candidate: __________________ | Date: __________________
Document basics
- ☐ Company name is verifiable on MCA21
- ☐ Employer PAN is present and valid
- ☐ Employee ID is consistent across all months
- ☐ Month/year period is clearly stated
Statutory deductions
- ☐ PF deduction present (if basic > ₹15,000)
- ☐ TDS deduction is proportionate to income
- ☐ ESI present if gross ≤ ₹21,000/month
Arithmetic checks
- ☐ Earnings components add up to gross salary
- ☐ Gross minus deductions equals net pay
- ☐ No suspiciously round numbers in every component
Cross-verification
- ☐ TDS matches Form 16 / ITR (if available)
- ☐ PF matches EPFO passbook
- ☐ Confirmed with previous employer HR directly
Skip the manual process
MPloyChek verifies salary slips automatically using AI document analysis — detecting forgeries, cross-checking with EPFO, and producing a signed audit-grade report in hours.