How to verify your estimated gross pay from a monthly shift calendar (worked example + template)

Why verify your calendar estimate against a payslip?

Shift calendars are useful for tracking scheduled hours and estimating pay, but payslips often reflect payroll rules, taxes, and employer-specific adjustments that a calendar cannot fully reproduce. Verifying your calendar’s estimated gross pay against your payslip helps you catch simple errors—missing shifts, incorrect overtime, or applied allowances—before you raise a query with payroll.

This guide focuses on gross pay comparison (pre-tax) and uses only PayCheck AI features that let you build and export calendars, set pay rules, estimate gross pay, upload a payslip for one-time AI extraction, and compare the extracted payslip figures to a selected calendar month.

Overview of the verification workflow

1) Configure personal pay settings in PayCheck AI so the calendar estimate reflects your agreed rates and allowances. 2) Build or confirm your monthly shift calendar (individual shifts, preset rotations, or day-based rotations). 3) Export the calendar month as CSV or ICS for your records. 4) In Pro (active free trial or paid), upload your payslip for one-time AI extraction. 5) Use the app’s comparison feature to compare the payslip’s gross pay to the calendar estimate. 6) Record and prepare clear notes for payroll if there’s a discrepancy.

Remember: PayCheck AI estimates gross pay using the rules you set. It does not calculate taxes or guarantee payroll accuracy. Rules and interpretations of overtime, allowances and public-holiday pay vary by country, agreement, and employer policy—use employer documents as your final reference.

Step 1 — Configure your personal pay settings

Open your personal pay settings in PayCheck AI and enter the rates and conditions that apply to you. If you’re on Pro, you can configure daily and weekly overtime thresholds, night-window allowances, weekend allowances, and public-holiday allowances as a flat amount, per-hour amount or percentage.

Example: enter your base hourly rate, then add these hypothetical rules manually: daily overtime threshold = 8 hours (time-and-a-half), weekly overtime threshold = 40 hours (double time beyond 60 hours is hypothetical but treat any multiplier as manual), weekend allowance = $2.00 per hour, and a public-holiday allowance = 150% of base pay. These are examples only—use the real rules from your contract or workplace.

Step 2 — Confirm your monthly calendar

Create or review the calendar month that you want to check. PayCheck AI supports individual shifts, common preset rotations and custom day-based rotations. Ensure any recorded vacations, sick days or approved absences are entered because they affect hours.

If you’re part of a team, remember that personal pay settings, private shift notes and medical details are not shared in the team calendar. Team owners can publish and assign shifts and planners can view members’ calendars and recorded absences, but your personal pay rules are only active in your personal calendar.

Step 3 — Export the calendar month

Export the selected month to CSV or ICS from PayCheck AI and keep a copy. The export is useful as a record of the shifts included in your estimate and can be shared with payroll if requested. You can also create a private read-only calendar subscription for Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook to have a synced view of your shifts, but note this subscription is read-only and not two-way editing.

Exporting helps when you need to show exactly which shifts you counted in the estimate.

Step 4 — Upload your payslip for AI extraction (Pro feature)

If you’re on an active Pro trial or a paid Pro subscription, upload your payslip for a one-time AI extraction. The extraction pulls the gross pay and other relevant figures from the payslip so you can compare them to the calendar estimate.

PayCheck AI does not store uploaded documents permanently; it enables a one-time extraction only. After extraction, review the extracted figures carefully—check that the payslip’s pay period matches the calendar month you exported and that the gross pay is the figure you want to compare.

Step 5 — Compare calendar estimate and payslip gross pay

Use the comparison feature to line up the calendar’s estimated gross pay with the payslip’s extracted gross pay. If the numbers match within a small margin, the payroll is likely consistent with your calendar and settings. If there are differences, break them down: missing shifts, different overtime multipliers, uncounted allowances, or employer deductions that affect net pay but not gross.

Note: Because PayCheck AI’s estimate depends on the personal settings you provided, any mismatch may mean an input error in your pay settings or that the employer applied different rules. Keep a clear list of which shifts and rules you used in the estimate.

Practical checklist

• Set your base hourly rate and any overtime thresholds or allowances in PayCheck AI (Pro required for some rules).
• Confirm month’s shifts in your personal calendar (include vacations, sick days, approved absences).
• Export the month as CSV or ICS and save a copy.
• If on Pro, upload your payslip for one-time AI extraction and confirm the pay period.
• Run the comparison between calendar estimate and extracted payslip gross pay.
• Itemize discrepancies: list missing shifts (date/time), different overtime hours, allowance differences, or payroll notes.
• Prepare a concise note for payroll including: exported CSV, payslip extraction, your calculated totals, and the specific items you want clarified.
• If you’re part of a team, remember personal pay settings and private notes are not visible to planners or team members—share only what’s necessary.

Frequently asked questions

Can PayCheck AI calculate my taxes or final take-home pay?

No. PayCheck AI estimates gross pay based on the personal pay settings and shift data you provide. It does not calculate taxes or guarantee payroll accuracy. Use your employer’s payslip for final net pay figures and tax calculations.

What if my payslip covers a different date range than the calendar month I exported?

First confirm the payslip pay period. If the ranges differ, export or adjust your calendar selection to match the payslip period and re-run the comparison. Clear alignment of periods is essential to avoid false discrepancies.

Can team planners see my personal pay settings or private notes?

No. Personal pay settings, private shift notes and medical details are not shared in the team calendar. Planners can view published team shifts, recorded absences and approve or reject vacation requests, but your private pay configuration remains private.

What should I include when reporting a discrepancy to payroll?

Provide the exported CSV of the calendar month, the payslip extraction showing gross pay, a short breakdown of the differences (e.g., 'missing 2 shifts on 10–11 May, 16 hours; overtime applied differently on 22 May'), and the pay rules you used in your estimate. Be factual and attach the files you exported and extracted.

Does PayCheck AI store my uploaded payslip documents?

No. PayCheck AI enables a one-time AI extraction from an uploaded payslip and does not store uploaded documents permanently.