Salary certificate format
Four versions, because a lender, a consulate, a landlord and a card issuer each need different figures — plus the email that gets one out of HR the first time you ask.
Salary certificate generator
Four versions, by what the certificate is for — plus the email that gets one out of HR. Fill the fields and the certificate builds itself.
The registered name, not the brand name — a verifier reconciles against the registered one.
Goes in the letterhead block at the top.
An addressed certificate is accepted more readily than a generic one. Leave blank for “To Whomsoever It May Concern”.
A lender wants to see what is already committed. Separate each with a semicolon.
A salary certificate states facts and nothing else. None of these versions certifies conduct, performance or that the employee is valued — those sentences are discretionary, unverifiable and not what any verifier is reading for.
Your draft
0 of 10 details filled[Company name]
[Date]
To
To Whomsoever It May Concern
Subject: Salary certificate
This is to certify that the following person is employed with [Company name] on a permanent basis:
Name: [Employee's full name]
Designation: [Designation]
Date of joining: [joining date]
The present salary details are as follows:
Gross monthly salary: [gross monthly]
Net monthly salary credited: [net monthly]
Gross annual salary: [gross annual]
The salary is credited to the employee's bank account every month. This certificate is issued at the employee's request for the purpose of a loan application and carries no financial obligation on the part of the company.
For [Company name]
[Name]
[Designation]
(Company seal)
Free, no signup, no email needed. Everything you type stays in this browser — the document is built on your device and nothing is sent to us.
Key takeaways
- →A salary certificate is not one template. A lender wants net pay and your deductions; a consulate wants gross and the joining date; a landlord wants one figure.
- →Stating CTC where net was wanted is the commonest error, and it means a reissue.
- →Ask for it while you are still employed. A certificate asserts that you ARE employed, so a former employer issues an experience letter instead.
- →An addressed certificate is accepted more readily than “To Whomsoever It May Concern”. Get the recipient's details before you ask HR.
- →No central statute obliges an employer to issue one — but a wage slip is an obligation, and a service certificate is an entitlement where standing orders apply.
- →If it does not arrive, three months of payslips plus bank statements plus Form 16 is a bundle you can assemble yourself, and for many lenders it is enough.
- →Never issue one yourself on an employer's letterhead. Lenders and consulates verify the signatory with the company.
What each recipient actually needs
Almost every page about salary certificates presents one template with the addressee swapped. That is why so many certificates get sent back. The four recipients are testing four different things, and the document has to answer the question being asked.
| Purpose | What they are testing | Figures to state | Also ask for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home or personal loan | Whether you can service the repayment out of what actually reaches you. | Gross monthly, net monthly, gross annual. | The monthly deductions itemised, so existing commitments are visible. |
| Visa application | Whether the employment is real, current and continuing — and whether you are expected back. | Gross monthly and annual, with the joining date prominent. | Approved leave dates, where your travel falls during them. |
| Rental agreement | Whether you can pay the rent. Nothing more. | Net monthly only. | Nothing. The narrowest version is the right one here. |
| Credit card | Annual income, for scoring, plus confirmation of employment. | Gross annual, gross monthly, net monthly. | Nothing further. |
| Background verification | That you worked there, in what role and when. Income is often not wanted at all. | None — ask for an employment verification letter instead. | The narrower letter discloses less and is quicker to get. |
The takeaway: the last row is the one that saves time. If you have been asked to verify employment rather than income, ask HR for the narrower letter — it is faster to obtain and it tells the recipient nothing they did not ask for.
The four specimens, line by line
This is what the generator above produces for each purpose. The differences are small and they are the whole point — each version asserts what that recipient is actually testing and leaves out what it is not.
| Version | Opening assertion | Figures stated | Closing line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank or housing loan | Employed on a permanent basis. | Gross monthly, net monthly, gross annual, plus deductions itemised. | Salary credited monthly to a bank account; no financial obligation on the company. |
| Visa application | In the permanent employment of the company. | Gross monthly and gross annual, with the joining date prominent. | Leave approved for stated dates and the employee expected to resume — or that the employment is continuing. |
| Rental agreement | Employed with the company. | Net monthly only. | Issued for the purpose of a residential tenancy. |
| Credit card | Employed on a permanent basis. | Gross annual, gross monthly, net monthly. | Salary credited monthly; issued for a credit card application. |
| The request email | Not a certificate — the message that asks for one. | States which figures you need HR to certify. | Asks how long it usually takes, rather than announcing a deadline. |
The takeaway: none of the five says anything about conduct, performance or how valued you are. Those sentences are discretionary, cannot be verified, and are not what any of these recipients is reading for — and asking for one gives HR a reason to think about the request rather than process it.
On a ₹12,00,000 CTC with a conventional structure, per month. Each bar is a real figure that somebody will ask you for — and asking for the wrong one, or stating it, is how an application stalls.
The takeaway: the gap between the top bar and the bottom one is ₹8,123 a month on this structure, and both are true statements about the same job. When somebody asks what you earn, the useful question back is which of these four they mean — and when you fill in an application, use the figure the form actually asks for rather than the most flattering one, because every verifier reconciles it against a document. Work out all four for your own salary.
View the figures as a table
| Figure | Per month | Per year | Asked for by | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CTC | ₹1,00,000 | ₹12,00,000 | Your employer, and recruiters | Includes employer-side costs that are never paid to you as salary. Appears on an offer letter, almost never on a payslip. |
| Gross salary | ₹95,077 | ₹11,40,923 | Visa offices, salary certificates | Your salary components only. This is the figure a salary certificate normally states. |
| Taxable income | ₹88,827 | ₹10,65,923 | The Income Tax Department | Gross less the standard deduction and any exemptions. What Form 16 reports. |
| Net / in-hand | ₹91,877 | ₹11,02,523 | Lenders, landlords, you | What is credited to your bank account. The figure a lender services a loan out of. |
Salary certificate, payslip, Form 16, experience letter
| Document | Period | Who produces it | What it proves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salary certificate | Your current employment, as a standing fact | HR, on request, on letterhead | That you are employed and what you are paid. An assertion written for a third party. |
| Salary slip | One month | Payroll, automatically | What you were paid and deducted that month, line by line. A record rather than an assertion. |
| Form 16 (Form 130) | A financial year | Your employer's TDS return | Salary paid and tax deducted and deposited. A tax document, not a pay document. |
| Employment verification letter | Current employment | HR, on request | That you work there, in what role, since when. No money mentioned. |
| Experience letter | A past employment | A former employer | That you worked there, for how long, in what role. What replaces a salary certificate once you have left. |
| Bank statement | Any period | Your bank | That the money actually arrived. What every other document is reconciled against. |
The takeaway: the bank statement is the document everything else is checked against, and it is the one you can always get. A certificate whose net figure does not match your salary credits will cause more trouble than no certificate at all.
Typical requirements in India. Individual lenders, consulates and employers vary, so treat this as what to have ready rather than a checklist anyone has published.
- Usually required
- Sometimes asked for
- Not normally wanted
The takeaway:the relieving letter is the outlier. It matters almost exclusively to your next employer's background check and to nobody else — which is why its absence feels catastrophic when you are job-hunting and irrelevant when you are not. Payslips and a bank statement, meanwhile, are wanted by everybody and are the two you can collect yourself without asking anyone's permission. Download them monthly while you still have portal access. Everything to collect before you leave.
View the grid as a table
| Purpose | Payslips | Bank statement | Salary certificate | Form 16 / Form 130 | Experience letter | Relieving letter | Offer / appointment letter |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New employer's background check | Required | — | Sometimes | Sometimes | Required | Required | Required |
| Home or personal loan | Required | Required | Required | Required | — | — | Sometimes |
| Visa application | Required | Required | Required | Sometimes | Sometimes | — | Sometimes |
| Rental agreement | Sometimes | Sometimes | Required | — | — | — | Sometimes |
| Credit card | Required | Required | Sometimes | — | — | — | — |
How to ask HR, so it comes back right the first time
HR teams issue these in batches. A request containing everything needed gets into the next batch; one that raises a question starts a conversation first, and the conversation is where the fortnight goes.
- 1
Work out which figure the recipient actually needs
A lender services debt out of net pay and wants the deductions itemised. A consulate is confirming the employment is real and continuing, so the joining date and gross matter more. A landlord wants one credible monthly figure. Asking HR for the wrong one is the commonest reason a certificate comes back and has to be reissued.
- 2
Get the recipient's name and address, if there is one
An addressed certificate is accepted more readily than a generic "To Whomsoever It May Concern". Ask the bank or the consulate who it should be addressed to before you ask HR, so the request only has to be made once.
- 3
Send one email with everything in it
Your employee ID, designation, date of joining, the purpose, the recipient, the figures you need stated, and a personal email address to send it to. The generator on this page produces exactly that email. HR teams issue these in batches, and a request that needs no follow-up questions gets into the next batch.
- 4
Ask how long it will take, rather than when you need it
Both are useful, but the first gets an answer. A request saying "I need this by Friday" invites silence if Friday is impossible; one asking how long it usually takes gets you a date you can plan around and a person who now owns it.
- 5
Check it before you submit it
Read the figures against your own payslip, and check that the net is lower than the gross, that the joining date matches your appointment letter, and that your designation matches what your EPF record shows. A certificate that contradicts another document you have submitted is worse than a late one.
- 6
If HR does not respond, escalate once and then work around it
Follow up on the same thread after about a week, then escalate to the HR head with the original attached. In parallel, assemble what most verifiers will accept instead: three months of payslips plus bank statements showing the credits, and Form 16 for the annual figure. For many lenders that bundle is sufficient on its own.
Who signs it, and what makes it credible
A certificate is credible because somebody identifiable stands behind it, not because of its formatting. What a verifier is looking for is genuine letterhead, a named signatory with a designation that plausibly carries the authority to sign, and a way to reach them.
That has a practical consequence. A sealed, elaborately formatted letter signed “for Meridian Technologies” with no name is weaker than a plain one signed by a named HR head with a phone number — because the first cannot be verified and the second can.
| Element | Why it matters | What goes wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Company letterhead | Establishes the issuer. A verifier matches the registered name against records. | Brand name used instead of registered name, which looks like a mismatch. |
| Named signatory with designation | Gives the verifier someone to contact. Many lenders call. | Signed “for the company” with no name, which cannot be verified. |
| Date of issue | Certificates go stale. Most recipients want one issued recently. | An undated certificate, or one several months old. |
| The purpose stated | Shows the certificate was issued for this use rather than recycled. | A generic certificate submitted to four places, which recipients notice. |
| Company seal | Convention in India. Its absence is a question you then have to answer. | Nothing much — but include it, because explaining its absence costs more than adding it. |
| Figures that reconcile | Everything is checked against payslips, Form 16 and bank credits. | Net higher than gross, or a figure that does not match the salary credit. The most damaging error there is. |
The takeaway: the last row is the only one that is genuinely dangerous. A missing seal is a question; figures that contradict another document you submitted is a credibility problem. Read your own documents against each other before you hand them over.
If HR refuses or stalls
Start by being clear about the footing. There is no central statute that names a salary certificate or obliges an employer to issue one — it rests on contract, policy and practice, in the same way a relieving letter does. Two adjacent things are firmer, and both are more useful than arguing: a wage slip for each wage period is an obligation under the Code on Wages framework, and a service certificate is a genuine entitlement within 10 days of leaving where standing orders apply.
So the productive move when a certificate is refused is usually to stop asking for it and ask for what you are entitled to instead, while assembling the substitutes in parallel.
The substitute bundle
- ·Three months of payslips, which you can download yourself.
- ·Bank statements showing the salary credits for the same months.
- ·Form 16 for the annual figure.
- ·Your appointment letter for the designation and joining date.
- ·Your EPF passbook, which proves the employer and the period independently.
For many lenders this is sufficient on its own, and it reconciles against itself — which is more than a letter does.
What not to do
- ·Produce one yourself on company letterhead. Lenders and consulates verify the signatory.
- ·Wait silently and then explain the gap at the last moment.
- ·Submit a certificate whose figures you have not checked against your payslips.
- ·Escalate to a formal complaint over a document with no statutory footing — spend the energy on the substitutes.
- ·Ask for a salary certificate after you have left. Ask for an experience letter instead.
Frequently asked questions
What is a salary certificate?
What should a salary certificate contain?
Which salary figure should the certificate state?
Is my employer legally required to give me a salary certificate?
What is the difference between a salary certificate and a salary slip?
Can I get a salary certificate after leaving the company?
How long does HR take to issue a salary certificate?
What should I do if HR refuses or keeps delaying?
Should the certificate be addressed to someone, or say 'To Whomsoever It May Concern'?
Does the certificate need a company seal?
What do banks actually check on a salary certificate?
Can I make my own salary certificate?
Is an employment verification letter the same thing?
Next
What to do next
- 1
Find out who the certificate should be addressed to
Ask the bank branch or the consulate first. An addressed certificate is accepted more readily, and knowing the recipient means asking HR once rather than twice.
- 2
Check the figures against your own payslip before you submit
Net below gross, joining date matching your appointment letter, designation matching your EPF record. A document that contradicts another one is the expensive error.
How to read your payslip - 3
If you are about to leave, get it now
A salary certificate asserts that you are employed. Once you have left, what you can get is an experience letter instead.
The experience letter page
Related tools
Sources for the figures on this page
Where the duty to issue a wage slip now comes from — the Payment of Wages Act 1936, which most guidance still cites, is repealed
Code on Wages 2019, s.69(1): "The Payment of Wages Act, 1936 (4 of 1936), the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (11 of 1948), the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 (21 of 1965) and the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 (25 of 1976) are hereby repealed." s.69(2) preserves things done under the repealed Acts only so far as they are not contrary to the Code. The Code came into force on 21 November 2025, and the Code on Wages (Central) Rules, 2026 were notified by G.S.R. 343(E) dated 8 May 2026. SOURCING NOTE: the section text is from an officially-reproduced bare-act copy rather than the gazette, consistent with how the other Code sections are cited in this file; the specific rule and form number prescribing the wage slip were NOT verified in this pass and are deliberately not stated here.
View sourceChecked 2026-10-14
Days within which a service certificate must be issued, where the Model Standing Orders apply
Model Standing Orders, 2026 (S.O. 2312(E), 8 May 2026), made under s.29(1) of the Industrial Relations Code 2020, para "Service record" (14(1)(ii) in Schedule A; identical in Schedules B and C) — every worker is entitled to a service certificate "specifying the nature of work, designation and the period of employment (months, years)", issued within ten days of discharge, termination, retirement or resignation. TWO LIMITS: (1) standing orders apply to industrial establishments that employed three hundred or more workers on any day in the preceding twelve months (IR Code s.28(1)); (2) the entitlement is a "worker's", and under IR Code s.2(zr) that excludes a person employed mainly in a managerial or administrative capacity and a supervisor drawing wages above ₹18,000 a month. Outside those limits a service certificate is a matter of contract and company policy.
View sourceChecked 2026-09-14
Is there a central statutory right to a relieving letter in India?
No central statute names a 'relieving letter' or obliges an employer to issue one. The nearest statutory instrument is the service certificate under the Model Standing Orders 2026, which applies only to establishments covered by standing orders, and a service certificate is a narrower document. Everything else — the relieving letter, the experience letter, the no-dues certificate — comes from the employment contract, the employer's policy, and market practice. That is why the practical routes on these pages are contractual and evidentiary rather than a claim under a named section.
View sourceChecked 2026-09-01
What changed
14 October 2026 — first published. The page states plainly that no central statute names a salary certificate or obliges an employer to issue one, and points instead at the two adjacent obligations that are real: the wage slip under the Code on Wages framework, which replaced the Payment of Wages Act 1936 when the labour codes commenced on 21 November 2025, and the service certificate within 10 days where standing orders apply.
Written and reviewed by Deepak Middha, Chartered Accountant (ICAI, India) and founder of LayoffNext.
Founder of LayoffNext. Chartered Accountant and finance educator who builds free tools for people navigating layoffs.