A voucher check is a paper check with one or two detachable stubs attached to it, and the stubs spell out what the payment is for. The check itself works like any other: it tells the bank to pay a specific amount to a named recipient. What sets a voucher check apart is the remittance information printed alongside it, which travels with the payment so the recipient knows exactly which invoices, wages, or obligations the check covers. Businesses use the format for vendor payments, contractor payments, and payroll because it creates a built-in paper trail: one stub goes to the payee, the other stays in the company’s files.
How a Voucher Check Is Laid Out
A voucher check is printed on a standard 8½-by-11-inch sheet divided into three panels by perforated lines. The check portion, roughly 8½ by 3½ inches, sits at the top, middle, or bottom of the page depending on the format. The other two panels are the voucher stubs. Once the check is signed, whoever handles distribution tears the sheet along the perforations so each panel can go where it needs to.
The check itself carries the usual elements: the payor’s name and bank details, the payee’s name, the amount in numbers and words, the date, and an authorized signature. Along the bottom edge runs the MICR line, a string of numbers printed in magnetic ink that encodes the routing number, account number, and check number. Federal banking regulations treat a check without a valid MICR line as a “noncash item,” which banks may refuse to process through normal clearing channels.1eCFR. 12 CFR 229.2 – Definitions The MICR line has to conform to technical standards so automated sorting equipment can read it.2X9 Inc. Standards Advisory – Magnetic Ink Still Required on Checks
Two physical formats dominate. Laser voucher checks are individual sheets designed to feed through a desktop printer, and accounting software prints the check and stub fields in a single pass. Manual voucher checks come bound in a checkbook, with the stubs staying attached to the spine after the check is torn out. The laser format is far more common now because it integrates with accounting systems that populate the fields automatically.
What the Stubs Actually Show
Vendor and Contractor Payments
For a payment to a vendor or contractor, the stub typically lists the invoice number, a description of the goods or services purchased, the date the work was done or the goods delivered, and the gross amount before any adjustments. If the business is taking an early-payment discount or withholding retainage, the stub itemizes those deductions. The recipient can reconcile the check against the invoice without having to call and ask why the numbers don’t match.
Payroll Payments
Payroll voucher stubs carry more detail because of tax reporting. The stub shows gross wages followed by line-by-line deductions for Social Security, Medicare, federal income tax withholding, and any applicable state or local taxes. The net figure printed on the check matches what remains after all those subtractions.
Federal law does not itself require pay stubs. The Fair Labor Standards Act only requires employers to keep accurate records of hours worked and wages paid.3U.S. Department of Labor. Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor – Are Pay Stubs Required Most states, however, have their own laws requiring a written or electronic wage statement with each paycheck, and the voucher stub on a payroll check satisfies that requirement by traveling with the payment.
Why Businesses Use Them
The stubs serve two audiences. For the recipient, the stub is remittance advice: a clear statement of which invoices or obligations the payment covers. The recipient files the stub with the corresponding invoice and closes out the transaction in their records.
For the business writing the check, the retained stub is a permanent record of the expenditure tied directly to the payment. It supports internal audits, bank reconciliations, and tax preparation. The IRS expects businesses to keep supporting documents that identify the payee, the amount paid, the date, and a description of the purchase or service.4Internal Revenue Service. What Kind of Records Should I Keep A completed voucher stub captures all of those details on a single document, which makes it straightforward to substantiate a deduction if the IRS asks for proof.
How a Voucher Check Gets Issued
Most businesses issue voucher checks through accounting software: QuickBooks, Sage, Xero, or enterprise platforms like NetSuite and Microsoft Dynamics. The software pulls data from the accounts payable module — payee name, invoice numbers, amounts, discount terms — and populates the check and both stubs in one operation. The user loads blank voucher check stock into the printer, and the software prints everything together. This cuts down on data-entry errors and keeps the stub details aligned with the payment.
After printing, an authorized signer reviews the check and signs it. The three sections are separated along the perforations. One stub goes into the company’s files. The check and the remaining stub are mailed to the payee, often in a window envelope so the address shows through, or handed over directly. Filing the retained stub right away rather than letting a stack build up keeps the audit trail intact and simplifies month-end reconciliation.
Voiding a Voucher Check
When a voucher check has an error or is no longer needed, void it rather than destroy it. Write “VOID” in large letters across the face of the check so nobody can cash it, but keep the physical document. Record the void in your accounting software or check register with the check number, date, payee, and amount so the gap in the check sequence is accounted for. The combination of the marked check and the register entry preserves the audit trail and shows that no payment was made on that number.
If the voided check was replacing a payment that still needs to go out, issue a new check with a new number and link the replacement to the original voided entry in your records. That prevents duplicate payments and keeps the numbering clean for reconciliation.
Security Features and Fraud Prevention
Paper checks are a common fraud target, and voucher checks are no exception. Modern check stock typically includes several physical security features:
- Watermarks embedded in the paper that are visible against light but do not reproduce on a copier or scanner.
- Microprinting: tiny text that looks like a solid line to the naked eye but is legible under magnification. Photocopiers turn microprinting into blurry dots, exposing a copy as a fake.5Bureau of the Fiscal Service. U.S. Treasury Check Security Features
- Chemically reactive paper that stains or discolors when someone tries to wash the ink off with solvents.
- Security tinting — colored or patterned backgrounds behind the payee and amount fields that make erasures obvious.
Beyond the paper, many banks offer positive pay. The business sends the bank a daily file listing every check it issued: numbers, amounts, dates, and payee names. When a check arrives for payment, the bank compares it against that list, and any check that doesn’t match gets flagged and held until the business confirms whether to pay or reject it.6FDIC. Check Fraud – A Guide to Avoiding Losses Positive pay is one of the strongest defenses against forged or altered checks because even a good counterfeit fails the match.
How Long to Keep the Stubs
Voucher stubs are part of the financial records businesses must keep to satisfy federal requirements. Two separate retention periods apply depending on how the record is used:
- Tax records: the IRS generally requires records supporting income, deductions, and credits for at least three years after filing the return. If income is underreported by more than 25%, the period extends to six years. Employment tax records — including payroll voucher stubs — must be kept at least four years after the tax is due or paid, whichever is later.7Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records
- Payroll records: under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employers must preserve payroll records for at least three years, and supporting wage computation records such as time cards for at least two years.8U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 21 – Recordkeeping Requirements Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
Because the IRS employment tax requirement of four years runs longer than the FLSA payroll requirement of three, a practical rule is to keep payroll-related voucher stubs at least four years. For vendor payment stubs used to support expense deductions, three years after the related tax return is the baseline, and keeping them longer is sensible if there’s any chance of an underreported income question.
Where Voucher Checks Stand Today
Paper check use has dropped hard. In 2024, Federal Reserve Banks processed nearly 3 billion commercial checks, about half the volume they handled a decade earlier.9Federal Register. Request for Information and Comment on the Future of the Federal Reserve Banks Check Services ACH transfers and wire payments have absorbed most of the lost volume. Voucher checks still see use where a business or vendor cannot handle electronic payments, or where the built-in documentation on the stub is preferable to a separate email remittance that can be lost or deleted.
The Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act (Check 21) has also changed how paper checks travel through the banking system. Banks can photograph the front and back of a check, transmit the image electronically, and create a “substitute check” — a paper reproduction that is the legal equivalent of the original — if any bank in the chain still needs a physical copy.10Federal Reserve Board. Frequently Asked Questions About Check 21 The original voucher check you mail may be imaged and destroyed early in clearing, which makes the stubs you retain in-house your primary evidence of what was paid and why.