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50 free Payroll trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
42 free payroll trivia questions with answers. This payroll trivia quiz is written for payroll and HR teams, National Payroll Week events, office quiz nights and anyone curious about where a paycheck's numbers come from. It covers the mechanics (gross versus net, FICA rates, W-2 and W-4 forms, pay frequencies, garnishment limits, FUTA), the history (the 1938 minimum wage, withholding in 1943, the first Social Security number and first monthly benefit check, the Bundy time clock) and the industry (ADP, Paychex, PAYE in the UK). A few questions wander further afield: why 'salary' comes from salt, how company scrip trapped coal miners, and which country funds a third of its budget from payroll tax. Difficulty runs from things every employee half-knows to details only a payroll professional will get. Every answer was checked against a reference page and each question carries the sentence that supports it.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Per US survey figures on the Wikipedia payroll page, which pay frequency do about 46% of employers use?
Biweekly
That means 26 pay periods a year. Weekly is next at about 32%, semi-monthly 18% and monthly under 5%.
Q 02How many pay periods does a semi-monthly payroll produce in a year?
24
Two pay dates per month. Biweekly produces 26, which is why some months have three paydays.
Q 03What is the term for an employee's total earnings before any taxes or deductions are taken out?
Gross pay
For hourly workers it is simply the rate multiplied by regular hours, before overtime and deductions.
Q 04FICA payroll taxes fund which two federal programs?
Social Security and Medicare
The Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax is paid by both employees and employers and sits in Chapter 21 of the tax code.
Q 05Since 1990, the employee's Social Security share of FICA has been what percentage of pay?
6.2%
The employer matches it. It applies only up to the Social Security Wage Base, which rises each year with average national wages.
Q 06The employee's Medicare portion of FICA is 1.45% of wages, applied up to what limit?
Every dollar, no cap
Unlike the Social Security portion, every dollar of wages is subject to the Medicare tax.
Q 07By what date each year must US employers get Form W-2 to their employees?
January 31
The 'Wage and Tax Statement' reports wages paid and federal taxes withheld, giving workers time before the April 15 filing deadline.
Q 08Which IRS form does a new employee fill out to tell the employer how much tax to withhold?
W-4
Its official title is the Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate; historically, more allowances meant less withholding.
Q 09Until 2025, a business had to file a Form 1099 for contractors paid over what in a year?
$600
The $600 threshold dated from 1954; for payments made after 2025 it rose to $2,000, indexed to inflation. The forms also cover rent, interest, dividends and other non-wage income.
Q 10The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 requires overtime pay after how many hours a week?
40
The same law created the federal minimum wage and banned 'oppressive child labor'.
Q 11The first US federal minimum wage, set in 1938, was how much per hour?
25 cents
About $5.72 in 2025 money. Large parts of the workforce were exempt, and the rate was obsolete by the end of World War II.
Q 12The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour since which year?
2009
The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 phased in the increase over three steps.
Q 13What is the federal direct cash wage per hour for tipped employees?
$2.13
The figure has been frozen since 1991; the employer must make up any shortfall.
Q 14In which year did the Current Tax Payment Act reintroduce US income tax withholding from paychecks?
Q 21Section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code was enacted as part of the Revenue Act of which year?
1978
Benefits consultant Ted Benna was among the first to build a plan on it, at his own employer, the Johnson Companies.
Q 22The company now known as ADP was founded in 1949 by Henry Taub under what name?
Automatic Payrolls, Inc.
It began as a manual payroll bureau in New Jersey, added punched cards in 1957 and became Automatic Data Processing the next year.
Q 23Where is ADP headquartered?
Roseland, New Jersey
The company operates in more than 140 countries. Rochester is Paychex's home; Pleasanton is Workday's.
1943
Withholding had first appeared in the 1913 Tariff Act and been repealed in 1916. Wartime revenue needs brought it back.
Q 15The Social Security Act was signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 14 of which year?
1935
Labor Secretary Frances Perkins led the committee that drafted it. It also created unemployment insurance and Aid to Dependent Children.
Q 16Social Security numbers were first issued in which month and year?
November 1936
More than 1,000 post offices were designated 'typing centers' to produce the cards, which were then sent to Washington.
Q 17How much was the first recurring monthly Social Security check, issued in 1940 to Ida May Fuller?
$22.54
She had paid in for just three years, lived to 100, and collected about $22,000 in benefits.
Q 18Medicare, funded partly through payroll tax, began in which year?
1965
It started under the Social Security Administration and is run by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Q 19The Sixteenth Amendment, allowing a federal income tax, was ratified on February 3 of which year?
1913
Congress imposed the tax almost immediately with the Revenue Act of 1913, sponsored by Oscar Underwood.
Q 20The office that became the IRS was created in 1862 to collect an income tax funding what?
The Civil War
The Office of Commissioner of Internal Revenue assessed the nation's first income tax; the commissioner still serves a five-year term.
Q 24Paychex was founded in 1971 by Tom Golisano with how much starting capital?
$3,000
The Rochester, New York company now serves roughly 800,000 payroll clients in the US and Europe.
Q 25The UK's PAYE system of collecting income tax through payroll was introduced in which year?
1944
Devised by Sir Paul Chambers after trials in 1940-41, its wartime origins still shape how it works.
Q 26The word 'salary' derives from the Latin salarium, which is itself derived from the word for what?
Salt
The popular story that Roman soldiers were paid in salt is doubtful; they were paid in coin, though salt allowances may have been part of it.
Q 27Willard Bundy, who invented an early time clock in 1888, worked as what?
A jeweler
His brother Harlow set up Bundy Manufacturing to mass-produce them; the business was folded into International Time Recording in 1900, an ancestor of IBM.
Q 28In which country's English is a time clock commonly called a 'bundy clock'?
Australia
The name comes from brothers Willard and Harlow Bundy. 'Bundy on' and 'bundy off' mean clocking in and out.
Q 29US law generally caps ordinary wage garnishment at what share of weekly disposable earnings?
25%
Or the amount by which weekly pay exceeds 30 times the federal minimum wage, whichever is lower. Child support and student loans have different limits.
Q 30The federal unemployment tax (FUTA) applies only to the first how much of each worker's annual earnings?
$7,000
Once a worker passes that figure, the employer owes no more FUTA for them that year. The base rate is 6.0%, before state credits.