If you have won your first federal construction job, congratulations, and brace yourself for a new weekly chore. Certified payroll is the report that proves you paid your crew the right rate, and it is not optional on jobs that touch federal money. Get it wrong or late and the checks stop coming.
The good news is that once you understand the pieces, it becomes routine. This guide explains what the report is, how the Act and the wage rules drive it, how to fill it out line by line, and how to stay compliant so your project keeps moving.
Certified payroll is a weekly payroll report that contractors and subcontractors submit on federally funded construction projects to prove they paid the required wages.
A normal payroll run tracks what you owe your workers. This report does that and adds a sworn promise: a signed statement that every laborer and mechanic was paid at least the legal rate for the work performed. That promise is what makes it "certified." The standard form is the WH-347, issued by the U.S. Department of Labor. You complete one each week your people are on site, and you submit it to the agency that holds the contract. Skip a week and you fall out of compliance, even if no work happened, because a "no work" report is still due.
The whole system runs on one 1931 law, the Davis-Bacon Act, which sets a pay floor on federal building work.
The Act requires that on federal construction contracts over $2,000, every laborer and mechanic be paid no less than the local prevailing rate for their type of work. The Davis-Bacon and Related Acts extend the same rule to federally assisted construction, projects funded by the federal government indirectly through grants and loans, which is why so many state and local public works projects use these labor standards too. You will also see the law written as Davis Bacon without the hyphen. The rate itself is not a number you guess. The Labor Department publishes a wage determination for each area and job classification, listing a basic hourly rate plus a benefit rate. Together those set the prevailing wage rate you are required to pay, and you must pay prevailing rates that satisfy the prevailing wage requirements for every trade. Contracts subject to these rules carry the determination as an attachment, so the rates are fixed before you swing a hammer. Some work also falls under the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act, where overtime may be required on top.
Both the prime contractor and every subcontractor on the job carry their own reporting duty.
If you are working on federally funded projects, you are required to submit a report for your own workers every week. The prime contractor has an extra job, collecting the reports from each sub and passing the whole package to the contracting agency. That makes the prime responsible for everyone's paperwork, so a sub that falls behind becomes the prime's problem fast. Contractors working on federally funded jobs cannot opt out, and federally funded projects must use classified employees, which is why independent contractors generally cannot appear on the report at all. When a firm does hire a 1099 worker for covered tasks, it notes that no payroll taxes or tax withholdings were deducted from their pay.
Form WH-347 is the standard certified payroll form, and it has two parts that work together.
The first page is the report itself, a grid of every worker and what they earned that week. The second page is the Statement of Compliance, the signed page. Using the form is technically optional, since you may submit the same information another way, but almost everyone uses it because it matches what reviewers want to see. The DOL released an updated version in January 2025 that folded the old signature page into the main form, and the previous version is accepted through September 2026. Either way, the information required is the same.
The form looks busy, but it asks for things you already track. Here are the instructions for completing the main page without the usual headaches.
Start at the top with your business name and address, and check whether you are the prime or a sub. Add the payroll number, where the first week on site is payroll number one and each week counts up, with the final week marked FINAL. Fill in the week ending date, the project name and location, and the project number assigned to the job. The weekly payroll must list everyone who did covered work, so for each person complete a row across these fields:
The single most common mistake here is the wrong classification, so get the trade right for the work actually performed, the place where the work is performed, and the type of work involved. Every name must be listed, and the number of hours must match your time records exactly.
Page two is short, but it carries the legal weight, so it must be completed carefully.
The Statement of Compliance is your sworn certification, and it must be signed by the contractor or a company officer who actually knows the payroll. By signing, you confirm the records are accurate, that everyone must be paid the required prevailing wage including fringe benefits, that no improper deductions were taken, and that any apprentices are registered in a real apprenticeship program. You check the box that shows how the benefit was handled, paid into approved plans or as cash, then enter the name and title of the signer. This is not a formality. Willful falsification can bring civil or criminal penalties and debarment from future federal work, so whoever signs must vouch for every number.
Fringe pay trips people up because it is part of the rate, not a bonus on top of it.
The required rate is the basic hourly figure plus the fringe rate from the determination. You can meet that piece by paying into bona fide plans, by paying the amount in cash, or by mixing the two. What you cannot do is ignore it. If the determination lists wages and fringe benefits and you pay only the base, you have underpaid, even if your cash rate looks generous. The fringe benefit rates sit right beside the base rates, so check both every time.
This is a weekly habit, and the deadline is tight. Treat it like the recurring task it is.
You submit weekly, within seven days of the regular pay date, on a weekly basis even when a crew sat idle. The DOL and the contracting agency review every submission and enforce the rules, and failure to submit reports on time is one of the fastest ways to trigger trouble. The consequences are real, from withheld payments and overdue pay to contract termination and, in serious cases, debarment for up to three years. The wages paid to each worker, reported on certified payroll, are the record they check, so keeping clean payroll records is your best defense if anyone ever asks you to verify what you filed.
This work sits at the messy intersection of payroll, labor law, and project deadlines, which is exactly where outside support pays off.
Running these jobs means juggling wage determinations, multiple trades, benefit calculations, and a weekly filing clock, all while the actual construction demands your attention. A single wrong trade can echo across weeks of reports. This is detailed, repeatable work that a partner can own. Madras Accountancy supports U.S. CPA firms and their clients with payroll and compliance reporting, from preparing the form to reconciling certified payroll records against the wage determination. For firms serving builders, pairing that with solid construction accounting keeps both the books and the filings clean, and steady process is what prevents the everyday payroll mistakes that snowball on federal jobs.
Done right, this fades into the background of a project. Done carelessly, it is the thing that holds up your money.
It is the weekly report that contractors and subcontractors must submit on federal construction projects under federal labor law. It lists each worker's role, hours, and pay, and includes a signed compliance statement confirming that everyone received at least the required prevailing wage.
The WH-347 certified payroll form is the Department of Labor's standard. Page one records each worker's wages, hours, and deductions, and page two is the compliance statement. Using the form is optional, but filing the weekly payroll information is mandatory on covered federal projects.
Every contractor and subcontractor performing work subject to the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts submits weekly for its own employees. The prime contractor also gathers each sub's reports and transmits the full set to the contracting agency, which makes the prime responsible for the whole job's compliance.
Weekly. You file within seven days of each regular pay date, and you file even during weeks when no work was performed, using a "no work" report. The schedule does not pause, which is why contractors set up a routine for it from day one of a project.
It is the basic hourly rate plus a fringe amount the Department sets for each job classification in an area. The figure is published in a wage determination attached to your contract, and you must pay at least that combined Davis-Bacon prevailing wage to every covered laborer and mechanic.
Yes. You can meet the fringe portion by contributing to bona fide plans, paying the worker that value in cash, or combining both. You check a box on that statement to show which method you used.
Late or missing reports can lead to withheld payments, back wages, and even contract termination. Repeated or willful violations can bring debarment from future federal projects and, for falsified records, criminal penalties. Filing accurately and on time avoids all of it.
Apprentices can be paid less than the full journeyman rate, but only if they are individually registered in an approved apprenticeship program and the required ratios are met. You report them with their trade and registered rate, registered in the program before the work begins.
This is general information about certified payroll and Davis-Bacon requirements, not legal or compliance advice for a specific contract. Forms, wage determinations, and rules change, so confirm the current details with the Department of Labor or a qualified professional before you submit.
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