What is a certified payroll report? Who has to file one? And when? Those are the questions I hear most from contractors who are new to government work.
A Certified Payroll Report, or CPR, is a payroll report the law requires. You mostly need one when you work on government funded contracts, and it's not something to treat like any other payroll report. Below I'll walk through why CPRs exist, how to fill one out, and when to file.
What Is a Certified Payroll Report?
The Davis-Bacon Act was first passed in 1931 and has been amended a number of times since. It says contractors on federally funded government contracts have to pay what's called "local prevailing wages." In other words, every wage earner working on that contract has to be paid the average wage for that occupation in the local area.
The certified payroll report shows each worker's trade and what they were paid on the job for that week. It also tells the agency or general contractor that each worker got the right hourly and benefit rates for their trade. In the end it works like an "invoice" the contractor uses to get back the wages and benefits paid to the workers.
When a CPR goes in late or wrong, the contractor usually waits longer for the money needed to pay union or prevailing wage employees. On top of that, contractors who don't file certified payroll reports correctly and on time can face serious penalties.
Are Certified Payroll Reports Only Required on Federal Contracts?
No. Whether your contract is federal, state, or with a local municipality, you may have to file a certified payroll report every week. The form you use and the information you have to include can vary. The requirement has legal precedent at the federal level.
When Does a Contractor Have to Submit a Certified Payroll Report?
Federally funded projects, like those under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), require certified payroll every week. The standard form is the Certified Payroll Report Form WH-347. DOL revised it in January 2025 (Rev. January 2025), with the Statement of Compliance built into page 2 and new fields for fringe benefits and apprentices. I break down the new version in my WH-347 guide. Contractors doing state or city funded work have to fill out a different form, and it asks for different or extra information, like the union local number and reporting on bona fide fringe benefits.
Which Form Do You Need for a Certified Payroll Report?
You need to be able to calculate union benefits (or prevailing wages and fringe benefits for non-union labor) and job costing. Beyond that, any sub or general contractor needs to know if the job's contract calls for a weekly certified payroll report. Federal contracts always require one. But plenty of states, cities, local municipalities, and even individual departments or agencies within them require them too.
You'll also run into different formats and forms from one agency or location to the next. Any federal project that needs a certified payroll report will normally use the federal WH-347 as the standard form. Outside of that, a lot of cities and municipalities have their own format that looks like the WH-347 but isn't the same.
Take the New York City Office of the Comptroller. It requires a different format for each city agency (Port Authority, Hospital and Dormitory Authority, and others). It also wants electronic versions, where the same data on the PDF report has to be formatted by the contractor so it can be uploaded into different software portals (LCMS, E-MARS). The NYC Comptroller form is a great example of how two certified payroll forms can serve the same purpose but differ enough that you need to be careful filling them out. Sometimes the report you're asked for is one of a kind because the general contractor fully customized it.
If no format is specified, you can usually use the federal WH-347 instead. If there is a specific format, you can often find a sample on the authority's website or in an appendix to the contract.
How Do You Calculate Hours and Benefits on a Certified Payroll Report?
Don't expect much help from the contracting agency on calculating hours and benefits. Contractors and subs who have to file certified payroll reports need their own in-house manual system. Or you can hire an outside provider or payroll service to make sure hours, wages, and union benefits (if they apply) are right.
Most important, whatever system you use, or whatever provider you hire, has to know how to calculate and fill out certified payroll reports in multiple formats.
Putting a Certified Payroll Report Together
Building certified payroll reports can be slow and tedious, especially when union benefits have to be on the report. Non-union prevailing wage rates and fringe benefits can be tricky too. Accuracy matters more than anything else here. That means knowing what data is required, where it's stored and how to get to it, and how to enter it on the form correctly and in the right format.
What you need depends on the design of the specific form. It usually falls into three groups.
1. Job Information
This goes in the header of each report sheet:
- The name and location of the job
- The contractor's name and address, and maybe the phone number
- The job's contract number
- The job's sequence week number
2. Employee Information
You can pull this from each employee's personnel file:
- Name, address (sometimes), Social Security number (full or just the last 4 digits), marital status, and possibly gender and ethnicity (usually coded)
- Local union number, trade (laborer, etc.), and class (journeyperson, etc.)
3. Weekly Payroll and Benefit Information for Each Employee
You can usually get this from the payroll register showing what the worker was paid, plus the job costing and union reports:
- Hours per day (regular and overtime), total hours (regular and overtime), and the hourly rate paid (regular and overtime)
- Gross to net wages, usually just what was paid on this job
- Some reports want the job gross, then the gross to net paid for the whole week across all jobs
- Benefit rate per hour and total benefits paid
When a contractor uses non-union workers, those workers have to be paid the published prevailing wage for the trade they're working in (laborer, carpenter, etc.). That prevailing wage is the trade's hourly rate plus the benefit rate added together. That total becomes the hourly rate you pay the worker and report on the certified payroll form.
Last, the form has to be signed by a company official (and notarized if the agency requires it), then submitted, and then you wait to get paid and hope it was all right. If it comes back for a correction, you may not get paid until the report is fixed and sent in again.
With Certified Payroll, Accuracy and Speed Equal Money
"Time is money" is an old saying, but it's true, especially with certified payroll reports. The longer it takes your staff (or your provider) to pull, gather, calculate, and format the data, the longer it takes to submit the report and get reimbursed. Late or inaccurate reports put you at risk of big fines at the least, and at worst, possible jail time.
You can avoid those costs and risks by getting expert help. The payroll vendor or system you want is one built for the unique and complicated payroll rules contractors deal with. Payroll and benefit math is a balancing act. If your union benefit or prevailing wage calculations are off, that bad data spreads into your job costing and union benefit reporting, and your certified payroll reports end up wrong too.
Contractor payroll experts say the most accurate and fastest way to produce certified payroll reports is a "one step process." You enter or import each employee's payroll by day and job into the payroll system once. Then that same data is used to create certified payroll reports you can view as a PDF or export as a CSV file right after you submit final payroll.
Certified Payroll FAQs
Certified payroll can get complicated. Here are quick answers to the questions I get asked most.
Is certified payroll the same as prevailing wage?
No. Certified payroll is a type of payroll reporting required of companies working on contracts from the federal government, or from some state and local governments. Certified payroll reports are the document used to report and verify that certain classes of workers on the contract are being paid the local prevailing wage. The prevailing wage is the average pay for those jobs in the area where the work is done.
Does certified payroll have to be reported weekly?
Yes, though the rules can vary by location. On every federally funded project, certified payroll has to be reported weekly. Some states or cities that require certified payroll reports may use different reporting periods.
Why is certified payroll required?
Because the law requires it. The Davis-Bacon Act of 1931 was written to make sure contractors paid workers the local prevailing wage on federally funded contracts. It came about because private contractors were bringing in low wage workers on government funded projects, which was a form of wage discrimination and dragged local wages down. That problem got even worse with the Great Depression going on at the time. The law aimed to stop underpayment and keep contractors from using loopholes to avoid paying union wages.
Can I do certified payroll with my accounting or ERP software?
Contractors using accounting and ERP software like Sage, QuickBooks, Spectrum, Trimble Viewpoint, and Microsoft Dynamics can import certified payroll report data from a third party into their system so nobody has to enter it by hand.
This takes some upfront mapping of the payroll, union, and job cost data, with help from your payroll and union reporting software provider.
Are fringe benefits required on certified payroll?
Yes. This is especially true on state or local certified payroll where the worker classes are union. Your certified payroll reports have to account for every piece of the local prevailing wage. That often includes fringe benefits, which accounting software like QuickBooks may not handle.
Which certified payroll form do I need?
On federally funded projects, the standard form is the WH-347, which I covered above. For state or local certified payroll, you may need a different form. A lot of times the exact form is hard to find, and it's built into commonly used accounting tools. That's why companies turn to contractor focused payroll providers who know union payroll and certified payroll reporting. Late or wrong certified payroll reports can cost your company tens of thousands of dollars, and the penalties add up for repeat violations.
If you want help getting your certified payroll reports right, reach out here.