What is certified payroll?

Certified payroll is the weekly payroll report a contractor or subcontractor submits on a construction project covered by the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts (DBRA). It lists every laborer and mechanic who worked on the project that week, the work classification they performed, the hours they worked each day, what they were paid, what was deducted, and what they took home. It is "certified" because it comes with a signed Statement of Compliance in which someone at your company states, under penalty of law, that the information is correct and that each worker was paid at least the prevailing wage.

Who has to submit it

The Davis-Bacon contract clauses in 29 CFR 5.5(a) go into federal and federally assisted contracts in excess of $2,000 for the construction, alteration or repair of public buildings or public works. The certified payroll rule in 29 CFR 3.3 likewise does not apply to contracts of $2,000 or less.

If your contract or subcontract contains those clauses, you are covered, whether you are the prime contractor or a subcontractor at any tier. The prime contractor is responsible for making sure all subcontractors' payrolls get submitted. See certified payroll for subcontractors.

The people you report are "laborers and mechanics": workers whose duties are manual or physical, as opposed to mental or managerial. Under the contract clause, they must be paid "not less often than once a week" at no less than the rates in the wage determination attached to the contract.

How often

Weekly. The contract clause says the contractor or subcontractor "must submit weekly, for each week in which any DBA- or Related Acts-covered work is performed, certified payrolls." Under 29 CFR 3.4(a), each certified payroll is due within 7 days after the regular payment date of the payroll period.

Weeks with no covered work are a common question. The federal rule ties the obligation to weeks in which covered work is performed, but some agencies and prime contractors still ask for "no work" reports. See no work performed weeks.

Who receives it

You submit it to the federal agency if the agency is a party to the contract. If it is not (for example, on a federally assisted project run by a city or a housing authority), you submit it to the applicant, sponsor, owner or other entity that keeps the records, which then forwards it to the agency. Subcontractors normally send their reports through the prime contractor.

An agency or prime contractor may require an electronic system, but only if the system takes a legally valid electronic signature, keeps the payrolls available for at least 3 years after the prime contract work ends, and allows another way to submit for contractors who cannot use it.

What it has to contain

The weekly certified payroll must set out all the information you are required to keep in your regular payroll records under 29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(i)(B), with one big exception for privacy:

Required on the weekly report	Kept in your own records only
Worker name and an individual identifying number (for example, last 4 digits of the SSN)	Full Social Security number
Each classification of work actually performed	Last known address, phone and email
Hourly wage rates paid, including fringe benefit contributions or cash in lieu
Daily and weekly hours worked, in total and on each covered contract
Deductions made
Actual wages paid

The regulation is explicit that full Social Security numbers and last known addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses "must not be included on weekly transmittals." You must still keep them in your records and provide them if the agency or the Wage and Hour Division asks.

Form WH-347 is optional

The Department of Labor publishes Form WH-347, now in its Rev. January 2025 version (OMB No. 1235-0008, expires 01/31/2028). The regulation says the information "may be submitted using Optional Form WH-347 or in any other format desired." Many payroll systems print their own report and attach a Statement of Compliance with identical wording; many agencies run their own electronic portals.

Page 2 of the WH-347 is the Statement of Compliance. Under 29 CFR 3.3(b), the statement must be on the back of Form WH-347 or "on any form with identical wording." For what each box means, see Statement of Compliance explained. For a column-by-column walkthrough of the form, see how to fill out WH-347.

The signature

The Statement of Compliance must be signed by the contractor or subcontractor, or their agent who pays or supervises the payment of the workers. The signature must be an original handwritten signature or a legally valid electronic signature. The DOL instructions add that photocopies or scanned copies of signatures do not satisfy this requirement.

Falsifying the certification can lead to civil or criminal prosecution under 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 31 U.S.C. 3729, and to debarment from future federal contracts. That is printed on the form for a reason: the person who signs should actually know the facts.

How long to keep everything

Three different record sets share the same clock:

• Regular payrolls and basic records (with full SSNs and contact details): at least 3 years after all the work on the prime contract is completed.
• Certified payrolls you submitted: during the work and for 3 years after all the work on the prime contract is completed.
• The contract or subcontract and related documents (bids, proposals, amendments, modifications): same 3-year period.

Note that the clock runs from completion of the prime contract, not from the end of your own part of the job. A subcontractor who finished early should keep records until 3 years after the whole project wrapped up.

A typical week, step by step

1. Collect time for every worker on the project, by day and by classification.
2. Check each classification and rate against the wage determination in your contract (see finding your wage determination number).
3. Split overtime hours and pay them at 1.5 times the basic rate where the overtime law applies (see overtime on certified payroll).
4. Record fringe benefits paid to plans and any cash in lieu of fringe (see WH-347 fringe benefits explained).
5. Enter deductions and net pay for all work that week (see certified payroll deductions).
6. Number the report (payroll no. 1, 2, 3...), sign the Statement of Compliance, and submit within 7 days of payday.

Most of that work repeats every week: the same crew, the same classifications, the same rates. That repetition is what software, or at least a well-kept spreadsheet, should take off your hands. The legal responsibility for accuracy stays with the contractor who signs.