How to Fill Out and Submit the Certified Payroll Report (WH-347)

To complete Form WH-347, fill in the header with your company, project, and payroll number; list each covered worker on page one with their classification, daily and total hours, hourly rate, fringe benefit credit, gross pay, and deductions; then sign the Statement of Compliance on page two and submit the form weekly to the contracting agency. The form is the Department of Labor’s standardized template for the weekly certified payroll that every contractor and subcontractor on a Davis-Bacon-covered job must file. Using WH-347 itself is optional, but the weekly certified payroll is not, and most agencies expect this format.¹ You can download the blank PDF or use the fillable version on the Wage and Hour Division site.

Who Has to File

The Davis-Bacon Act covers every contract over $2,000 for construction, alteration, or repair of public buildings or public works funded or assisted by the federal government.² If your contract fits, you owe a certified payroll for every week any covered work is performed, and the Copeland Act requires that weekly statement from each contractor and subcontractor.³

Report every laborer and mechanic who physically performs work on-site. Purely administrative, executive, or clerical employees who never touch tools or materials on the project are outside the reporting obligation. What matters is the work actually done. If a salaried office worker spends a day on the job site swinging a hammer, they belong on the payroll for that week at the correct prevailing wage for the classification of work they did.

Get the Wage Determination First

Every Davis-Bacon contract includes a wage determination listing the prevailing hourly rate and fringe benefit amount for each labor classification in the project’s locality. Look it up on SAM.gov under “Public Buildings or Works” for Davis-Bacon rates.⁴ Keep it next to you while you fill out the form. Every rate you enter has to meet or exceed the wage determination rate for that worker’s classification.

Page One: Header

At the top, enter your contractor or subcontractor name and address, the project name and location, the project or contract number, and the payroll number. Start with “1” for your first weekly report and number each week sequentially through the life of the project.¹ If a week passes with no work, keep the numbering intact when you resume. Gaps in the sequence raise questions during audits.

Page One: The Worker Grid

Each row on page one is one worker. Work across the columns:

Column 1, Name and Identifying Number. The worker’s full name and an individual identifier such as the last four digits of their Social Security number. Never enter the full Social Security number.¹
Column 2, Journeyworker or Registered Apprentice. Enter “J” for a journeyworker or “RA” for a registered apprentice in a DOL Office of Apprenticeship or State Apprenticeship Agency program. For an RA, note the level of progression.
Column 3, Work Classification. Use the classification from the contract’s wage determination that matches the work actually performed that week. Company titles are irrelevant. If a worker performed electrical work, use the electrician classification and rate.
Column 4, Daily Hours. Record straight-time and overtime hours for each day. On contracts subject to the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act, hours over 40 in a workweek are overtime and must be paid at no less than one and one-half times the basic rate.⁵
Column 5, Total Hours. The sum of column 4 for the week.
Column 6A, Hourly Rate (ST and OT). The actual straight-time rate in the top row, overtime rate in the bottom row. If you pay more than the wage determination, enter what you actually paid. Do not include cash paid in lieu of fringe benefits here.
Column 6B, Fringe Benefit Credit. Total hours worked multiplied by the hourly fringe benefit credit you list on page two.
Column 6C, Cash in Lieu of Fringe Benefits. Any portion of the fringe obligation you paid directly to the worker as cash.
Column 7A, Gross Earned (This Project). Gross earnings for hours on this federal project only.
Column 7B, Gross Earned (All Work). If the worker also had non-project work that week, total gross earnings from all work. This figure drives the deduction calculations.
Column 8, Deductions. Tax withholding, FICA, and any other deductions. If the “Other” column includes more than one deduction, attach an itemized addendum. Every deduction has to comply with the Copeland Act rules at 29 CFR Part 3.

The final column shows net wages. Gross earnings minus total deductions equals net pay, and that figure must match the actual check or direct deposit the worker received. Reconcile before you submit.

Reporting Fringe Benefits

The prevailing wage has two parts: a basic hourly rate and a fringe benefit component. You can satisfy the fringe obligation by contributing to a bona fide benefit plan, paying the fringe amount to the worker as additional cash wages, or combining the two.⁶ Whatever the mix, basic rate plus fringe must meet or exceed the total prevailing wage on the wage determination.

Page two has a section titled “Hourly Credit for Fringe Benefits.” If you claim credit for plan contributions, check box 5 and enter the hourly credit for each benefit type (health, pension, vacation, and so on). If you pay the whole fringe obligation as cash, check the box but leave the hourly credits blank. Cash payments go in column 6C on page one.

One trap catches contractors regularly. If you routinely pay a worker above the basic hourly rate even on non-Davis-Bacon jobs, DOL does not treat that extra cash as satisfying the fringe obligation. To count, the amount has to be specifically designated as cash in lieu of fringe benefits.⁶

Deductions You Can Take

The Copeland Act prohibits kickbacks of any portion of wages. Every entry in column 8 must fit one of the categories that 29 CFR 3.5 permits without DOL approval:⁷

Federal, state, and local tax withholding, plus Social Security and Medicare.
Court-ordered payments such as garnishments and child support, so long as the deduction does not benefit the contractor or an affiliate.
Contributions to bona fide benefit plans (health, pension, vacation, and similar), if the worker consented in writing before the work began or the plan is covered by a collective bargaining agreement, and the contractor takes no profit.
Credit union loan repayments or share purchases the worker authorized, at federally or state-chartered credit unions.
Voluntary charitable donations to government agencies or 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3) organizations, and regular union dues (not fines or special assessments).
Recovery of bona fide wage advances, provided no discount or interest was charged.

Anything outside those categories requires a written request to DOL and approval before you take it. Unauthorized deductions are one of the fastest ways to trigger an investigation.

Signing the Statement of Compliance

Page two is what turns a payroll printout into a certified payroll. An officer or employee with direct knowledge of the payroll signs and dates it, certifying that the payroll is correct and complete, that each worker received at least the prevailing wage for their classification, and that all deductions were authorized.¹

This is not a formality. The Copeland Act makes 18 U.S.C. 1001 directly applicable, so knowingly submitting false information carries a fine and up to five years in prison.⁸ Notarization is not required, but the person signing should actually know whether the hours, rates, and deductions are accurate.

Apprentice Pay and Job-Site Ratios

Registered apprentices may be paid less than the full journeyworker rate, but only if they are individually registered in a program approved by DOL’s Office of Apprenticeship or a recognized State Apprenticeship Agency, and paid according to the program’s progression scale.⁹

The apprentice-to-journeyworker ratio on the job site cannot exceed the ratio the registered program allows, and it is measured daily. If you exceed the ratio on any given day, only the apprentices who were working before the ratio was breached can stay at the apprentice rate. Any additional apprentice must be paid the full journeyworker rate for the classification of work they performed.¹⁰ Anyone listed at an apprentice rate who is not actually registered in an approved program also has to be paid the full prevailing rate.

Submitting the Payroll

Send each completed weekly payroll to the federal agency that is a party to the contract. On many federally assisted projects the agency is not a direct party; in that case the payroll goes to the applicant, sponsor, or owner, who forwards it. Prime contractors are responsible for collecting and submitting certified payrolls from all their subcontractors as well as their own.⁹ If you are a sub, ask the prime whether they use a specific portal or format before your first submission.

Many agencies accept or require electronic submission. The regulations allow it as long as the system uses a legally valid electronic signature and keeps records accessible to the contractor, the agency, and DOL for at least three years after the prime contract is complete. Agencies must also allow an alternative method for contractors who cannot use the electronic system.

Weeks With No Covered Work

You do not have to submit a certified payroll for weeks when no covered work happened, but you have to account for the gap. Either keep the payroll numbers sequential so the missing week is visible, or send the contracting agency written notice that project work is suspended.¹¹ An unexplained jump from payroll 7 to payroll 10 will almost always prompt a request for clarification.

Mistakes That Get Payrolls Sent Back

Agencies review these closely. A short list of the errors that come up repeatedly:

Listing a worker’s company title instead of the wage determination classification for the work actually performed. If your “general laborer” spent the week pipefitting, the payroll shows pipefitter and the pipefitter rate.
Payroll numbers out of sequence, skipped, or duplicated.
An unsigned Statement of Compliance. Without the signature, it is not a certified payroll.
No project or contract number, so the agency cannot match the payroll to the correct file.
Fringe math that does not tie. Hourly credit from page two times total hours must equal column 6B.
Full Social Security numbers on the form. Use the last four digits or another individual identifier.

The single best habit is a reconciliation check for each worker before you submit: do the hours, rates, fringe credit, gross, deductions, and net pay all line up?

Records and Penalties

Keep a copy of every weekly certified payroll and the supporting records (time cards, tax filings, evidence of fringe contributions) for at least three years after all work on the prime contract is finished, and hold them at the place of employment during the project. DOL investigators and agency representatives can inspect the records and interview workers during working hours.⁹

The consequences escalate quickly. Failing to submit records or make them available lets the contracting agency suspend further payments on the contract. Contractors or subcontractors found to have disregarded their obligations to workers face debarment, a three-year ban from any federal or federally assisted contract, with names published on SAM.gov.¹²

1
U.S. Department of Labor. Instructions For Completing Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Weekly Certified Payroll Form, WH-347
2
U.S. Department of Labor. Davis-Bacon and Related Acts
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 40 USC 3145 – Regulations Governing Contractors and Subcontractors
4
SAM.gov. Wage Determinations
5
Federal Acquisition Regulation. 52.222-4 Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards – Overtime Compensation
6
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 66E – The Davis-Bacon and Related Acts – Compliance with Fringe Benefit Requirements
7
eCFR. 29 CFR 3.5 – Permissible Payroll Deductions
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 1001 – Statements or Entries Generally
9
eCFR. 29 CFR 5.5 – Contract Provisions and Related Matters
10
U.S. Department of Labor. Davis-Bacon Compliance Principles
11
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Davis-Bacon Compliance Requirements
12
eCFR. 29 CFR 5.12 – Debarment Proceedings