WH-347 Form: Your Complete Guide to Certified Payroll

Federal construction projects come with strict requirements. The certified payroll WH-347 form is mandatory under the Davis-Bacon Act. Missing deadlines, misclassifying workers, or calculating wages incorrectly leads to audits, penalties, and contract disqualification, and managing multiple projects with different prevailing wage rates makes compliance even harder. The US Department of Labor now offers an online fillable WH-347 and an annotated guide to help contractors submit accurately.

This guide covers everything about the WH-347 certified payroll form. You'll learn who files, when to submit, how to complete each section, common mistakes to avoid, and ways to streamline compliance across all your projects. Whether you're handling your first prevailing wage job or managing dozens simultaneously, you'll get practical steps to stay compliant without excessive paperwork.

What is Certified Payroll Form WH-347?

WH-347 is the official document that contractors use to demonstrate wage compliance on federally funded construction projects. This form is a legal declaration with serious consequences if you get it wrong. Knowing what this document requires, why it exists, and whether your business needs to submit it helps you avoid compliance problems that can stop your projects and harm your professional standing.

Understanding the Davis-Bacon Act Requirements

The Davis-Bacon Act became law in 1931, establishing that contractors working on federal construction projects must pay workers prevailing wage rates. These rates are determined by the US Department of Labor based on specific geographic regions and trade classifications. The federal law applies to any construction, alteration, or repair contract exceeding $2,000 that involves public buildings or public works. The Act stops contractors from winning bids by paying below-market wages, which would create unfair competition and damage local labor markets.

Congress expanded these protections through the Davis-Bacon Related Acts. These extensions apply prevailing wage standards to federally assisted projects funded through grants, loans, loan guarantees, and insurance programs. The scope of covered work reaches beyond traditional construction to include painting, electrical work, plumbing, drywall installation, and certain cleaning services performed on covered projects.

Any federal construction contract over $2,000 for building, altering, or repairing public structures triggers Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirements.

The Purpose of Form WH-347

The WH-347 certified payroll form acts as the government's verification tool to confirm proper wage payments. Each report documents employee names, work classifications, and hourly wage rates (including fringe benefits), daily and weekly hours worked, deductions made, and actual wages paid. The signed “Statement of Compliance” section transforms this payroll record into a legally binding certified document. This signature makes the person signing personally accountable for the accuracy of every piece of information provided.

Who Must File Certified Payroll Forms

Prime contractors with direct federal contracts and all subcontractors at every tier performing covered work must file form WH-347. This requirement includes companies building or repairing public structures like schools, highways, government facilities, and any firm performing construction-related activities on covered project sites. Prime contractors carry special oversight responsibility: They must submit their own reports and collect reports from all first and second-tier subcontractors. This structure makes prime contractors accountable for subcontractor compliance issues as well.

When Certified Payroll Requirements Apply

Figuring out whether your project needs certified payroll reporting comes down to three main factors: where the funding comes from, how much the contract is worth, and what type of work you're doing. Getting clarity on these trigger points before you start work saves you from expensive headaches down the road. You'll want to understand federal thresholds, state-specific regulations, and which activities actually count as covered work.

Federal Construction Projects and Thresholds

Any federal contract over $2,000 for construction, alteration, or repair of public buildings or public works triggers Davis-Bacon requirements. This threshold has remained unchanged since the law first passed, meaning that virtually every federal construction project falls under these rules. The contract value encompasses all labor and materials for the complete project scope, not just individual change orders or specific phases.

Projects that receive federal financial assistance through grants, loans, loan guarantees, or insurance also require certified payroll reporting. According to industry research on prevailing wage compliance, these federally assisted projects create substantial administrative challenges because funding structures often involve multiple agencies and complex arrangements. Highway construction funded through Department of Transportation grants, school renovations using HUD Community Development Block Grants, and environmental remediation projects with EPA funding all require compliance.

Over 60 federal statutes beyond the Davis-Bacon Act require prevailing wage compliance on assistance agreements administered by agencies like HUD, EPA, and DOT.

State-Level Prevailing Wage Laws

More than 30 states enforce their own prevailing wage laws that work independently from federal requirements. State laws generally apply to construction contracts funded with state or local government money. Each state establishes its own threshold amounts, filing procedures, and wage determination processes. California, New York, and Illinois run particularly strict state prevailing wage programs with lower dollar thresholds than federal regulations.

Projects can face dual compliance obligations when they involve both federal and state funding. You might need to compare federal and state wage determinations for identical work classifications and pay whichever rate is higher. Some states accept the federal WH-347 form while others require their own certified payroll templates. This patchwork of requirements creates considerable administrative work for contractors operating across multiple jurisdictions.

Project Types That Trigger Compliance

Covered work goes well beyond traditional vertical construction to include numerous project categories. The table below breaks down common project types and their compliance status, helping you quickly identify whether your work falls under certified payroll requirements.

Renovation and repair work qualifies as covered construction when performed on public facilities. Painting government buildings, installing electrical systems in federal offices, and repairing HVAC systems in public hospitals all require form WH-347 submission. The line between maintenance and construction sometimes creates confusion: Routine upkeep generally doesn't trigger requirements, but substantial alterations do.

How to Complete the WH-347 Certified Payroll Form

Filling out form WH-347 requires careful attention to detail in every field. Mistakes can create audit risks, delay payment approvals, and potentially trigger investigations that damage your reputation with contracting agencies. This section walks you through each component of the certified payroll form WH-347, explaining what information goes in each field and how to avoid the most common errors contractors make during submission.

Required Contractor and Project Information

The top section of the WH-347 form captures essential identification details. Enter your company name exactly as it appears on your federal contracts, your complete business address, and your Employer Identification Number. This section also requires the project name, contract number, and the specific location where work is being performed. If you're working across multiple project sites under one contract, you might need to file separate reports for each location, depending on the contracting agency's requirements.

The payroll period covered by the report must be clearly indicated. Most contractors file weekly reports that align with their regular pay cycles. The week ending date should match your standard payroll calendar to simplify reconciliation between your internal payroll system and certified reports.

Employee Classification and Work Details

Column 1 requires each worker's full name and the last four digits of their Social Security Numbers. List every person who performed any work on the project during the reporting period, regardless of how many hours they worked. Column 2 captures the work classification for each employee. This classification must precisely match the labor categories listed in the applicable wage determination. Common misclassification errors occur when contractors assign workers to lower-paying categories than the work they actually performed.

Worker misclassification represents one of the most frequent audit triggers, with estimates suggesting that 10-30% of employers misclassify workers across construction projects.

Columns 3 and 4 document the hours worked each day and total weekly hours. You'll need to show regular hours and overtime hours separately. Column 5 captures the total hours worked for the week, which should match the sum of daily entries.

Wage Calculations and Fringe Benefits

Column 6 shows the base hourly rate paid to each worker, while Column 7 documents fringe benefit amounts. Contractors can satisfy fringe benefit requirements through actual benefits like health insurance, retirement contributions, or paid leave, or by paying the fringe amount as additional cash wages. The Davis-Bacon Solutions fringe benefits guide explains that qualifying benefits include health insurance, retirement plans, life insurance, and approved training programs, but they specifically exclude items like tools, uniforms, mileage reimbursement, meals, or company equipment.

Column 8 tracks gross wages earned before deductions. Column 9 lists all deductions taken from gross pay, including federal and state taxes, Social Security, Medicare, and any other authorized withholdings. Column 10 shows net wages actually paid to the worker after all deductions.

Statement of Compliance and Signature Requirements

The bottom section contains the Statement of Compliance, which transforms your payroll report into a certified legal document. The person signing this statement swears under penalty of perjury that the information is accurate and complete, that all workers received the required wages and fringe benefits, and that no kickbacks or deductions occurred except those documented on the form. This signature creates personal liability for the accuracy of every detail listed above it, making verification of all entries before signing absolutely necessary. Only individuals with the authority to bind the company legally should sign certified payroll reports.

Streamlining Certified Payroll Compliance for Project-Based Teams

Submitting accurate certified payroll reports week after week across multiple projects creates real administrative challenges. Small mistakes compound quickly when you're managing dozens of employees working on different sites with varying wage determinations. Understanding what triggers compliance issues and implementing systems that reduce manual entry errors directly impacts your ability to scale operations without proportionally increasing back-office overhead.

Common Errors That Trigger Audits

The Department of Labor conducts investigations when inconsistencies appear in submitted reports. Worker classification errors represent the most frequent violation, e.g., paying a laborer rate to someone performing carpenter duties or listing an electrician as a general laborer. Each wage determination includes specific descriptions of what tasks fall under which classification. When investigators review your forms, they cross-reference job descriptions against the actual work scope documented in daily reports and project plans.

Incorrect wage calculations create another red flag. Contractors sometimes forget to include the full fringe benefit amount in total compensation calculations, or they fail to pay the correct overtime rate on hours exceeding 40 per week. The Davis-Bacon overtime requirement mandates time and a half based on the combined base wage plus fringe rate, not just the base hourly amount. Missing this detail on even a few employees can result in substantial back-wage liabilities.

Signature authority violations occur when office staff without proper authorization sign statements of compliance, creating legal exposure for individuals who lack full knowledge of payroll accuracy.

Documentation gaps appear when contractors submit reports late, skip payroll periods entirely, or fail to include workers who only worked a single day on the project. Every person performing covered work during any part of the reporting week must appear on that week's form, whether they worked one hour or 40. According to eMars compliance resources, forms must be retained for three years after project completion, yet many contractors lack organized filing systems that enable quick retrieval during audits.

Comparison of Manual and Automated Compliance Workflows

The difference between manual and automated compliance workflows becomes clear when you examine each component of the process. Here's how the two approaches compare across key operational areas.

Automating Certified Payroll Workflows

Integration between your time tracking, payroll processing, and compliance reporting systems eliminates repetitive data entry that creates transcription errors. When employees clock in and out using digital time collection tools, those hours should flow directly into your payroll system and then populate the appropriate fields on form WH-347 without manual intervention. A connection of this type ensures that the hours you pay match the hours you report, removing a common source of discrepancies that investigators notice during audits.

Dapt's Project Profitability Platform addresses certified payroll complexity through its Intelligent SYNCHRONIZATION Engine, which connects your existing systems. The platform pulls time data from tracking tools like QuickBooks Time, retrieves payroll information from providers including ADP and Paychex, and maps this information to specific projects and work classifications. This automation handles varying labor rates across different projects, calculates fringe benefit requirements, and generates compliant reports that meet Davis-Bacon standards. When you're managing construction crews across five different federal projects, each with unique wage determinations, the system applies the correct rates automatically based on where each employee worked each day. 

If you need support implementing automated compliance workflows that reduce administrative burden while maintaining audit readiness, contact us to discuss how integration can work with your current technology stack.

Staying Compliant Without Sacrificing Efficiency

Federal construction projects demand certified payroll compliance, and the WH-347 form lies at the center of meeting those obligations. You now understand the Davis-Bacon requirements, know when they apply to your work, and have step-by-step instructions for accurate completion. 

The difference between businesses that struggle with compliance and those that handle it smoothly comes down to systems. Manual processes create bottlenecks that limit growth, while connected platforms eliminate redundant work and reduce costly mistakes. 

Review your current workflow honestly: If you're spending hours each week manually transferring data between timesheets, payroll systems, and compliance forms, that's time you could redirect toward estimating new projects and improving margins. Start by documenting where information currently lives in your organization, identify gaps where data gets re-entered multiple times, then evaluate whether integration can give you both compliance confidence and operational capacity to take on additional work.

FAQs

Can I submit certified payroll WH-347 forms electronically, or do they need to be paper copies?

Most contracting agencies now accept electronic submission of certified payroll reports, though you should confirm the preferred method with your specific contracting officer. The Department of Labor provides a fillable PDF version of the WH-347 that you can complete digitally and submit via email or agency portals.

What happens if I discover an error on a WH-347 form I already submitted?

You should immediately submit a corrected report clearly marked as “Amended" or “Correction" with an explanation of what changed and why. Proactively correcting mistakes before an audit demonstrates good faith compliance and typically results in less severe penalties than errors discovered during investigations.

Do I need to submit separate forms for employees who worked on multiple projects during the same week?

Yes. When employees work on different covered projects during a single payroll period, you must allocate their hours and submit separate certified payroll reports for each project. Each report should only include the hours, wages, and classifications specific to that particular contract.

How long does it typically take to prepare weekly certified payroll reports for a mid-sized construction crew?

Manual preparation typically takes 2-4 hours per project per week for crews of 15-30 workers, depending on how many classifications you're managing. Automated systems can reduce this to 15-30 minutes by eliminating manual data entry and automatically applying correct wage rates.

Are truck drivers who deliver materials to federal construction sites required to be listed on certified payroll reports?

Drivers who spend substantial time on the project site beyond simple delivery may need to be included, but occasional deliveries typically don't trigger coverage. The determining factor is whether the driver is performing construction work at the site versus merely transporting materials, which often requires case-by-case evaluation based on specific duties performed.