Plain-English instructions for Davis-Bacon certified payroll — column by column, plus the math most people get wrong.
Form WH-347 is the U.S. Department of Labor's certified payroll report. If you're a contractor or subcontractor on a federally funded construction project — or a state job covered by a "little Davis-Bacon" law — you must submit certified payroll every week, for every week you perform work, until the project is done.
The report proves that each worker on the job was paid at least the prevailing wage and fringe benefits set by the applicable wage determination. Get it wrong or file it late, and your payment can be withheld and penalties can follow. That's why this weekly form matters far more than its size suggests.
| Field | What goes here |
|---|---|
| Contractor or Subcontractor | Your company name and address. Check the box that matches your role on this job. |
| Payroll No. | Sequential number. Your first week is 1, then 2, and so on. Mark the last one "final." |
| For Week Ending | The last day of the payroll week. Every day column is relative to this date. |
| Project and Location | The project name and where the work is performed. |
| Project or Contract No. | The contract number from your prime or the awarding agency. |
Each worker is one block of rows. Here is what every column means:
| Column | What to enter |
|---|---|
| (1) Name and Individual Identifying Number | Worker's name and the last 4 digits of their SSN. Full address only needs to be on the first payroll a worker appears on. |
| (2) Withholding Exemptions | Optional. Most contractors leave this blank now. |
| (3) Work Classification | The exact classification from your wage determination (e.g., "Electrician," "Laborer Group 1"). This must match, or the report is wrong. |
| (4) Hours Worked Each Day | Daily hours on this project, split into overtime (O) and straight time (S) rows. |
| (5) Total Hours | The week's total for straight time and for overtime. |
| (6) Rate of Pay | The base hourly rate. If fringe is paid in cash, the cash fringe is shown here too. |
| (7) Gross Amount Earned | Total earned. If the worker worked on other projects that week, show "this project / all projects." |
| (8) Deductions | FICA, federal tax, state tax, other — and the total. |
| (9) Net Wages Paid | Gross minus deductions. What the worker actually received. |
Enter hours and rates once. It splits straight-time and overtime, applies the 1.5× correctly, totals deductions, and lays out a clean WH-347 — 100% in your browser, so worker data never leaves your computer. No signup.
Open the free WH-347 calculator →This is where most WH-347s go wrong. Two rules to hold onto:
When a worker goes over 40 hours, overtime is 1.5 times the basic cash rate only. The fringe-benefit amount is added at its straight value on top — it is not multiplied by 1.5. Multiplying the whole loaded rate by 1.5 overpays and flags the report as incorrect.
On the Statement of Compliance you must declare whether fringe was paid into approved plans, funds, or programs (4a) or paid in cash (4b). If some was cash and some was plans, you note the split under exceptions. This election is not optional — pick the one that matches how you actually pay.
Page 2 is a signed certification. A company officer fills in the week-ending date, the company name, and their name and title, then signs. By signing, they certify that:
Knowingly signing a false Statement of Compliance carries civil and criminal penalties, which is exactly why accuracy on page 1 matters.
Free to use, right in your browser — no account, no data leaving your machine. Built for subs and payroll admins who just need the weekly form done right. The $79 version prints without the demo watermark and works offline forever.
Open the free calculator → See the $79 version →It's the Department of Labor's standard certified payroll report, filed weekly on Davis-Bacon covered construction jobs to document prevailing-wage compliance.
Submitting certified payroll weekly is mandatory. The WH-347 format itself is optional, but it's the standard that satisfies the requirement, so nearly everyone uses it.
1.5× the basic hourly rate for hours over 40, with the fringe amount added at its straight value on top — not multiplied.
You can, but the daily hour splits, overtime math, and per-worker totals are where errors creep in. A tool that does the arithmetic and prints the exact form removes that risk.