Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage | QuickBooks for Contractors blog

08Apr 2014 by Nancy Smyth

Technology is Changing How We Submit Certified Payroll Reports

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, New Technology, QuickBooks Add-Ons, The "Sunburst" Website

Technology - computers, software, and the internet - has changed how we create and submit certified payroll reports over the last decade. For many years a paper certified payroll report - either the Federal WH-347 or a state specific form - was what you needed; and then you dug out the typewriter and typed the information onto the form - or - you painstakingly handwrote the information onto the form. Then along came computers and programs like LOTUS 1-2-3 and Excel and we would recreate the layout of the paper form using the program and fill it in each week – it was faster, neater, easier to correct typo's, and we felt that we were automating the task at hand. Then, some of the software companies created a “certified payroll…

05Mar 2014 by Nancy Smyth

Ask Me Anything – 10 Common Questions about Certified Payroll

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage

Below are the 10 most common questions I’m asked just about every week about certified payroll and their answers. While these question commonly come from QuickBooks users the answers provided will apply to anyone who has to deal with the complexities of prevailing wage reporting. 1. I have to submit the Federal WH-347 form, how do I report the fringes that my company pays to the union hall? The Federal form only requires that you report payments of cash in lieu of fringe benefits (or fringe dollars that you pay to the employee as part of gross wages for the week) – NOT fringes you pay to the Union Hall on behalf of the employee. For fringes paid to the Union Hall, check box 4(a) Where Fringe Benefits are paid…

12Feb 2014 by Nancy Smyth

Are Your QuickBooks Payroll & Certified Payroll Processes Efficient?

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Payroll Tips, QuickBooks Add-Ons, Webinars & Training

QuickBooks Payroll and Certified Payroll processes really need to be efficient in order for a business to be successful. When one of your businesses largest job expenses is payroll, you need to: pay your employees correctly and on time to keep them happy, make sure that those payroll costs are part of your accounting system so those costs are included in job costing reports, and you need to submit your certified payroll reports accurately and in a timely fashion in order to be paid. Yes, it's a vicious cycle! Ask any business owner how efficient he thinks his payroll and certified payroll processes are and I'm betting he'll either say "oh they are very efficient" or "they could be better". Ask his payroll clerk who is dealing with a lot…

04Jun 2013 by Nancy Smyth

Certified Payroll-Numbering and “No Work” Performed Reports

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Questions from our readers

Certified Payroll numbering and the submission of "No Work" performed reports should be easy to figure out, but the way that the instructions provided on the U.S. Department of Labor website are written is very confusing - see this question submitted by a reader. Our company is fairly new to working on Prevailing Wage jobs and submitting certified payroll reports and I'm so confused about the requirements for numbering the reports and the submission of "No Work Performed" payrolls. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) website states payrolls must be submitted sequentially and should be based on the weeks worked under a contract but the instructions also states submit for no work week. Can you tell me which is correct? Thanks, Pamela ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Pamela Thanks for stopping by and…

21May 2013 by Ben Smyth

Automating Job Costing Overtime, an 800 pound gorilla with an attitude

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, From Our Guest Bloggers, Job Costing Tips, Payroll Tips, QuickBooks Add-Ons

Calculating and distributing employee overtime is a burdensome process that many business owners and payroll administrators have to deal with on a weekly basis. Everyone has a different opinion on just "HOW" that overtime is to be calculated and distributed. By everyone, I mean the business owner, the payroll clerk, heck even the Federal and State government. No wonder it's just a problematic situation! At first blush this seems drop dead simple. Overtime goes to the time worked after 40 hours, or maybe over x hours per day as well. This seems reasonable, but would it be simpler if overtime were just distributed over all the jobs that the employee worked that week. That seems fairer, as each job gets a share of the overtime costs for that week. Then…

02May 2013 by Nancy Smyth

Understanding & Implementing Prevailing Wage Decisions

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage

Prevailing Wage Decisions can sometimes be very difficult to understand and implement, however, it's very important that you learn to read and apply what is found in them. The Wage Decision for a Public Works or Government Construction project provides you with the prevailing wage requirements, including Work Classifications, hourly rates of pay and hourly fringe benefit amounts for every trade classification that could possibly be involved on a project. Prevailing Wage requirements are found in the Labor Standard Clause of the Contract Provisions section of the bid package and become the backbone of payroll processing requirements for that specific project. One would think that if a project had prevailing wage requirements that the Wage Decision would contain an easy to understand breakdown of the fringe benefit portion of the…

18Sep 2012 by Nancy Smyth

EEOC Reports & Government Funded Construction Projects – Q & A

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Construction News, The "Sunburst" Website

EEOC Reports are just another compliance requirement that must be met when you perform work on government funded/prevailing wage jobs - in addition to the submission of a weekly certified payroll report. In this Q & A we'll discuss your obligations, what types of forms you might need to file, and when you have to file them. What is the EEOC and what do they do? The U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person's race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetic information. What is an EEOC Report? An EEOC Report is really nothing more than than a report that includes how many employees you…

09Aug 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Reporting Fringe Benefits Paid in Cash on Certified Payroll

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Payroll Tips, Questions from our readers, The "Sunburst" Website, Webinars & Training

Reporting prevailing wage fringe benefits paid in cash to the employee has specific requirements when completing the Federal WH-347 Certified Payroll Report. Here is a question from a reader who is submitting the built-in QuickBooks certified payroll report and is being told that she is not correctly reporting the cash fringe benefit amounts. Hi, I found your blog through a Google search and can't believe all the information you have here about certified payroll, prevailing wage and using QuickBooks - so far I've learned so much! I could really use some help and couldn't find anything that I thought fit our specific situation. We are a non-union contractor working on prevailing wage jobs and we pay the full fringe benefit amount to the employee in cash. We use the QuickBooks…

23Jul 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Wage Restitution and Certified Payroll Revisions

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Payroll Tips, Questions from our readers

Wage restitution and certified payroll revisions happen when you miss an update to the wage determination which increases the prevailing wage rate and the fringe benefit rate or perhaps you weren't informed until after working on the project for several weeks/months that this project was subject to prevailing wage. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of clear guidelines for submitting revised certified payroll reports, however, I've had experience in following two different sets of requirements. See this question submitted by a reader. My question is, if a subcontractor pays restitution for an employee(s), do they have to send the same Certified Payroll Reports back with revision on top? Or will they have to send a separate Certified Payroll Report with the dates they were owed restitution stating the dates they…

22Jun 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use 6/15/2012-6/21/2012

Be A Better Bookkeeper, Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Construction News, IRS Information, News You Can Use, Payroll Tips, QuickBooks Corner, Social Media, Webinars & Training

Weekly wrap-up of news and information from around the web – there’s so much information out there that it’s difficult (at best) to keep up! I’ve added a WordPress plug-in that grabs information from my Twitter stream to help me (and hopefully you as well) keep up with everything. Look for the Weekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use every Friday. I’ll try to be consistent and organize the information into the same categories each week. Accounting & Taxes A letter from a Bookkeeper https://t.co/nr0twsHi via @bruce_taxguy -> How I answered the letter https://t.co/WIa8lzll via @bruce_taxguy -> IRS "repair regulations" can be overly complex https://t.co/O9Ix29KR -> Is Remortgaging Equity Release Debt a Good Option? https://t.co/TRNXJ9Ue via @bruce_taxguy -> 3 Strategies to Help You Conquer Your Debt https://t.co/aLTQtJQX via @bruce_taxguy ->…

19Jun 2012 by Nancy Smyth

How To Report an Owner/Employee on Certified Payroll

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage

Certified Payroll is complex and so are the reporting requirements for owner/employees. See this question submitted by a reader. I am unsure of how to report the owner of the company on the certified payroll report. He is a union member but not paid union benefits. He is paid the prevailing union wage in our area. He is paid thru QuickBooks payroll & the appropriate payroll taxes are paid. The accountant suggests we do not report the fringe benefits on the certified payroll because he does not receive union benefits as he is the owner & does not have union benefits. I am confused as to how to report his wages. Must I make a 'separate' payment to him of what the total prevailing wage for a union worker would…

12Jun 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Worker’s Comp Increases 45% in California, Beginning 7/1/2012

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Construction News, Payroll Tips, Webinars & Training

California Worker's Compensation Insurance premiums will increase by 45% over last year for renewals after July 1, 2012 according to The Worker's Comp Executive. California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones went against a unified front of labor and employer representatives siding with the insurance industry and the Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB) in approving a 8.3% increase mid-year rate hike for California employers. Added to the 37% rate increase he approved for January, July and later renewals are facing an average rate increase of 45.3% over last year at the same time. Worker’s Comp and payroll taxes take a huge bite out of a contractors profit when working on Public Works construction projects – especially if the contractor is paying the full fringe benefit rate of the prevailing wage…

24Apr 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Certified Payroll – Employees, 1099 Workers & Subcontractors

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Questions from our readers

Certified Payroll reporting requirements for employees, 1099 workers and subcontractors causes confusion for many contractors working on prevailing wage/government funded construction projects. This question was submitted by a reader. I'm very confused about certified payroll reporting requirements. My workers are 1099'd so what do I put in the hours and withholding part? What if I hired a subcontractor for the completion of the job? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you ~~ Diane Hi Diane, The certified payroll report that your company submits to a general contractor, project owner, or contract administrator should contain information about your W-2 employees, the ones that work directly for you, are paid via payroll checks issued by your company and who you provide a W-2 for wages earned at the end of the…

11Apr 2012 by Nancy Smyth

ASA Seminar Payroll & Tax Strategies for Public Works Contractors

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Construction News, Webinars & Training

ASA (American Subcontractors Association) San Diego Chapter Seminar on Payroll and Tax Strategies for Public Works Contractors, May 8, 2012 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. PST, $55.00 Members/$85.00 Non-members - register here. I'm very excited to be working with Steve Kuzmack, President of Fringe Benefit Experts as we present a 2-hour seminar for the ASA San Diego Chapter on Payroll and Tax Strategies for Public Works Contractors. Steve will be live, while I will be logging in remotely. Come join us to learn: Why cash is "KING"! and why Public Works Construction and Prevailing Wage projects require advanced financial planning methods and tools along with an understanding of the ever-changing compliance requirements -- so that you get paid on time! What You Will Learn Learn How: To reduce payroll taxes…

10Apr 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Employee Social Security Numbers on Certified Payroll Reports

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Questions from our readers, The "Sunburst" Website

Displaying employee social security numbers and addresses on certified payroll reports, which are ultimately public documents, causes privacy and identity theft concerns for many employers and employees - not to mention confusion over reporting requirements. This question was submitted by a blog reader. The instructions for the Federal WH-347 certified payroll report say - The payrolls submitted shall include the following information: Name of each employee A unique individually identifiable number for each employee, or as it was suggested, the last 4 digits of the employee social security number His/her correct classification Hourly rates of pay, including any cash fringe benefits paid Daily and weekly number of hours worked Deductions made and actual wages paid Can we accept a unique individually identifiable number on payroll and is there…