Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage
Certified Payroll Reporting requirements are complex and getting more so just about everyday! Don’t let anyone try and tell you that a single form will satisfy ALL of your requirements – they could very well be wrong! Learn how to handle special certified payroll reporting requirements and how to make QuickBooks handle the backbone of those requirements..
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Certified Payroll-Numbering and “No Work” Performed Reports
You should submit and number the certified payroll reports sequentially, beginning with payroll #1 starting on the first week that you actually have employees working on the job site and for every week afterward until you have completed the work that you were hired to do.
"No Work" payrolls should be submitted whenever there is a temporary break in your work on the project and, therefore, you will have no employees on the job site. For example, you have employees working on the job site weeks 1-4; but on week 5 and 6 you have no employees on the job site - then for weeks 5 and 6 you would submit "No Work Performed" payrolls for those weeks.
Continue readingAutomating Job Costing Overtime, an 800 pound gorilla with an attitude
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!
Continue readingUnderstanding & Implementing Prevailing Wage Decisions
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 prevailing wage - however, that is not always the case. Wage Decisions can be quite difficult to understand; based on whether the project is funded with Federal or State money and whether or not there is a large Union presence in a specific state and unraveling this can quite often be very confusing.
There is no such thing as a totally straight forward, easy to understand Prevailing Wage Determination that I've ever seen (or even heard of for that matter), but you do need to be able to learn how to understand and interpret them - and going to the "source" (General Contractor, State Prevailing Wage Division, Union Hall, etc.) is the best way to learn.
Please be advised that the following is ONLY a general overview and does NOT take into consideration whether this is a Union or Non-Union shop or whether the fringes are paid to the Union Hall or into one or more bona-fide plans on behalf of the employee, or if you are paying the full fringe amount in cash in lieu of fringes.
Continue readingEEOC Reports & Government Funded Construction Projects – Q & A
An EEOC Report is really nothing more than than a report that includes how many employees you have that work under specific work/trade classifications by race and gender; including any apprentices or on-the-job trainees.
State agencies can require that you submit an EEOC report on a weekly or monthly basis, if the construction project is funded with State money.
If you perform work on Federal-Aid Highway Construction projects, you may be required to submit monthly reports - using either a Federal or State DOT specific form as well as an Annual Report such as Form FWHA-1391 . Federal-Aid Highway Construction Contractors Annual EEO Report.
Continue readingReporting Fringe Benefits Paid in Cash on Certified Payroll
Reporting fringe benefits paid in cash on the Federal WH-347 Certified Payroll Report has specific requirements which the built-in QuickBooks report cannot handle. Here is a question from a reader who is using the certified payroll report provided in the QuickBooks Enhanced Payroll subscription asking how cash fringes should be reported because her reports are being rejected because they aren't reporting the cash payment correctly.
This article will explain how any cash paid in lieu of fringe benefits on prevailing wage projects is supposed to be reported on the WH-347 form and why the built-in QuickBooks certified payroll report isn't handling it correctly.
Continue readingWage Restitution and Certified Payroll Revisions
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, which I've outlined in this article.
Continue readingWeekly Wrap-Up: News You Can Use 6/15/2012-6/21/2012
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.
See what caught my attention this week in these topics: Accounting & Taxes, eBooks/Webinars/Videos, Payroll/Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, QuickBooks, Small Business/Organization/Productivity, Construction, and Social Media/Marketing/Website Design.
Continue readingHow To Report an Owner/Employee on Certified Payroll
Worker’s Comp Increases 45% in California, Beginning 7/1/2012
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 to the employee in cash and not to the Union Hall or into bona-fide plans.
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 can reduce your overhead and get paid on time.
Continue readingCertified Payroll – Employees, 1099 Workers & Subcontractors
ASA Seminar Payroll & Tax Strategies for Public Works Contractors
Employee Social Security Numbers on Certified Payroll Reports
Nancy Smyth, Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc.QuickBooks Construction & Payroll Expert
I've been using and supporting QuickBooks products since the early 1990's. I've worked with thousands of contractors, assisting them with QuickBooks setup, Certified Payroll Reporting requirements, AIA Billing and Weighted-Average Overtime.
QuickBooks is a powerful product, but learning how to use it in your construction business can be difficult. I hope you find resources available here to be helpful.
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