Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage | QuickBooks for Contractors blog

21Mar 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Certified Payroll Training Guide

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Webinars & Training

Certified payroll reporting is complex at best and I've just finished updating our Certified Payroll Training Guide to include the new requirements for the Federal WH-347 form. Making the move from residential or commercial construction projects to government-funded construction projects - which have certified payroll reporting requirements - can be an overwhelming task for contractors, their office staff, and the accounting professionals who support them. Our 76+ page self-paced Certified Payroll Training Guide is a great "good old simple English" reference tool and provides information about answer such questions as: What is Certified Payroll? Who makes the laws governing certified payroll reporting requirements? How do I or my client comply with Labor Standards & Payroll reporting requirements? What information has to be reported on the certified payroll reports? How…

16Mar 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Prevailing Wage-Paying More Than the Wage Decision Requires

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Questions from our readers

The Wage Decision provides you with the minimum amounts (base rate and fringe rate) that you must pay your employees when they work on a Prevailing Wage job - but confusion often happens when you actually pay your employees more than what the Wage Decision requires. See this question from a reader. We pay up and above the wage decision that we have. I need to know how to account for fringe benefits in cash that are already included in the base pay for us. For example the wage decision for an operator is $12.98 base with $3.31 fringe. I pay my operator $22 an hour. So the pay is up and above the rate. So on the form how to I show that? Do I have to show…

12Mar 2012 by Nancy Smyth

California Prevailing Wage, Certified Payroll and Payroll Frequency

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage

California prevailing wage laws are among the most complex, with multiple agencies requiring their own special certified payroll reports and multiple electronic filing requirements - how often you issue payroll will have a big impact. See this question, submitted via our Ask the Expert form. Does California mandate that you pay weekly when working on a prevailing wage/certified job? Thanks, Gail. A. From what I know, California payroll frequencies indicate that paychecks can be run on a weekly, bi-weekly, or semi-monthly basis - but it does depend on the occupation. The Federal guidelines, are clearer, and state it is mandatory for covered contractors and subcontractors performing work on Federally financed or assisted construction contracts to respond to the information collection contained in 29 C.F.R. §§ 3.3, 5.5(a). The Copeland…

27Feb 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Payroll Tip: Union Benefits Calculated Against Hours NOT Wages

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

Union fringe benefits can be calculated in a number of ways; some are based on a percentage of gross wages while others are a fixed dollar amount per hours worked. Either way you look at it, it can become pretty complex. Take this question from a blog reader for example. I have union benefits that are calculated against the employee's hours, not gross wages. How do I do that in QuickBooks? A. In QuickBooks you want to set up your union benefits as Company Contribution Payroll Item types. I find it to be faster if you go to the Lists menu -> Payroll Item List -> click the Payroll Item button at the lower left -. choose New -> and Custom Setup -> and Company Contribution. When setting up…

20Feb 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Payroll Tip – Handling 1 Employee with 2 Union Benefit Packages

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Questions from our readers

A payroll tip for handling one employee with two different wage rates and union fringe benefit packages on a single paycheck. The following question was submitted through our "Ask the Expert" form. How do I setup one employee to be paid weekly, with two entirely different wage and benefit rates, depending on the customer or item; through a single paycheck? I would like to set it up to just select one rate or the other and have the appropriate wage rate, benefits and contributions be automatically selected. This is for one employee working with two different unions, so the fringe benefit liabilities go to different parties on different liability checks. Any suggestions would be appreciated. A. While the expensive construction specific software programs can handle this easily, QuickBooks will…

15Feb 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Can One Certified Payroll Report Meet Requirements in all 50 States?

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, QuickBooks Add-Ons, QuickBooks Corner

Certified payroll reporting requirements are complex. There is no single certified payroll form that will meet the requirements in all 50 states. Don't be fooled! It's a common misconception that a single certified payroll report form will meet the prevailing wage requirements found in each of the 50 states. To be fair, at one time or another a contractor in any state will work on a federally funded construction project and submit the US Department of Labor WH-347 form (or an acceptable substitute). However, that would be the only time. 21 states follow the reporting requirements of the US Department of Labor and file a WH -347 form or an acceptable substitute for each government-funded construction project that they work on. 14 states have enacted state prevailing wage laws,…

01Feb 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Certified Payroll Reports & Bi-Weekly Paychecks

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Payroll Tips, The "Sunburst" Website

Generating weekly certified payroll reports when you issue bi-weekly paychecks to your employees can be difficult unless your accounting software will accurately accrue the wages for each week - QuickBooks doesn't have this ability and quite often this causes problems. Payroll is one of the largest expenses that a company will have. Most companies, when they start up, will find out what the minimum requirements for paycheck frequencies are for the state that their business resides in - earlier this week we discussed paycheck/payroll frequencies by state - and they will follow those rules. This will work fine unless you are a contractor who makes the move to Public Works/Government Construction projects and become subject to prevailing wage laws. This is when problems can occur. Under the Federal Davis-Bacon and…

30Jan 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Paycheck/Payroll Frequencies by State

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Payroll Tips

Minimum payroll frequencies are determined by each state and can be quite confusing. I'm often asked "How often do I have to pay my employees" during a Certified Payroll Training Webinar. State minimum paycheck frequencies are shown below - this information comes directly from the U.S. Department of Labor's website. It's difficult to thoroughly cover the requirements of all 50 states in a 2 hour webinar, but it has crossed my mind that a series of blog posts on the differences between what State Laws are for how often payroll must be generated and how that can effect the generation of a certified payroll report would be a good thing to do. While I could have simply started this series and talked about the complexities of generating certified payroll reports…

04Jan 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Prevailing Wage Jobs – Fringe Benefits Question

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Questions from our readers

Payment of fringe benefits on prevailing wage jobs frequently cause a lot of confusion - such as the question submitted below from a reader. My boyfriend is being told that the company he works for will be taking half his pay each week to put in a 401k HALF!!! I wanted to know if this is legal---they say if he doesnt sign the paper he will be fired so it is mandatory. Is this legal? He is in construction and works for a prevailing rate. Thank you very much - Janelle Hi Janelle There may be some confusion and/or miscommunication going on here and NOT knowing the full details I can only provide you with basic information. When an employee works on a prevailing wage job {rate job}, he has…

18Jul 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Payroll Tip – Wage Underpayments & Wage Restitution

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Payroll Tips

This QuickBooks payroll tip discusses underpaying employee wages and wage restitution, after paychecks have been created and cashed. Paying your employees the correct rate of pay is one of the most critical portions of your business; and if those employees are subject to multiple pay rate or have frequent pay rate changes, ensuring that everyone is being paid the correct rate can be a tedious and potentially error prone process. In today's busy workplace, business owners and payroll administrators are faced with numerous challenges which sometimes result in employee wage underpayments. Often times a wage shortage isn't discovered until after paychecks have been created and cashed; which then requires wage restitution to the employee. Quite often this situation puts the business owner or payroll clerk in a quandary about how…

06Jul 2011 by Nancy Smyth

5 Certified Paroll Reporting Mistakes & How To Avoid Them

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage

5 certified payroll reporting mistakes that will cause delayed payments - learn how to avoid them. Filling out weekly certified payroll reports can be a time-consuming and frustrating task, especially if you complete them by hand or have to manipulate data in order to create them. Transposition errors and other mistakes are bound to happen, no matter how careful you think you are being. Making mistakes on certified payroll reports will lead to more frustration and you'll end up spending more time correcting the errors; mistakes will also put your company's good standing in jeopardy with the General Contractor or Project Administrator. Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage reporting can be complex and varies by state. Learning how to avoid the following mistakes and submit the reports properly the first time will benefit…

25May 2011 by Nancy Smyth

The Benefits of Paying Prevailing Wage Fringes to a Bona-fide Plan

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Construction News, Payroll Tips

The benefits of paying the Prevailing Wage Fringe Benefit portion to bona-fide plan is often misunderstood by employers and employees alike. Prevailing wage jobs, those jobs that are subject to the Davis-Bacon Act and/or State Prevailing Wage Laws, require that all laborers and mechanics {including tradesmen such as carpenters, equipment operators, painters, pipefitters, plumbers, etc.) who perform work on the jobsite are to be paid a set base rate of pay PLUS an hourly fringe benefit rate. Union contractors automatically pay the total hourly fringe benefit rate to the union hall on behalf of the employee, usually splitting the full hourly rate into specific "funds" - Health & Welfare, Pension, Vacation, etc. When this happens the Union contractor doesn't pay payroll taxes, worker's compensation, or general liability insurance on this…

04May 2011 by Nancy Smyth

Unraveling Certified Payroll Requirements On Federal Construction Projects

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Webinars & Training

Unraveling Certified Payroll Requirements On Federal Construction Projects webinar presented for L2 Federal Resources, LLC Wednesday, May 18, 2011 • 1:00 - 2:30 PM EDT Presented by: Nancy Smyth, Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc. _____________________ Making the move from residential/commercial construction projects to government-funded construction projects, which have certified payroll reporting requirements, can be overwhelming for most contractors, their office staff, and the accounting professionals who support them. This often misunderstood requirement can lead to major problems, including non-approval of payment requisitions, denial of payment for change orders and claims, and contract termination. Don't get caught in a payroll certification trap; learn the ins and outs of federal certification payroll requirements and get all your questions answered. Our live, instructor-led, on-line training class focuses on the following: What government agencies make…

18Apr 2011 by Nancy Smyth

Prevailing Wage Fringes-Taking Credit for Company 401k Contributions

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Payroll Tips

Taking a credit against the full prevailing wage fringe benefit for company paid 401k contributions and reporting it correctly on the Federal WH-347 Certified Payroll Report can be very confusing. This question was asked by a reader who recently requested our 4 Ways Contractors Pay Prevailing Wage Fringe Benefits eBook. We are a non-union shop working on prevailing wage jobs; our Company offers a 401k plan and the company contributes 4% of our employee's gross wages to the 401k. We understand that the 401k plan is considered a bona-fide plan, but how do we take an hourly credit when our contributions are based on a percentage of gross? Currently we just look at an employee's gross wages for the month and make the calculations and contributions. ------------------------------------------------ Taking a credit…

14Apr 2011 by JProfitt

Prevailing Wage Jobs and the Compensation Package

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, From Our Guest Bloggers, The "Sunburst" Website

A prevailing wage job is typically a government funded project. The Davis-Bacon and Service Contract Acts govern federal projects. Most states have a prevailing wage law, but there are some that do not so it is a good idea to know the rules before you bid a project. Governments, in their idea of fairness, mandate union rules and compensation packages on the jobs. So, one of the simple ways to prepare yourself to do prevailing wage jobs is to have an action plan at the ready that will allow you to cope with the requirements. We will briefly discuss the compensation package. All prevailing wage projects will come with wage determination schedules that detail the base rate and fringe rates for all craft and trades. The base rate most likely…

Category: Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage