11May 2010 by Nancy Smyth

Government Funded Construction Projects – Quick Facts

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Construction News
Many contractors across the United States are subject to the Davis-Bacon Act - including a growing number of small, medium, and large construction firms as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).ARRA provides billions of dollars in funding for the improvement of the nations' infrastructure that in turn created a slew of new government-funded construction projects requiring certified payroll reporting.According to USASpending.gov, as of November 23, 2009, there was $43.9 billion in spending targeted for the "construction of structures and facilities." A U.S. Federal Law, the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931, set "prevailing wage" rate requirements on public works projects.  All contractors and subcontractors who engage in government construction contracts and federally assisted construction projects over $2,000.00 are required to submit weekly - certified payroll reports…
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15Apr 2010 by Nancy Smyth

How To Complete a Certified Payroll Report

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, The "Sunburst" Website, Webinars & Training
With the bulk of the construction projects being funded with ARRA (American Recovery & Reinvestment Act OR Recovery Act) money; more and more contractors are making the leap from residential or commercial construction projects to government funded construction projects.While there is a lot of really good information out there on HOW to do business with the government and getting yourself into the government construction arena - the one thing that seems to be missing in preparing contractors for this type of work - is the simple fact that these jobs require the submission of a Weekly Certified Payroll Report.Almost anyone will tell you that completing a certified payroll report on a weekly basis is a time-consuming, error-prone, and frustrating task!The U.S. Department of Labor's Form WH-347 and WH-348 is one…
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21Jan 2010 by Nancy Smyth

New York Certified Payroll Update Available

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Construction News, The "Sunburst" Website
The City of New York, Office of the Comptroller, Bureau of Labor Law has revised their certified payroll reporting form; new reporting mandates no longer require contractors to display the full social security number of employees on the reports - social security numbers are now to be displayed as XXX-XX-1234.For complete details, click here.
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19Jun 2009 by Nancy Smyth

What happens when a contractor fails to pay prevailing wages and submit certified payroll reports?

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Construction News
When a contractor works on Federal and/or state funded construction projects and fails to pay the appropriate "prevailing wages" or  overtime to their employees and/or fails to submit the required "certified payroll reports" to the appropriate agencies ---- well it's pretty serious business. The following article from SouthCoastTODAY.com will give you a little insight into just how serious it can be. New Bedford drywall firm settles wage problem By Staff Report June 17, 2009 BOSTON — Attorney General Martha Coakley's Office has reached a settlement with a New Bedford drywall company resolving allegations that the company failed to pay employees the prevailing wage rate, the correct overtime rate and failed to keep proper payroll records for work performed at four Massachusetts public works job sites. Garcia Drywall Inc. and its…
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29Apr 2009 by Nancy Smyth

Reporting Requirements for the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Construction News, QuickBooks Add-Ons, The "Sunburst" Website
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), provides the State Departments of Transportation and Federal Lands Agencies with $27.5 billion for highway infrastructure investment. With this money there also comes an increased level of reporting, which we will be adding to Certified Payroll Solution to better and more fully serve the needs of our customers who may be working on these types of construction projects. ARRA Reports include: Monthly Employment Report - Form FHWA-1589 Monthly Recipient Project Status Report - Form FHWA-1585 (a summary report in addition to FHWA-1589) Initial ARRA Project Plan - Form FHWA-1586 (a summary report in addition to FHWA-1589) Monthly Summary Employment Report - Form FHWA-1587 (a summary report in addition to FHWA-1589) Periodic Grouped Project Report - Form FHWA-1588 (a summary report in…
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28Apr 2009 by Nancy Smyth

U. S. Department of Labor Revises Certified Payroll Reporting Requirements for Form WH-347

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Construction News, The "Sunburst" Website
Effective January 18, 2009 Prime/General contractors and subcontractors who perform work on federally funded construction projects are no longer required to display the home address and social security numbers of employees on the certified payroll report form WH-347 that they submit; instead you are now required to display the employees full name and the last 4-digits of his/her social security number as follows XXX-XX-1234.  This revision was established to better protect worker privacy and identity theft. Given the new reporting requirements it would not be in violation of 29 CFR 5.5 (a)(3)(i) for a prime/general contractor to require a subcontractor to proved employee addresses and social security numbers for the prime/general contractors own records, without including this information in weekly submissions. The U.S. Department of Labor - Wage and Hour…
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06Apr 2009 by Nancy Smyth

Construction Workers on “stimulus” projects will receive prevailing wages

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Construction News
And contractors will be required to complete and submit certified payroll reports. {From an article in the Washington Independent written by Jefferson Morley on 3/31/09} Though stymied on the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier for workers to form unions, organized labor is about to claim a big consolation prize: the massive application of a law guaranteeing "prevailing wages" for hundreds of thousands of construction workers hired under President Obama's economic stimulus program. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is now preparing guidelines that will expand the scope of the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act, according to a department spokesperson. "In some cases, the Davis-Bacon prevailing wage provisions will apply to federal construction contracts in the same manner as they currently apply," said spokesperson Dolline Hatchett in an email. "In…
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27Mar 2009 by Nancy Smyth

Government stimulus projects include prevailing wage requirements

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Construction News
{from an Associated Press article} A note from Sunburst Software Solutions, Inc. - Prevailing Wage requirements also require the submission of "certified payroll reports" on a weekly basis. Gov't stimulus projects include wage requirements By SCOTT BAUER - 23 hours ago MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Welders, bricklayers and other construction workers under the U.S. government's $787 billion stimulus law would earn significantly higher wages in some areas than crews on private, non-stimulus projects. Wage rules in the law are a potential bonus to workers' wallets but they're upsetting contractors who say it will increase their costs and reduce the numbers of projects that can be funded. Tucked within the 407-page law is a requirement that laborers and mechanics employed on government stimulus projects be paid "prevailing wages," which is defined…
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26Mar 2009 by Nancy Smyth

Economic Recovery Resource Center

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Construction News
(from Public Works Online) Almost 20% of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be spent on improving the nation's infrastructure, this means that their will be more and more "public works" construction projects that require certified payroll. Will you be ready?  Will you be in compliance?  Do you know what a certified payroll report is or how to fill one out?  Check out our Free (upon request) Certified Payroll Training Guide https://www.sunburstsoftwaresolutions.com/component/option,com_performs/formid,5/ Interested in finding out how this money will be spent?  Check out Public Works Online Economic Recovery Resource Center at https://www.pwmag.com/industry-news.asp?sectionID=0&articleID=878887
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03Mar 2009 by Nancy Smyth

Economic Stimulus Plan – Your Business and Payroll

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Construction News, Payroll Tips
The new stimulus legislation means changes to payroll no later than April 1, 2009. {This information is from Intuit's website and posted here for your information.  Visit Intuit's payroll website for additional information.} What does the stimulus plan mean to your business? New payroll tax credits and COBRA provisions will mean changes to how you handle payroll taxes and quarterly tax filings. The IRS asks that employers calculate federal withholding and advance earned income credit payments with new tables just issued as soon as possible, but no later than April 1st, 2009. Why not let Intuit Payroll handle the burden of tracking these changes so you can focus on running your business? Over one million small businesses trust us to do just that already, more than any other payroll service.…
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27Feb 2009 by Nancy Smyth

3 Key Steps for Shifting to Public Works Projects

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage
From Construction Business Owner.com - written by Russ Roy - February 2oo9 edition Note from Nancy Smyth:  Monte TenEyek, the consultant noted in this article, obviously didn't do his homework regarding QuickBooks.  QuickBooks Pro/Premier has the ability to handle 25 active payroll wage items per employee and the Enterprise Solutions version can handle 100 per employee.  If you add QuickBooks Enhanced Payroll you can track worker's compensation. Read our own article on "Making the Move to Public Works Construction" from our December 2008 QuickBooks for Contractors Newsletter, by clicking here. With the burst housing bubble and tighter private financing guidelines, more and more contractors are considering public works projects as a new source of revenue. On the surface, this seems like a great idea. Talks of a possible federal stimulus…
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