certified payroll | QuickBooks for Contractors blog

14Mar 2012 by Nancy Smyth

Boy, It Sure Has Been BUSY Around Here!

Help! I've fallen into the "I'm just so busy" trap and I can't get out! What with certified payroll reporting requirement changes, taxes, support calls, blogging, and all the other things that I do; I find that I've fallen into that "I'm just so BUSY" trap that many people talk about. See what I'm doing about it. People often ask me how I manage to get everything done - it's easy! I work from 4 or 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, then I slack off on Saturday and Sunday cause I only work from 5 or 6 a.m. till noon! Seriously, that's how I manage and frankly I'm pretty burnt out! Urban Dictionary has some great definitions of the term busy, you'll have to visit Urban…

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…

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…

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…

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…

13Apr 2011 by Nancy Smyth

New Certified Payroll Solution Support Article

The "Sunburst" Website

A new Certified Payroll Solution support article has been added to our main website - Matching Your QuickBooks Paycheck Totals With Your Certified Payroll Report Totals A guide for verifying and troubleshooting the accuracy of your final certified payroll reports before you submit them is an important step in your overall success in using Certified Payroll Solution and getting paid on time. This mini-manual focuses on the Federal WH-347 form - which everyone has access to, 99% of the time, if the WH-347 form is accurate, any other state specific form that you are required to complete will be also. It will teach you how to: Match your QuickBooks paycheck totals with your Certified Payroll Report totals Correct the 6 most common problems, based on over 10 years worth of…

28Mar 2011 by Nancy Smyth

Are Your QuickBooks Certified Payroll Reports Accurate? How to Check

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

Verifying the accuracy of the certified payroll reports that you can generate from QuickBooks Premier and Enterprise versions - IF you also subscribe to Enhanced Payroll, is a must for anyone in the construction industry. I've been watching the posts on the Intuit Community Forums about the alternate, substitute U.S. Department of Labor WH-347 certified payroll reports that can be generated if you have QuickBooks Premier or Enterprise AND an Enhanced Payroll Subscription. It seems like many people want to know how to generate the reports, if the reports are approved through the DOL (Department of Labor), why they have suddenly stopped working, how to issue "No Work Performed Reports", and how to tell if the reports they are generating are accurate. This article will focus on the requirements of…

06Dec 2010 by Nancy Smyth

Prevailing Wage Fringes-Taking a Credit for Health Insurance

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage

Taking a Health Insurance credit against the full prevailing wage fringe benefit 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. This is an issue that has been extensively belabored in our office (by me). We are an open shop, but sometimes do jobs with a union agreement. We do a lot of prevailing wage jobs and private work. We offer all of our employees health insurance - the company paying 75% of the monthly premium and the employees paying the remaining 25% through employee deductions. It gets so confusing and reading all the blogs etc. does not clarify it for me. I must…

15Oct 2010 by Nancy Smyth

How to Fulfill Certified Payroll Requirements – ABC Webinar

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Webinars & Training

How to Fulfill Your Certified Payroll Requirements Webinar - Associated Builders & Contractors, Inc. Merit Choice Date: Wednesday, November 17 Time: 2 p.m. (ET) / 1 p.m. (CT) / 12 p.m. (MT) / 11 a.m. (PT) Length: 90 minutes Fee: Free for ABC members Speaker: Nancy Smyth, President of Sunburst Software Solutions For more information or to register, visit https://www.abc.org/Hot_Links/Meetings_and_Events/Webinars/2.aspx Join ABC Merit Choice for a complimentary webinar on certified payroll! Learn everything you need to know to fulfill your certified payroll requirements in the most compliant and efficient manner. What government agencies make the laws behind certified payroll reporting requirements? How to comply with labor standards and payroll reporting requirements How to complete a Certified Payroll Report and Statement of Compliance Common methods for creating Certified Payroll Reports, Statements of…

28Jul 2010 by Nancy Smyth

Certified Payroll & AIA Billing Updates

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Customers & Accounts Receivable, The "Sunburst" Website

We've been testing, debugging, and documenting numerous certified payroll and AIA billing updates for the last few weeks - I've posted some of the information behind the changes here in our blog. Today, I just send out a newsletter to over 2,000 construction companies (in all 50 states) who use our software - Glad I use Constant Contact to keep everyone up to date, otherwise they would get me for spamming :-) Below are highlights from the newsletter. Certified Payroll Solution Updates: There are several new enhancements, changes, and requirements available for Certified Payroll Solution; some at the State level for certified payroll reporting and others at the Federal level for EEOC Reporting - each item has a link to our website where you will find complete instructions. Be sure…

26Jul 2010 by Nancy Smyth

Texas Department of Transportation Requires Electronic Certified Payrolls (E-Payrolls)

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Construction News, QuickBooks Add-Ons, The "Sunburst" Website

The Texas Department of Transportation, like many other state agencies, is requiring electronic submission of certified payroll reports, through its Electronic Project Records System (EPRS). TxDOT EPRS provides contractors with multiple functions which they can utilize; however, one of the primary functions of the EPRS is that of collecting Electronic Certified Payrolls (E-Payrolls), instead of requiring contractors to submit paper certified payroll report forms for review. E-Payrolls may be uploaded into the EPRS from a contractor’s computer IF they have the proper information, in a specific data order, and it is a .CSV file format – otherwise the contractor will have to take his printed paper certified payroll report and manually input it in the EPRS System. Some software companies are updating their payroll systems to provide their construction clients…

22Jul 2010 by Nancy Smyth

California DIR – New Prevailing Wage Compliance Requirements for Contractors

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Construction News, QuickBooks Add-Ons, The "Sunburst" Website

Beginning August 1, 2010 contractors working on public works construction projects in California will find that they are subject to the regulations of the Public Works Compliance Monitoring Unit (CMU) – part of the California Department of Industrial Relations - in accordance with State Senate Bill X2-9, that was signed into law in February 2009. The CMU will conduct the required monitoring and enforcement of the states public works prevailing wage laws on specific state bond funded and/or design-build procurement construction projects undertaken by public entities in California and awarded on or after the effect date of the regulations – August 1, 2010. The California Department of Industrial Relations Compliance Monitoring Unit’s mission is to ensure that workers on state bond funded and/or design-build procurement construction projects are being paid…

12Jul 2010 by Nancy Smyth

Calculating & Displaying Fringe Benefits on a Certified Payroll Report

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, QuickBooks 2010 - What's New?, The "Sunburst" Website

One of the biggest causes of confusion for contractors working on government funded construction projects is “how to calculate and display fringe benefits” on a certified payroll report. In recent months, I have repeatedly seen posts from QuickBooks users on the Intuit Community Forums asking how the fringe benefit rate is calculated and then displayed on the Certified Payroll Report in Excel, which is now a standard function of QuickBooks Premier and Enterprise when used in conjunction with Enhanced Payroll, and I really haven’t seen any good responses. Hence today’s blog post. Background: Contractors who work on government funded construction projects are required to pay their employees a “prevailing” rate of pay; based on where the project is located and the type of work they are performing. This “prevailing rate…

Tag: certified payroll