Certified payroll deadlines in California
Search this topic and you get payroll tax due dates. This page is the other calendar, the one that decides whether your progress payment moves: every certified payroll and public works clock, with the rule behind each one.
The calendar
| Clock | Deadline | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Federal WH-347 | Weekly, on federally funded or assisted work | The Department of Labor's WH-347 is the form for certified weekly payrolls under the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts (dol.gov) |
| California eCPR to DIR | At least once every 30 days while work is performed, and within 30 days after the final day of work, or more often if the contract says so | Labor Code 1771.4(a)(3)(A) |
| eCPR penalty grace | The $100 per day penalty, capped at $5,000 per project, is not levied until 14 days after the records were due | Labor Code 1771.4(a)(3)(B) and (C) |
| Records request | 10 days after receipt of a written request; then $100 per worker per calendar day | Labor Code 1776(d) and (h) |
| Records location change | Notice to the awarding body within five working days | Labor Code 1776(g) |
| PWC-100 by the awarding body | Within five days of project award; no eCPR can be filed until it exists | DIR eCPR FAQ |
| Training fund contributions | Due and payable by the 15th of the month after the month the work was performed, with a CAC-2 | Division of Apprenticeship Standards |
| DAS 140 and DAS 142 | Contract award information (the DAS 140) goes to the applicable apprenticeship committee within ten days of the date of execution of the prime contract or subcontract, and in no event later than the first day the contractor has workers employed on the public work (Title 8, section 230(a)); a DAS 142 dispatch request must give the program at least 72 hours notice of the date apprentices are to report (section 230.1) | 8 CCR 230, 8 CCR 230.1 |
| Contractor registration | Fiscal years run July 1 to June 30; renew before June 30. Late renewal between July 1 and September 30 carries a penalty; after September 30 the penalty is $2,000 | DIR contractor registration |
Weekly versus monthly, resolved
The confusion comes from two governments. The federal WH-347 is weekly. California's statute says at least monthly, with monthly defined as every 30 days while work continues and one more submission within 30 days after the last day, and it lets the awarding body's contract demand more. Many contracts demand weekly. The safe operating rhythm is weekly for everything, which is also the only rhythm that produces a WH-347 on time. That is how we run it.
The clocks people forget
- The last day of work starts a clock. The final eCPR is due within 30 days of the final day on the project, even when the crew has moved on.
- No work weeks still get filed. A week with nobody on site is a statement of non performance, not a skipped week.
- The registration lapse is invisible until it is expensive. Registration expires June 30. A contractor who bids, is awarded, or works on a public works project after expiry pays $400 for an accidental lapse and $2,000 for a lapse that was not accidental during the July to September window, and $2,000 after that (DIR registration page).
- The 14 day grace is not a 14 day extension. It is the point at which the eCPR penalty starts accruing; the duty was due earlier.
Build the calendar once
For each project: the awarding body's contract frequency, the federal weekly duty if federal money is involved, the DAS forms if the trade is apprenticeable and the contract is over the statutory threshold, the training fund date on the 15th, and the registration renewal in June. We build that calendar at setup and send a weekly reminder so a filing never slips. The first weekly filing is free.