WH-347 example: a completed certified payroll form, explained

This is what a finished federal certified payroll looks like, with sample data, and what each block has to contain. The form is the Department of Labor's Form WH-347, OMB control number 1235-0008.

U.S. Department of Labor
Wage and Hour Division

PAYROLL
Form WH-347

Contractor: Sample Electric, Inc.

Payroll no.: 7

Address: 123 Sample St, Sacramento, CA

Week ending: Sample

Project: Sample Elementary School Modernization

Project no.: SAMPLE-0000

Name and ID	Class	Hrs	Rate	Gross	Ded.	Net
A. Sample, last four 0001	Electrician	40	$58.12	$2,324.80	$512.10	$1,812.70
B. Sample, last four 0002	Electrician	44	$58.12	$2,673.52	$598.44	$2,075.08
C. Sample, last four 0003	Apprentice	40	$34.87	$1,394.80	$301.20	$1,093.60

Statement of Compliance. I, the undersigned, do hereby state that I pay or supervise the payment of the persons employed by the above named contractor, and that during the payroll period all persons employed on said project have been paid the full weekly wages earned.

s/ Sample Signer, OwnerDate: Sample

Sample data. Names, numbers, and the project are invented. Real forms carry only the last four digits of each worker's social security number, never the full number.

Block by block

The header

Contractor or subcontractor name and address, the payroll number (sequential per project), the week ending date, the project and location, and the project or contract number. The payroll number is how an auditor spots a gap: payroll 6 and payroll 8 with nothing between them is a missing week.

The worker rows

One row per worker: name and an identifying number (the last four of the social security number is the current convention), the number of withholding exemptions, the work classification, and hours worked each day of the week split into straight time and overtime. The classification has to match a classification in the wage determination for the project; a made up job title is the most common substantive error on the form.

Rate, gross, deductions, net

The rate of pay, including the cash paid in lieu of fringe benefits where that applies, the gross earned this week, each deduction, the total deductions, and the net wages paid for the week. Gross for the project and gross for all work in the week are different figures when a worker split time between jobs.

The Statement of Compliance

The second page. The signer states that the payroll is correct and complete, that wages were paid in full at rates not less than the applicable determination, and how fringe benefits were handled, either paid to approved plans or paid in cash. DOL's page notes that the form is optional but that, properly completed, it satisfies the certified payroll requirements of the federal regulations. Whoever prepares the form, the signature is the contractor's.

The California difference

On a California public works project the WH-347 is not the state filing. The state's certified payroll is the electronic eCPR filed directly with DIR, in DIR's format, and it carries the full social security number rather than the last four. Federally assisted projects need both. The WH-347 vs eCPR page untangles them, and how to submit to DIR walks the state side.

What we send you every week

A completed WH-347 with the Statement of Compliance, the DIR eCPR file that validates, and a confirmation copy for your records, all produced from the payroll export you already run and reviewed by a person before anything goes out. The first weekly filing is free.

Questions

Is there a blank WH-347 to download?

Yes, from the Department of Labor's WH-347 page, which also carries the annotated guide and an online fillable version. The form is optional in the sense that any format with the same information is accepted; most agencies expect the form itself.

Should the full social security number appear?

Not on the WH-347; the current form uses an identifying number, and the last four digits are the convention. The California eCPR is different: it carries the full nine digit number in the XML, and DIR redacts it on public copies.