Certified payroll in QuickBooks Online Payroll: the Premium and Elite report, and what it leaves blank
QuickBooks Online Payroll Premium and Elite download a certified payroll report as a spreadsheet, built from weekly timesheets by project. Core does not. What the report fills, what it leaves for you, and how to finish it.
Checked against QuickBooks Online Payroll’s help center September 16, 2026. Menus move; if a step is off, tell us from the Help menu and it is fixed the same week.
The short answer
QuickBooks Online Payroll Premium and Elite include a certified payroll report (Reports, then Standard reports, search for certified payroll, pick the pay period and project, Download spreadsheet). It fills hours, rates, classifications, fringe and deductions from your timesheets and payroll items; it leaves the project ID, wage determination number, payroll number, worker entry numbers, apprentice status and the signed statement to you. Core has no report; export the payroll details instead.
What QuickBooks Online Payroll gives you
- On Premium and Elite: a spreadsheet in the WH-347's layout for a pay period and a project, with standard and overtime hours by day, rates, classifications, fringe and deductions, when time was entered on the QuickBooks weekly timesheet with the project name.
- Projects and job costing, so hours are tracked to the federal job separately from your other work.
- Payroll items per classification and for fringe or cash in lieu, which is what the report reads.
What the WH-347 still needs
- The header: project ID, wage determination number, certified payroll number.
- Column 1A entry numbers, column 2 journeyworker or apprentice, and page 2 box 4 for apprentices.
- The Statement of Compliance signature, and any check that a rate meets the determination.
- On Core: the report itself. Core exports payroll details without daily hours or classifications.
The export: Certified payroll report (Premium and Elite) or Payroll details (Core)
- Premium and Elite: Reports, then Standard reports. Search for certified payroll report. Choose the pay period and the project. Download spreadsheet.
- Save the spreadsheet as CSV (File, Save as, CSV) so the day columns come through as columns.
- Core: Reports, then Payroll details, for the pay period; export to Excel and save as CSV.
How each column lands on the form
The import matches columns by meaning, so the exact header can vary. It asks about anything it is unsure of before it fills the grid.
| In QuickBooks Online Payroll | On the certified payroll |
|---|---|
| Name, SSN (last 4) | Matched to the crew; the last four digits become the identifying number when the record has none. |
| Work classification | Matched to the job's trades on the determination. |
| S M T W T F S (hours by day) | Straight time and overtime by day, exactly as entered on the timesheet. The import prefers daily columns over totals. |
| Rate of pay | Column 6A. |
| Fringe, cash in lieu | The cash fringe per hour; plan credits are recorded against the plan. |
| Gross, deductions | Columns 7 and 8. |
Rates and classifications
Name the payroll items as the determination names the classifications, and enter time on the QuickBooks weekly timesheet, not the Time app workflow, with the project on every line. The report and the import both read those names.
Fringe
A cash-in-lieu payroll item per hour shows up as fringe on the report. Contributions you make to plans are not on it; record the plan once and the hourly credit per line.
Every week
- Enter time on the weekly timesheet by project and classification; run payroll weekly.
- Download the certified payroll report spreadsheet for the week and project, save as CSV.
- Import into the week in CertifiedHours; it reads the day columns, classifications and rates and adds the entry numbers, payroll number and determination.
- Read the checks: each rate against the determination, fringe on every hour, 7B not under 7A, apprentices registered.
- File and send. The signed statement prints on page 2 with the phone and email a reviewer wants.
Questions people ask
- Does QuickBooks Online do certified payroll?
- Premium and Elite download a certified payroll report as a spreadsheet; Core does not. The report needs time entered on the QuickBooks weekly timesheet with a project on each line, and it leaves the header, entry numbers, apprentice status and signature to you.
- Why does the QuickBooks report leave the wage determination number blank?
- QuickBooks does not hold the determination. It reports what you paid; checking it against the determination and writing the number in the header is a separate step, which is what this app does when the report is imported.
- The 2025 form changed. Is the QuickBooks report current?
- Intuit updated the report for the January 2025 WH-347 (separate name columns, basic rate alone in 6A, fringe split into plan and cash, the J or RA column). Check that yours downloads in that layout; the import reads either.