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How to fill out Form WH-347, column by column

A walkthrough of the January 2025 WH-347: every header field, columns 1A through 9, the straight time and overtime rows, and page 2. With the rules behind each box.

6 min read · Updated September 7, 2026 · Sources checked September 7, 2026

Form WH-347 is 2 pages. Page 1 is the payroll: one row per worker per classification, with hours by day and the money columns. Page 2 is the Statement of Compliance you sign. The January 2025 revision renumbered the columns, so if you learned the form years ago, the letters below will look new.

Project name, and project or contract number. Copy these from the contract or the prime's paperwork. The agency matches payrolls to contracts by this number.

Certified payroll number. Start at 1 for your first week on the project and count up. Every week you file gets the next number. If you skip a week and later file a no-work payroll for it, use the number that keeps the sequence intact.

Business name and business address. Yours, as the contractor or subcontractor filing this payroll.

Prime contractor or subcontractor. Check one.

Project location. The street address or the county and state.

Wage determination number. Every wage determination has one, in the format of a state code, a year, and a 4-digit number, sometimes followed by a modification number. It is on the first page of the determination attached to your contract. If more than one determination applies, list them all.

Week ending date. The last day of your payroll week.

Final payroll. Check the box only on the last payroll you will file for this project.

Column 1A, worker entry number

A sequence number for each worker: 1, 2, 3. A worker who performed 2 classifications in the week gets 2 rows with the same entry number.

Columns 1B through 1D, name

Last name, first name, middle initial. The 2025 form separated these so agencies can sort and match.

Column 1E, identifying number

Any number that identifies the worker consistently from week to week. The instructions suggest the last 4 digits of the Social Security number. An employee ID from your payroll system works as well. The instructions say plainly that "workers' full Social Security numbers must not be included."

Column 2, journeyworker or apprentice

Enter J for a journeyworker. Enter RA for a registered apprentice. The form does not ask for the level; adding it, as in RA 3, is optional and helps the reviewer check the percentage. If you mark RA, page 2 box 4 must be checked and the program identified. The apprentice rules.

Column 3, classification

The labor classification from the wage determination that matches the work actually performed. Use the determination's wording. If a worker did laborer work Monday and operated a backhoe Tuesday, that is 2 rows, 2 classifications, same entry number. How two classifications are reported.

If the work your crew does is not on the determination, you cannot pick the closest name. The classification has to be added through the conformance process. How conformances work.

Column 4, hours worked each day

Seven day columns. The header row shows the day letters and the dates for the week. Each worker's row has 2 lines: straight time on top, overtime below.

Enter hours worked on this project only. Hours on other jobs that week do not go here, though they matter for column 7B and for the overtime decision.

On contracts over $100,000, the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act requires overtime for hours over 40 in the workweek. If a worker put in 32 hours on your project and 12 on a private job the same week, the last 4 hours on your project are overtime hours for that worker even though your project alone shows 32. Overtime rules in detail.

Column 5, total hours

Straight time plus overtime for the week, this project.

Column 6A, hourly rate

Two lines again: the straight time rate actually paid on top, the overtime rate below. This is the cash rate excluding fringe. If the determination lists $42.15 basic plus $18.40 fringe and you pay the fringe as cash, column 6A still shows $42.15, and the overtime line shows $63.23 (1.5 times $42.15).

Column 6B, fringe benefit credit

The total for the week of what you paid into bona fide fringe benefit plans for this worker: total hours times the hourly plan credit. If you paid nothing into plans, leave it at zero. Any amount here requires the plan detail on page 2.

Column 6C, payment in lieu of fringe benefits

The total for the week of fringe paid as cash: total hours times the hourly cash rate. A worker whose fringe is fully covered by plans shows zero here.

Together, 6B plus 6C divided by hours should equal at least the fringe rate on the determination, once any shortfall in the basic rate is accounted for. Cash versus plan in detail.

Column 7A, gross amount earned on this project

Straight time hours times the straight time rate, plus overtime hours times the overtime rate, plus the cash fringe in 6C. Plan contributions in 6B are not wages and do not belong in gross.

Column 7B, gross amount earned for all work

The worker's total gross for the week across every job. If this project was the worker's only work, 7B equals 7A. The instructions ask for it because the deductions in column 8 are computed on total pay, so the reviewer needs the total to check them.

Column 8, deductions

Four sub-columns: tax withholdings, FICA, other (which must be specified), and total deductions. These are the actual deductions from the worker's full weekly pay; do not prorate them to the project. If "other" has anything in it, say what it is in the remarks on page 2 or in the space beside the figure.

Every deduction must be one the Copeland Act regulations allow. Taxes, court-ordered garnishments, union dues under a collective bargaining agreement, and voluntary benefit contributions are on the permitted list. A deduction for tools or uniforms usually is not, unless the Department of Labor has approved it. The permitted deductions.

Column 9, net pay

Gross for all work (7B) minus the deductions in column 8. For a worker with 2 classification rows, most agencies want 7B, column 8, and column 9 on the first row only, with the second row carrying only that classification's hours and 7A.

Page 2, Statement of Compliance

The header repeats the project, contract number, payroll number, week ending, and your business name, and adds the certifying official's name and title.

Boxes 1, 2, 3, and 6 are always checked. They are the certifications the regulation requires. Box 4 is checked if any apprentice appears on page 1, with the program name, whether it is registered with the Office of Apprenticeship or a State Apprenticeship Agency, and the classification. Box 5 is checked if you claimed any fringe credit in column 6B, and the table below it lists each plan and the hourly credit per worker.

Then the signature, the date, a phone number, and an email. What each box commits you to.

Two habits that prevent most rejections

Keep the classification wording identical to the wage determination. Reviewers compare strings.

Keep the arithmetic honest to the rules rather than to your payroll system's rounding. Overtime is 1.5 times the basic rate in 6A; the fringe is never multiplied. Gross on the project must equal the hours and rates on the same row. When a reviewer's calculator disagrees with your row, the payroll comes back.

Watch: Your first certified payroll

2:57 · transcript and chapters

Sources

  1. Form WH-347 (PDF, Rev. January 2025), U.S. Department of Labor
  2. Instructions for completing Form WH-347
  3. 29 CFR 5.5(a)(3), Payrolls and basic records
  4. 29 CFR 5.32, Overtime payments

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This guide explains the rules as written and is not legal advice. Your contract, the wage determination, and any state law control when they differ.