Certified Payroll in Excel: What a Spreadsheet Has to Get Right

David Gul · Last updated September 18, 2026

Excel can produce a compliant certified payroll, and many small contractors do exactly that. A blank WH-347 template is not the same thing. The form has rules behind every column, and a spreadsheet that only draws the boxes leaves every rule to the person typing. A sheet that is safe to sign keeps one line per worker per classification, derives the overtime rate and the totals rather than accepting them typed, holds the wage determination rates with the dates they took effect, compares what is paid against what is required before printing, freezes an approved payroll so it reprints exactly as filed, and never stores a Social Security number.

Where a template goes wrong

Search for a WH-347 Excel template and you find the form as a grid: type a name, type hours, type a rate, type the gross. Nothing checks that the rate meets the determination, that the overtime rate is time and a half of the right base, that the hours match the total, or that the net is the gross less the deductions. The reviewer does those checks on receipt, which is why templates produce rejected payrolls at a steady rate. The Department of Labor’s own online form has the same shape: it takes the overtime rate as an input and prints whatever was typed.

What the sheet must hold

Data	Why it has to be structured, not typed on the form
Company, certifying official, workweek start day	Page 2 and the header repeat them on every payroll; the workweek must not drift
Projects with contract number, location, wage determination	Every line is measured against the determination named in the header
Classifications with basic rate, fringe, and the date each rate took effect	Determinations are modified; last month’s payroll must reprint at last month’s rate
Employees with an identifying number and a status	Column 1E and column 2 come from the record, and the record holds four digits, never the full number
Hours by date, per worker, per classification	Column 4 is dated; hours keyed to a column shift when the week ending date changes
Deductions with a type and an authorization date	Column 8 and paragraph 1 depend on what kind of deduction it is and when it was consented to

What the sheet must derive

• The overtime rate, as one and one-half times the basic rate or the higher actual rate, excluding fringe. Never an input.
• Total hours from the daily cells, straight time and overtime separately.
• Gross for the project from hours times rates plus cash in lieu of fringe; net from gross for all work less the deductions.
• The fringe credit and cash in lieu as hourly amounts times total hours, across every classification the worker had that week.

What the sheet must check before printing

Rate paid plus fringe reaches the determination for the classification. Every worker on the payroll has an identifying number and at least one hour, or is removed. Every apprentice is flagged as one, with a program on the project. Deductions are of a permitted type. The Statement of Compliance boxes agree with columns 6B and 6C. A sheet that prints without these checks is a template with better formatting.

What the sheet must never do

• Recompute an old payroll. When a rate changes, the payrolls already filed must reprint as filed. Rates belong on the line as it was approved, not looked up live from a master table.
• Hold Social Security numbers. The weekly submission carries four digits. A workbook that holds nine is a data breach waiting for an email attachment.
• Compute withholding. Tax tables are payroll software’s job. The certified payroll reports the deductions the payroll made; it does not decide them.

More in this series: The Mistakes That Get a Certified Payroll Rejected · How to Fill Out Form WH-347, Column by Column · All certified payroll guides