FRINGE BENEFITS TRACKING
SkillSmart automates fringe benefit tracking, annualization, cash-in-lieu calculations, and bona fide plan compliance for Davis-Bacon and state prevailing wage projects — so every dollar is documented, every plan is verified, and every audit is defensible.
INSTANT DEMO
Click through InSight IQ yourself. No form. No commitment. Watch fringe benefit rates apply to a prevailing wage project, see annualization calculated automatically, and verify cash-in-lieu and bona fide plan compliance in real time.
✓ Fringe Annualization ✓ Cash vs. Bona Fide Plan Tracking ✓ Split-Funded Fringe Compliance ✓ WH-347 Fringe Reporting
Prefer a guided walkthrough with a compliance specialist? Request a live demo →
Trusted by contractors tracking fringe benefits on Davis-Bacon and state prevailing wage projects
THE CHALLENGE
Most contractors can handle base wage rates. It’s the fringe side — annualization, cash-in-lieu, split-funded plans, hourly equivalents — that creates audit findings, triggers back-pay, and keeps compliance teams up at night.
To calculate the hourly fringe credit for a bona fide plan, you divide total annual contributions by total hours worked across ALL projects — Davis-Bacon and non-Davis-Bacon. Get the denominator wrong and you’re either underpaying fringes (audit finding) or overpaying with no way to recover it.
Contractors can pay fringes as cash-in-lieu, into bona fide plans, or as a split — and every option has different documentation requirements. Most teams track this in spreadsheets that don’t connect to payroll, don’t update when rates change, and can’t survive a DOL audit.
Auditors know where to look. The fringe benefit line on the WH-347 is the most common source of certified payroll errors — wrong hourly rate, missing plan documentation, or annualization that doesn’t add up. One wrong fringe line can unravel an entire project’s compliance.
THE PLATFORM
WHY SKILLSMART
Most tools ignore annualization or force you to calculate it offline. SkillSmart pulls actual plan contributions and total hours — DBA and non-DBA — to compute the correct hourly credit automatically. When plans renew or hours shift mid-year, the calculation updates in real time.
Cash-in-lieu, bona fide health plan, pension, 401k, vacation fund, apprenticeship training — or any combination. SkillSmart tracks every fringe payment method against the required rate and documents the split for every worker, every pay period, every project.
SkillSmart alerts you before a fringe shortfall becomes an audit finding. If a worker’s annualized fringe credit drops below the required rate — because hours changed, a plan renewed, or contributions were missed — you see it immediately and can cure before the next WH-347 filing.
SkillSmart supports both the new and legacy WH-347 form versions. Fringe benefit data auto-populates on both — same accuracy, same documentation, same validation. Projects that started on the old form transition seamlessly.
Every customer gets a dedicated compliance specialist who configures your fringe benefit setup, verifies your annualization methodology, and supports you through DOL audits. Not a chatbot — a person who understands Davis-Bacon fringe requirements.
Export every fringe calculation, every plan verification, every compliance report anytime. SOC 2 Type II certified. Your data stays yours — critical when auditors need fringe documentation years after project completion.
HOW WE COMPARE
Most compliance platforms treat fringe benefits as a single field on a payroll form. SkillSmart treats fringe as what it is — a complex, multi-method, auditable compliance requirement that deserves its own tracking, its own validation, and its own reporting.
Competitors that handle fringe at all expect you to calculate annualization offline and enter the result manually. SkillSmart computes annualization automatically from actual plan data and hours worked — and recalculates when inputs change.
Fringe calculations that live in a spreadsheet disconnected from your WH-347s create errors. SkillSmart connects fringe tracking directly to certified payroll — so the fringe line on every WH-347 matches the underlying plan data, every time, automatically.
“The platform has provided a strong foundation for managing Davis-Bacon compliance, and it has helped streamline the tracking and reporting of certified payroll in a more structured and transparent way. Having a centralized system has significantly improved our ability to maintain consistency across subcontractors and ensure documentation is properly captured. The system’s ability to capture fringe benefit data and reflect it appropriately in reporting has been a major benefit.”
Jess Bridenback
Haydon Construction
FREQUENTLY ASKED
Answers to the questions contractors, payroll teams, and compliance managers ask most about prevailing wage fringe benefits, annualization, and bona fide plan tracking on Davis-Bacon projects.
Prevailing wage fringe benefits are the additional compensation — beyond the base hourly wage — that contractors must pay on Davis-Bacon and state prevailing wage projects. Fringes can be paid as cash-in-lieu (added to the paycheck), into bona fide benefit plans (health insurance, pension, 401k, vacation), or as a combination. The required fringe rate is set by the wage determination for each project. SkillSmart tracks every fringe dollar against that rate automatically.
Under Davis-Bacon, fringe benefits include employer contributions to health insurance, pension, 401k, vacation, apprenticeship training, and other bona fide plans. Contractors can satisfy the fringe requirement by paying into qualified plans, paying cash-in-lieu, or a combination — as long as the total meets or exceeds the fringe rate in the wage determination. Plans must meet DOL requirements for bona fide status.
Yes. SkillSmart automates annualization by dividing total annual plan contributions by total hours worked across all projects (Davis-Bacon and non-Davis-Bacon). The calculation updates in real time as hours accrue and plan contributions change. Mid-year plan renewals, rate changes, and hour fluctuations are handled automatically — no offline spreadsheets required.
Yes. Many contractors pay fringes through a combination of bona fide plans and cash supplements. SkillSmart tracks both components separately, calculates the hourly credit for each, and verifies that the total meets the required fringe rate. The split is documented on every WH-347 and in fringe compliance reports.
Yes. SkillSmart auto-populates fringe rates, payment methods, and plan details on every WH-347 — both new and legacy form versions. The fringe benefit section is pre-validated against the wage determination before submission, so the most audited line on the form is always accurate and documented.
Most compliance platforms treat fringe benefits as a single input field — you calculate the rate offline and enter it manually. None offer dedicated annualization engines, split-funded tracking, or bona fide plan verification. SkillSmart is the only platform that treats fringe benefits as a first-class compliance feature with its own tracking, validation, and reporting.
Most contractors are fully operational in 2-4 weeks. Your dedicated compliance specialist configures your fringe benefit plans, sets up annualization parameters, and verifies your methodology against DOL requirements. Existing fringe data can be migrated to provide continuity on projects already in progress.
Get a 15-minute walkthrough of InSight IQ. See exactly how SkillSmart tracks fringe benefit annualization, cash-in-lieu, bona fide plans, and split-funded fringes — and produces the documentation that survives a DOL audit.
15-min walkthrough · No commitment · SOC 2 Type II certified