IRA & TAX CREDIT LABOR COMPLIANCE
SkillSmart automates the prevailing wage, apprenticeship, and certified payroll requirements that ITC and PTC clean energy projects must meet to earn the bonus tax credit rate — so you don’t lose up to 5x the base credit to a compliance gap.
INSTANT DEMO
Click through InSight IQ yourself. No form. No commitment. Watch prevailing wage requirements apply to a clean energy project, see apprenticeship utilization track against the 15% threshold, and verify bonus tax credit eligibility in real time.
✓ IRA Prevailing Wage Tracking ✓ Apprentice 15% Threshold ✓ Certified Payroll (New + Legacy WH-347) ✓ Bonus Credit Eligibility
Prefer a guided walkthrough with a compliance specialist? Request a live demo →
Trusted by contractors and developers managing IRA labor compliance on clean energy projects
THE CHALLENGE
Miss the prevailing wage or apprenticeship requirements on an IRA project and you lose the bonus tax credit — up to 5x the base rate. That’s not a compliance footnote. That’s the difference between a viable project and a failed one.
ITC and PTC clean energy projects earn a base credit of 6%. Meet the IRA’s prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements and that jumps to 30%. Miss them and you lose 80% of the credit value — often millions of dollars on a single project.
The IRA demands prevailing wage compliance, 15% apprenticeship utilization, and certified payroll documentation — all verified, all auditable. Most teams track these in three separate systems (or spreadsheets) with no integration and no safety net.
The IRA’s correction and penalty provisions mean a compliance gap discovered after project completion can trigger back-pay obligations, penalty payments of $5,000+ per worker, and potential loss of the entire bonus credit. The liability doesn’t end at COD.
THE PLATFORM
WHY SKILLSMART
Prevailing wage, apprenticeship utilization, and certified payroll — the IRA’s three labor requirements — tracked, validated, and documented in one configurable system. Not three separate tools with three separate logins and three separate data sets.
See every IRA project’s bonus tax credit eligibility status in real time. Prevailing wage compliance, apprenticeship utilization, and certified payroll status on one screen — so you know you qualify before you file, not after.
The IRA provides a correction period for prevailing wage shortfalls — but only if you catch them in time and document the cure. SkillSmart tracks correction windows, calculates back-pay obligations, and produces the required documentation automatically.
SkillSmart supports both the new and legacy WH-347 form versions. Projects that started before the form update transition seamlessly — no rework, no manual conversion, no compliance gaps between form versions.
Every customer gets a dedicated compliance specialist who configures your IRA requirements, trains your team, and supports you through audits and tax credit filings. Not a ticket queue — a person who understands IRA labor provisions.
Export every payroll record, every ratio calculation, every compliance package anytime. SOC 2 Type II certified. Your data stays yours — critical when tax equity partners and IRS auditors need documentation years after project completion.
HOW WE COMPARE
No competitor — not LCPtracker, not eComply, not Points North — has an IRA-specific compliance product. SkillSmart was built for the post-IRA compliance landscape: prevailing wage, apprenticeship, and certified payroll requirements tracked together as a single tax-credit obligation.
Other platforms force you to track prevailing wage in one system, apprenticeship in another, and certified payroll in a third. SkillSmart combines all three IRA labor requirements in one configurable system with shared data, shared validation, and one compliance status per project.
Compliance is necessary but not sufficient. SkillSmart produces the documentation packages that tax equity partners, IRS auditors, and project owners need — not just proof you paid prevailing wages, but proof you qualify for the bonus credit.
“SkillSmart’s InSight IQ turns PWA complexity into clarity. Our clients developing energy projects spend less time wrangling wage and apprenticeship data, allowing us to focus on delivering real value to help them pursue tax credits”
Amy Forester
Plante Moran
FREQUENTLY ASKED
Answers to the questions developers, contractors, and tax credit professionals ask most about the Inflation Reduction Act’s prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements.
IRA prevailing wage compliance refers to the labor requirements that clean energy projects must meet to earn the bonus tax credit rate under the Inflation Reduction Act. Projects claiming ITC or PTC credits must pay Davis-Bacon prevailing wages, meet the 15% apprenticeship utilization threshold, and submit certified payroll documentation. SkillSmart automates all three requirements in one platform.
The Inflation Reduction Act requires that ITC and PTC clean energy projects beginning construction after January 29, 2023 pay Davis-Bacon prevailing wages and ensure 15% of total labor hours are performed by registered apprentices. Meeting both requirements qualifies the project for the bonus tax credit rate (30% ITC or full PTC vs. the 6% base rate). Failure triggers a correction period with back-pay and penalty provisions.
Yes. SkillSmart tracks prevailing wage compliance, apprenticeship utilization against the 15% threshold, and certified payroll documentation (new and legacy WH-347) in one configurable platform. All three requirements share the same data — no duplicate entry, no reconciliation between systems, one compliance status per project.
Yes. SkillSmart generates IRA labor compliance documentation packages formatted for IRS filing, tax equity partner due diligence, and investor review. Packages include prevailing wage verification, apprenticeship utilization proof, certified payroll records, and correction period documentation — all time-stamped and audit-defensible.
Yes. When a prevailing wage shortfall is identified, SkillSmart calculates the required back-pay amount, tracks the correction period deadline, and generates the cure documentation. Penalty calculations ($5,000+ per worker for intentional violations) are flagged automatically so you can cure before penalties escalate.
As of 2026, no major competitor (LCPtracker, eComply, Points North, B2Gnow) offers an IRA-specific compliance product. Most handle Davis-Bacon prevailing wage in isolation but don’t integrate apprenticeship utilization tracking, IRA correction period management, or tax credit documentation into one system. SkillSmart was purpose-built for the post-IRA compliance landscape. See the full comparison →
Yes. Every demo is tailored to your compliance needs. Tell us whether your focus is ITC solar, PTC wind, battery storage, EV infrastructure, or a mixed portfolio — and your compliance specialist will walk you through how SkillSmart handles your IRA labor requirements in a 15-minute session. Request a demo →
Get a 15-minute walkthrough of InSight IQ. See exactly how SkillSmart tracks prevailing wage, apprenticeship, and certified payroll requirements for your IRA projects — and produces the documentation your tax equity partners need.
15-min walkthrough · No commitment · SOC 2 Type II certified