L&I Certified Payroll — Day-Of Runbook

Bella Terra LLC · Follow top to bottom when filing a prevailing-wage job · Page: bellaterra.services → 🏛️ L&I Certified Payroll
Before you start, have ready: the L&I Intent # for the job (from your filed Statement of Intent), the county the work was in, and the Payroll Northwest journal PDF (EMAILJRN…pdf) for that pay period.

Phase 1 — One-time setup (skip if already done)

Only needed the first time, or when you add a new worker / cost code
  1. Trade map tab — for each cost code used on government work, pick the L&I trade and type the job classification (word-for-word from your filed Intent). Saves as you go.
  2. Workers tab — for each crew member on the job, click Edit and enter their full SSN and home address.

Phase 2 — When the job is awarded

  1. Open Project Setup, select the government job.
  2. Fill in the L&I Intent # and County fields (they show up only on Government jobs), then Save.

Phase 3 — Each pay period (the actual filing)

  1. Go to 🏛️ L&I Certified Payroll → ① Generate tab.
  2. Pick the project and the week range for the period, click Check & build.
  3. Clear any red ✕ items it lists (it links you straight to whatever's missing). Re-click Check & build until all green ✓.
  4. Open "Auto-fill from the Payroll Northwest journal" → upload the EMAILJRN…pdf for that period. Gross, Fed withholding, and FICA fill in automatically. (Do one pay period at a time.)
  5. Glance over the table — fix any cell that looks off; anyone not matched, type their 3 numbers by hand.
  6. Click ⬇ Download L&I XML. The file saves to your Downloads.
  7. Go to L&I's Prevailing Wage system and upload that file. It builds the certified payroll report(s) for you.
First real filing only: before uploading to L&I, send the downloaded .xml to Claude to confirm it's correct against L&I's official format. After one accepted upload, you can file directly.

If something's red on the checklist

It says…Do this
Missing L&I Intent # / CountyProject Setup → that job → fill the field → Save (Phase 2).
Missing trade mapping for a codeTrade map tab → set the trade + classification for that code.
Missing/invalid SSN or addressWorkers tab → Edit that person → fill it in.
No work entries for this projectThe crew has no government clock-ins in that week — check the project/week, or there's nothing to file.
Bella Terra LLC — keep this with payroll. Full how-to: LI-Certified-Payroll-Guide.html. Questions/changes: ask Claude in the portal project.