Is There a Faster Way to Handle NY Article 8 Certified Payroll Reporting?

Yes. Zuma Payroll Solved It.

If you're spending hours every week retyping employee names, addresses, deductions, and benefit details into the New York DOL's certified payroll portal - Zuma Payroll has a fix.

We've built a tool that takes your weekly payroll data and converts it into the exact format the state requires. No more manual entry. No more re-entering the same employee from scratch every single week. No more blocked submissions and error messages when you're just trying to get compliant and get paid.

This isn't a workaround. It's a real, tested solution that's already saving our clients 10, 15, even 25 hours a week.

Instead of sitting in front of the portal keying in data for hours, you're done in minutes. Whether you have 1 employee or 100, whether they're on one job or ten - the process is the same.

If you're a Zuma Payroll client, this is ready for you right now.

What We're Hearing From Contractors Like You

Here's what we've heard - over and over again - from people just like you:

"My owner's on my back. We're not getting paid, and it's all coming down on payroll." "I'm retyping the same names, addresses, and deductions every week." "It takes 20 minutes per employee, per project. I've got techs hitting 5 jobs a week." "I didn't even know this reporting was mandatory until we missed a deadline."

Sound familiar?

This isn't a small annoyance. For most companies, it's become a full-time job for someone on the payroll team - just to stay compliant. And if you fall behind? You're looking at $100/day penalties and delayed payments on the projects that keep your business running.

You didn't start your company to spend 25 hours a week navigating a confusing government portal. You have projects to run, people to manage, and work to get done. But right now, an unnecessarily complex reporting process is pulling you and your team away from all of it - and the consequences of not keeping up are too serious to ignore.

What Changed - and Why It's a Problem Now

Up until recently, New York State gave contractors some breathing room on certified payroll reporting. You could keep the records, submit them if requested, and basically hold off until someone asked for them. That's over.

As of 2026, every job covered under Article 8 - that includes most state-funded construction projects - must report payroll electronically through the NY Department of Labor's online portal. It applies to primes and subs. Union and non-union. If your project is covered, you're required to report.

Here's where it gets painful:

The portal doesn't save employee information. Every week, every employee is treated like a brand new entry - name, Social Security number, address, classification, hourly rates, hours by day, every deduction, every benefit. All of it, from scratch. And if one worker touches three job sites in a week, that's three complete entries for the same person.

For a company with 15 employees spread across multiple projects, this can easily consume 20 to 25 hours per week. That's not an exaggeration - that's what contractors are telling us right now.

And the stakes are real. Non-compliance means $100/day in penalties - and more importantly, your payments on those state-funded projects don't move until the reporting is done.

And in at least one case, the portal was completely down on the final days of a submission deadline-without any posted extension or update. For teams already buried in W2 season or union audits, this just added more pressure to an already brutal January.

What Zuma Payroll Built (and Why It Works)

We knew this reporting requirement was going to hit contractors hard. So we got ahead of it.

Zuma's team built a tool that takes your weekly payroll data and converts it into the exact format the state's portal requires - automatically. No special training. No technical knowledge. No extra software to learn.

Once we set it up for you, your weekly process looks like this:

1. Export your payroll data
2. Run it through the tool
3. Upload the file and move on with your day

That's it.

Whether you have 1 employee or 100, whether they're on one job or ten - the process is the same.

What used to take 20 or 25 hours of manual entry now takes minutes.

It works because it was built specifically for this portal, by a team that understands construction payroll and the unique demands of prevailing wage reporting in New York.

And it's already being used by contractors across the state every week.

Who This Helps

This tool was built specifically for New York contractors and subcontractors dealing with the new Article 8 certified payroll reporting requirement

If you're…

• The payroll person getting pressure from above and buried in manual entry
• The construction company owner trying to understand why you're not getting paid
• Part of a union or non-union shop taking on public work in New York
• Someone using a large national payroll provider that hasn't figured this out yet
• A Zuma Payroll client who didn't even know this existed yet

…this solution is for you.

It works alongside your current payroll process. It doesn't require you to switch systems or learn a new platform. You just get your time back - and protect your cash flow.

How to Get It (Fast)

If you're already a Zuma Payroll client, reach out to your representative. We'll get you set up with the tool, walk you through the process, and show you exactly how to run it each week. Once it's in place, you'll never have to hand-enter another certified payroll into the NYS DOL portal again.

If you're not a Zuma Payroll client yet, reach out today. We'll take a look at your situation, show you how the tool works, and help you figure out if it's the right fit. No pressure, no pitch - just a conversation about getting this off your plate.

New York made Article 8 certified payroll reporting mandatory. The process made it painful. Zuma Payroll made it simple.

Let's fix this for you.