Estimate what a premium audit could add when certificates are missing.
Your workers’ comp premium is estimated when the policy starts and audited when it ends. Where you cannot show that a subcontractor carried its own cover, the auditor may add what you paid it to your payroll. Enter your own numbers to see what that could come to.
Your numbers
Change any of them. The figures are worked out in your browser, and what you type is not sent to us.
From your payment records, in whole dollars.
Some auditors count the full amount, some a labor share. Ask your carrier.
Example rate. Yours is on your policy.
Many policies charge one. Leave it at 0 if yours does not, or if you do not know it.
What the audit could add
Additional premium, in total
$30,000
- Additional workers' comp premium
- $30,000
- On $250,000 treated as your own payroll.
- Additional general liability premium
- $0
- On $250,000 of subcontract cost.
The arithmetic
| Line and working | Result |
|---|---|
| Treated as your own payroll$250,000 paid × 100% labor share | $250,000 |
| Additional workers' comp premium$250,000 ÷ 100 × a rate of 12.00 | $30,000 |
| Additional general liability premium$250,000 paid ÷ 1,000 × a rate of 0.00 | $0 |
| Additional premium, in total$30,000 + $0 | $30,000 |
The audit looks back over the whole policy year.
A gap is easier to close now than when the auditor asks. The free spreadsheet check reads the sheet you track certificates in and shows which rows are expired, short on limits or unverified. WatchMyCover then keeps the list current and chases each renewal by email.
Why a missing certificate can become premium
A workers’ compensation policy is priced on payroll. The figure is an estimate at the start of the policy year, and the carrier audits it at the end. If you cannot show that a subcontractor carried workers’ compensation while it worked for you, the auditor may treat what you paid it, or the labor part of that, as your own payroll, at your rate for that class of work. General liability premium can be adjusted on subcontract cost in a similar way. The rules differ by carrier and by state, which is why this page gives an estimate and not an answer.
What an auditor asks for
- A certificate of insurance covering every date the subcontractor worked for you.
- The renewal certificate, where a policy ended in the middle of a job.
- The insured name on the certificate matching the name in your payment records.
- A state exemption document, where one applies to the subcontractor.
What to do before the audit
- Pull every subcontractor you paid in the policy year from your payment records.
- Match each one to certificates that cover the dates it worked.
- Chase the gaps now, while the subcontractor still answers.
More free tools: the COI tracking cost calculator works out what tracking by hand costs your office, and the full list is here.