Certificate of Attestation of Exemption (CE-200)

A Certificate of Attestation of Exemption (CE-200) is a form issued by the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board that confirms a business is legally exempt from carrying workers’ compensation and/or disability insurance.

Contractors typically use a CE-200 when they have no employees, meet the state’s exemption criteria, and therefore are not required to buy workers’ comp coverage.

In NYC home improvement work, a CE-200 is critical because contractors must give homeowners either:

• a Certificate of Workers’ Compensation Insurance, or

• a CE-200 showing they’re exempt

before starting the job. This requirement appears throughout DCWP model contracts and compliance rules, which state the contractor must provide a valid insurance certificate or the Certificate of Attestation of Exemption prior to beginning work.