About the role
Experience - 6 - 8 years
Key Responsibilities 1. State Payroll Tax Registration & De-Registration
- Manage end-to-end state payroll tax registration and de-registration processes across all US states and applicable local jurisdictions.
- Determine state-specific registration requirements based on employee work locations, nexus, payroll activity, and state regulations.
- Handle registrations for State Withholding, SUI/SUTA, and other applicable payroll tax accounts.
- Coordinate with internal teams, clients, and state agencies to obtain required information and documentation.
- Track registration status, account numbers, effective dates, filing frequencies, and agency correspondence.
- Ensure timely closure/de-registration of tax accounts when business or payroll activity ceases in a state.
- Maintain accurate records of all state tax registrations and de-registrations.
- Possess strong working knowledge of state income tax withholding and unemployment tax requirements as well as local tax accounts.
- Understand state-specific rules, thresholds, filing frequencies, deposit requirements, wage bases, and tax rates.
- Manage SUI/SUTA account setup, rate changes, wage bases, and state-specific requirements.
- Review payroll tax calculations and identify discrepancies or potential compliance issues.
- Support resolution of state tax discrepancies and historical payroll tax issues.
- Demonstrate strong proficiency in pulling, analyzing, and interpreting payroll reports required for tax filings and tax adjustments.
- Identify and extract historical payroll data required for retroactive withholding and SUI cases.
- Prepare payroll reports for amended/late filings, tax reconciliations, corrections, and state agency inquiries.
- Analyze employee-level payroll data, taxable wages, withholding, SUI wages, employer taxes, and tax liabilities.
- Support complex retroactive state tax registrations and filings.
- Reconcile payroll system data against tax filings, agency records, and tax notices.
- Investigate and resolve historical discrepancies involving payroll taxes.
- Support and/or review quarterly and annual state payroll tax filings.
- Handle amended returns and corrections for prior periods.
- Ensure accurate reporting of withholding and unemployment wages and taxes.
- Review filing results and reconcile tax liabilities against payroll records.
- Research state-specific filing requirements and changes impacting payroll tax compliance.
- Take ownership of state payroll tax notices, including notices related to:
- Missing or late filings
- Tax balances/delinquencies
- Penalties and interest
- Incorrect tax rates
- Registration issues
- Wage discrepancies
- SUI rate notices
- Withholding discrepancies
- Tax account closures
- Research the root cause of notices and determine appropriate corrective action.
- Prepare responses, supporting documentation, amended returns, and other required information.
- Track notices through resolution and maintain proper documentation and audit trails.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills are mandatory.
- Communicate confidently and professionally with State Departments of Revenue, Departments of Labor, Employment Security Departments, and other state agencies.
- Make outbound calls to state agencies to research account status, registration requirements, filing issues, tax balances, notices, and historical cases.
- Clearly explain payroll tax situations and obtain accurate information from state representatives.
- Document agency conversations, reference numbers, commitments, and next steps.
- Follow up with agencies until issues are fully resolved.
- Act as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for US state payroll taxation.
- Guide and mentor payroll tax analysts/team members on complex state tax matters.
- Review work performed by team members for accuracy and completeness.
- Support escalations and provide solutions for complex payroll tax cases.
- Help establish standard operating procedures, controls, and quality checks.
- Participate in process improvement and automation initiatives.