Payroll Tax Compliance Specialist

Who You Are

You are a detail-oriented payroll tax compliance professional who enjoys working with numbers, reconciliations, data, and systems to understand what does not add up and make it right.

You bring hands-on knowledge of payroll and payroll tax compliance and are comfortable investigating discrepancies from identification through root cause and resolution. You understand the importance of complete, accurate, and well-documented evidence in a highly regulated environment.

You exercise sound judgment, work independently, and collaborate effectively across teams, with vendors, and with tax agencies to resolve issues and improve processes.

You are curious about how technology, automation, and AI can improve the accuracy, efficiency, and scalability of reconciliation, validation, documentation, and reporting.

Your Success Profile

What You Will Work On

Perform Quality Assurance and Compliance Validation

• Perform and lead recurring payroll tax compliance validations and reconciliations to ensure required reports, exception data, and supporting records are complete and accurate.
• Investigate discrepancies, determine root causes, coordinate resolution, and confirm that corrections are accurately reflected in applicable systems and reports.
• Maintain clear, consistent, and auditable documentation of investigations, reconciliation evidence, findings, actions taken, and resolution.
• Ensure tax updates are validated and successfully uploaded to applicable systems in a timely manner.

Serve as a Payroll Tax Compliance Subject Matter Expert

• Serve as a compliance subject matter expert in troubleshooting payroll and payroll tax issues across federal, state, and local requirements.
• Use tax authority sources and research tools to support analysis and resolution of payroll tax issues.
• Interact effectively with state and government tax agencies as needed to research, clarify, and resolve issues.
• Provide guidance to internal partners and coach teammates on payroll tax compliance, reconciliation, and quality practices.

Strengthen Controls and Audit Readiness

• Support applicable SOX and SOC controls and related evidence requirements for payroll tax systems and processes.
• Assist with resolving deficiencies identified through audits, compliance validations, or control testing.
• Document internal processes and controls and identify improvements that strengthen accuracy, efficiency, scalability, and compliance.
• Partner with internal and external audit stakeholders as needed to provide clear evidence and support timely issue resolution.

Partner Across Systems, Vendors and Teams

• Act as a liaison between Justworks and third-party vendors to investigate issues, support resolution, and clarify project or system requirements as needed.
• Coordinate with internal teams on system support, software enhancements, implementations, data conversions, and user acceptance testing that affect payroll tax compliance.
• Use data and available tools, including SQL where appropriate, to investigate issues, validate outcomes, and support informed decisions.
• Communicate findings, risks, status, and required actions clearly to stakeholders.

Improve Quality and Operational Effectiveness

• Monitor and report on key compliance and quality metrics and provide meaningful status updates to stakeholders.
• Identify recurring issues, patterns, and control gaps and recommend practical improvements that address root causes.
• Use technology, automation, and AI where appropriate to improve reconciliation, validation, documentation, reporting, and overall quality.
• Exercise independent judgment in day-to-day work and escalate material risks, unresolved issues, or decisions requiring broader input.

How You Will Do Your Work

As a Quality Assurance Payroll Tax Compliance Specialist, how results are achieved is paramount for your success and ultimately results in our success as an organization. In this role, your foundational knowledge, skills, abilities, and personal attributes are anchored in the following:

• Systems Thinking - Understand how payroll tax requirements, data, systems, controls, vendors, and operational processes connect and use that context when investigating issues.
• Good Judgment - Analyze problems and implications, identify patterns and underlying issues, understand risk, determine appropriate next steps, and take ownership of outcomes.
• Detail Orientation - Work thoroughly and accurately, maintain organized and complete evidence, and seek to understand both the cause and effect of discrepancies.
• Problem Solving - Approach complex issues methodically, identify root causes, and develop practical solutions that improve both immediate outcomes and underlying processes.
• Clear Communication - Explain findings, risks, and actions clearly in writing and verbally, and listen effectively to build shared understanding.
• Continuous Improvement - Look for opportunities to simplify work, strengthen controls, improve quality, and use technology more effectively.

In addition, all Justworkers focus on aligning their behaviors to our core values known as COGIS. It stands for:

• Camaraderie - Day to day you can be seen working together toward a higher purpose. You like to have fun. You’re an active listener, treat people respectfully, and have a strong desire to know and help others.
• Openness - Your default is to be open. You're willing to share information, understand other perspectives, and consider new possibilities. You’re curious, ask open questions, and are receptive to thoughts and feedback from others.
• Grit - You demonstrate grit by having the courage to commit and persevere. You’re committed, earnest, and dive in to get the job done well with a positive attitude.
• Integrity - Simply put, do what you say and say what you'll do. You’re honest and forthright, have a strong moral compass, and strive to match your words with your actions while leading by example.
• Simplicity - Be like Einstein: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”

Qualifications

Required

• 5+ years of federal, state, and local payroll and payroll tax experience, including filing and reporting.
• Hands-on experience with payroll tax reconciliations, discrepancy investigation, root-cause analysis, and issue resolution.
• Experience with payroll tax software and systems, including tax scheduling and filing tools; MasterTax experience is preferred.
• Experience researching payroll tax requirements using tax authority sources and research tools.
• Experience supporting software enhancements or implementations, process improvements, data conversions, or user acceptance testing.
• Working knowledge of SQL and experience using queries to support data analysis and validation.
• Experience documenting processes, controls, reconciliations, and evidence in an audit-ready manner.
• Strong analytical, organizational, problem-solving, and communication skills.
• Ability to work independently, manage multiple priorities, and exercise sound judgment in a regulated environment.

Preferred

• PEO, payroll, or HR technology experience.
• Payroll accounting, audit, SOX, or SOC experience.
• FPC or CPP certification from PayrollOrg (formerly the American Payroll Association).
• Experience using automation or AI tools to improve payroll tax compliance, reconciliation, analysis, or documentation.

The base wage range for this position based in our Tampa Office is targeted at $74,000.00 to $93,000.00 per year.

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