Payroll Tax Analyst

Job Summary:

• This is a short-term, execution-focused payroll tax clean-up engagement. It is not a learning role and not intended for long-term skill development.
• The expectation is immediate contribution with minimal ramp time.
• The Product includes resolving state, local, and jurisdictional payroll tax issues across approximately 48 states, covering roughly four years of historical data.
• This includes state agencies as well as local jurisdictions such as counties, cities, school districts, and special taxing authorities.
• The analyst will review and prioritize payroll tax notices, navigate multiple state and local tax agency portals, reconcile discrepancies between internal systems, ADP Master Tax, ADP Smart Compliance, and agency records, and document findings and next steps using Excel-based tracking tools.
• Work must be prioritized based on dollar exposure, penalties, liens, and overall risk.
• The role requires independent execution within a defined process, proactive communication of progress and blockers, and a strong sense of urgency given the limited project timeline.
• This work is intended to eliminate a long-standing payroll tax issue and requires consistent forward momentum.

Education and Experience:

• State, Local & Jurisdictional Payroll Tax Experience.
• Hands-on experience resolving state, county, city, school district, and other local jurisdiction payroll tax notices.
• Comfortable navigating multiple state and local tax agency portals, including municipal and school district systems.
• Strong understanding of how payroll setup (job codes, locations, worksite mapping, master data) drives state and local tax outcomes.
• Experience working with ADP Master Tax and ADP Smart Compliance strongly preferred.
• Experience limited primarily to federal payroll (941s, IRS) is not sufficient.

Prioritization & Risk Assessment:

• Ability to prioritize payroll tax issues by dollar exposure, penalties, liens, and overall risk.
• Demonstrated judgment in addressing high-dollar and high-risk items first.
• Understands the compliance and financial impact of unresolved local and jurisdictional payroll taxes.

Technical & Excel Skills:

• Strong Excel proficiency for daily tracking, reconciliation, and documentation.
• Comfort working fully digitally without paper-based workflows.
• Ability to analyze discrepancies between internal systems, ADP Master Tax / Smart Compliance, and state, city, and school district portals.
• Macros are a plus, but core Excel logic and comfort are required.

Execution Speed & Urgency:

• Proven sense of urgency appropriate for a three-month, execution-heavy project.
• Ability to drive work to completion without constant follow-up.
• Comfortable managing a high volume of work across multiple jurisdictions.

Autonomy & Ownership:

• Ability to work independently and autonomously after initial training.
• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, high-intensity project environment.
• Knows when to research independently and when to escalate issues appropriately.
• Demonstrates clear ownership of assigned work and follows tasks through to completion.

Communication & Problem-Solving:

• Proactively communicates progress, risks, and blockers without being prompted.
• Strong problem-solving skills, including reconciling mismatches between system data and tax agency records.
• Able to articulate next steps even when the solution is not immediately clear.

Engagement Fit:

• Comfortable with short-term, high-impact engagements.
• Able to contribute immediately with minimal ramp time.
• Understands this is a run-and-execute role, not a learning position.