Job DescriptionWe are seeking an experienced Payroll Tax Specialist to support payroll tax compliance across the United States and Canada, with a stronger emphasis on U.S. federal, state, and local payroll tax requirements. This role is responsible for ensuring payroll tax accuracy, timely filings and remittances, agency notice resolution, payroll tax reconciliations, and alignment of payroll tax activity to accounting records.
The successful candidate will partner closely with Payroll, Finance, HR, Benefits, ADP SmartCompliance, and other external payroll providers to maintain compliant payroll tax processes, support month-end and year-end close activities, strengthen internal controls, and ensure payroll-related balances are accurately reflected in the general ledger.
Benefits- Competitive base salary - $95,000 - $125,000 based on experience
- Health Insurance (includes Virtual Health, and HCSA), Dental Insurance, Vision Insurance
- Life Insurance, Long-term Disability, Short-term Disability
- Health Spending Account
- RRSP Match / 401k Match
- Paid Vacation
- Floating Days
- Employee Assistance Program
- Employee Engagement Events
- Awards and Recognition
- Tuition reimbursement
- Service Awards
- Employee Perks & Discounts
Job ResponsibilitiesPayroll Tax Compliance & Governance
- Serve as a payroll tax subject matter expert for U.S. and Canadian payroll tax compliance, with primary focus on U.S. multi-state requirements.
- Ensure compliance with applicable federal, state, provincial, and local payroll tax legislation, including withholding, unemployment, taxable benefits, and employer payroll taxes.
- Monitor payroll tax legislative changes and assess impact on payroll processes, tax setups, filings, remittances, and controls.
- Maintain payroll tax documentation, standard operating procedures, and audit-ready support.
Payroll Tax Reporting, Filings & Notices
- Coordinate and review payroll tax filings, deposits, amendments, and reconciliations across applicable U.S. and Canadian jurisdictions.
- Support quarter-end and year-end payroll tax activities, including W-2, T4, RL-1, and related statutory reporting requirements.
- Research, respond to, and resolve payroll tax agency notices, assessments, inquiries, and account discrepancies.
- Work with payroll providers and tax agencies to correct setup issues, filing errors, missing remittances, and historical variances.
- Manage ADP SmartCompliance activities, including payroll tax filing support, agency notices, tax payments, amendments, account setup, and reconciliation follow-up.
Accounting Reconciliations & Financial Controls
- Perform monthly reconciliations of payroll tax accounts, payroll liabilities, accrued payroll balances, and related general ledger accounts.
- Reconcile payroll system outputs and payroll provider reports to accounting records, including tax withholdings, employer taxes, deductions, remittances, and liability balances.
- Investigate and resolve discrepancies between payroll records, tax filings, remittances, and the general ledger.
- Support month-end and year-end close activities related to payroll tax accounting and payroll-related balance sheet accounts.
- Prepare supporting schedules for internal controls, external audits, statutory audits, and tax authority reviews.
- Identify control gaps and recommend process improvements to strengthen payroll tax accounting and reconciliation discipline.
Payroll Audits, Controls & Process Improvement
- Perform recurring payroll tax audits and compliance reviews to identify exposure, correct errors, and reduce risk.
- Review payroll outputs for taxability, withholding, benefits deductions, overtime, retroactive pay, bonuses, taxable benefits, and cross-border payroll implications.
- Support internal and external audits, including SOX, statutory, tax, and financial statement audit requests.
- Participate in payroll system testing related to tax configuration changes, legal entity changes, jurisdiction setup, and payroll integrations.
- Partner with ADP SmartCompliance and internal stakeholders to monitor service performance, resolve open cases, and ensure payroll tax activities are completed accurately and on time.
- Partner with Payroll, Finance, HR, Benefits, and external providers to standardize, automate, and improve payroll tax processes.
Qualifications- 5+ years of payroll tax, payroll compliance, payroll accounting, or senior payroll experience in a complex multi-jurisdiction environment.
- Strong knowledge of U.S. federal, state, and local payroll tax requirements; Canadian payroll tax experience required.
- CPA designation or CPA candidate preferred, particularly due to the payroll accounting, general ledger reconciliation, and balance sheet control responsibilities.
- PCP/PLP, CPP, FPC, or other payroll certification considered an asset.
- Experience reconciling payroll tax balances to the general ledger and resolving differences between payroll systems, tax filings, remittances, and accounting records.
- Experience supporting quarter-end and year-end payroll tax processes, including W-2, T4, RL-1, and related reporting.
- Experience responding to payroll tax agency notices and working with external payroll tax providers.
- Hands-on experience with ADP SmartCompliance strongly preferred, including managing payroll tax filings, remittances, agency notices, amendments, and reconciliation workflows.
- Advanced Excel skills, including pivot tables, lookups, data analysis, and reconciliation of large data sets.
- Experience with payroll tax, payroll, and ERP systems such as ADP SmartCompliance, ADP, Dayforce, Workday, UKG, SAP, Oracle, or JD Edwards.
- Strong analytical, organizational, documentation, and problem-solving skills.
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to work cross-functionally with Payroll, Finance, HR, Benefits, auditors, and external providers.
Preferred Experience- Experience in manufacturing, construction products, logistics, transportation, or other multi-site operating environments.
- Experience supporting union and non-union payrolls.
- Experience with multi-entity payroll structures and cross-border payroll matters.
- Experience improving payroll tax controls, accounting reconciliations, and audit documentation.
- Experience managing outsourced payroll tax compliance services, preferably ADP SmartCompliance, including issue resolution, service follow-up, and tax account maintenance.
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