Payroll Tax Specialist (Temporary - Remote)

The Role:

We're seeking an experienced Temporary Payroll Tax Amendment Specialist for a focused 60-day contract to resolve a backlog of payroll tax amendments, notices, and corrections stemming from our 2024 transition from UKG to Oracle HCM and ADP Tax Filing. This is not a training role — the ideal candidate works independently from day one, researching root causes across Oracle HCM, ADP SmartCompliance, and agency records, calculating correct tax liability across federal, state, and local jurisdictions, and driving each item to confirmed resolution within the 60-day window.

What You'll Do:

• Analyze prior-period payroll tax discrepancies across federal, state, and local jurisdictions and prepare corrected filings — including federal 941-X amendments, state amended returns, and local corrections
• Calculate correct tax liability, over/under-withholding variances, penalties, and interest; coordinate with ADP SmartCompliance to submit amended returns and confirm agency receipt
• Triage and resolve open agency tax notices, preparing written responses within statutory response windows and escalating any items approaching penalty or lien risk
• Coordinate W-2C preparation with HR, Oracle, ADP, and the Social Security Administration, and confirm amended returns match corrected W-2C amounts
• Document root cause and resolution for each item to build institutional knowledge for the permanent team

What We're Looking For:

• Minimum 5 years of hands-on payroll tax experience, including at least 3 years focused specifically on amendment processing and tax notice resolution in a multi-state, multi-FEIN environment
• Direct, hands-on experience preparing federal 941-X filings and multi-state amended returns in ADP SmartCompliance, with the ability to independently calculate liability, variance, penalty, and interest
• Working knowledge of state income tax withholding, SUI, SDI, and PFML across multiple jurisdictions; local jurisdiction experience (e.g., Pennsylvania PSD codes, Kentucky local occupational taxes, Ohio local tax structures) strongly preferred
• Oracle HCM/USOPTE experience strongly preferred; at minimum, ability to review Oracle tax records and trace discrepancies to source
• CPP or FPC credential preferred, along with prior experience in a large-employer (10,000+), high-volume payroll tax environment