Tax Compliance Analyst

Job Summary

The Tax Compliance Governance Team is responsible for maintaining the company's awareness of, and relationships with, federal, state, and local taxing authorities. Serving as the primary liaison between the organization and tax agencies, the team proactively monitors regulatory updates related to payroll tax requirements and communicates relevant changes to the appropriate stakeholders. They ensure agency filing and payment requirements are clearly documented, accurately interpreted, and translated into actionable guidance for downstream teams. In addition, the team oversees annual agency notification and certification requirements applicable to software providers, helping maintain ongoing compliance and operational readiness.

The Tax Compliance Governance Analyst plays a foundational role within this team. This individual is responsible for monitoring agency activity, researching regulatory requirements, documenting agency guidance, and creating well-defined change requests to initiate the compliance process. While the Analyst does not directly implement system changes, they play a key role in ensuring regulatory requirements are accurately interpreted, clearly documented, and translated into actionable requirements that support timely and accurate implementation by downstream teams.

This compliance-focused role demands strong attention to detail, proactive communication, and a solid understanding of payroll tax concepts and the broader regulatory landscape. Success in this role depends on building credible agency relationships, communicating regulatory changes with clarity and confidence, and supporting the team's mission of keeping the company ahead of its compliance obligations.

The Analyst role is the entry point in the Governance Team’s career progression (Analyst → Senior Analyst → Lead → Manager). At this level, the focus is on standard, well-defined regulatory changes and jurisdictions, with guidance and review provided by senior team members. More complex, ambiguous, or high-impact work is handled at the Senior Analyst level and above.

Key Responsibilities

Agency Monitoring & Research

• Proactively monitor assigned federal, state, and local taxing authorities for payroll tax regulatory changes, including legislative updates, agency bulletins, rate and wage base changes, form revisions, and electronic filing or payment requirements
• Research and analyze routine regulatory updates to assess their nature, scope, and impact on the company's payroll tax software product 
• Utilize documented monitoring processes, agency websites, subscription services, and industry resources to maintain comprehensive coverage of assigned jurisdictions
• Maintain an up-to-date log of monitored changes, including status, effective dates, and disposition according to established process

Agency Relationship Development

• Develop and maintain working relationships with contacts at assigned federal, state, and local taxing agencies
• Participate in agency outreach programs, industry working groups, and electronic filing partnerships (e.g., IRS e-file programs, state e-file consortiums) as assigned
• Communicate with agency representatives and senior team members to clarify ambiguous requirements, confirm interpretations, and obtain authoritative guidance
• Contribute to the agency contact registry, keeping key contacts, relationship status, and recent interactions up to date

Requirements Documentation

• Document agency requirements for payroll tax filings, payments, and reporting clearly and accurately
• Translate routine regulatory guidance, agency publications, and filing specifications into concise, actionable requirements in a format approved by leadership
• Identify and document data requirements, effective dates, jurisdiction-specific rules, and any ambiguities or open interpretation questions
• Maintain comprehensive, audit-ready documentation and research records for all monitored regulatory activity

Stakeholder Communication & Workflow Coordination

• Identify regulatory updates requiring stakeholder communication and provide clear summaries outlining what is changing, when it becomes effective, and any required actions
• Create well-defined change requests in the project management system to initiate the compliance workflow for routine regulatory changes, including sufficient detail on regulatory source, scope, requirements, and effective dates for downstream teams to act without ambiguity
• Collaborate with downstream teams to ensure requirements are understood and questions are resolved promptly
• Serve as a point of contact for downstream teams throughout the implementation lifecycle, responding promptly to clarification requests
• Escalate high-priority or time-sensitive regulatory changes to a senior member of the team in accordance with team protocols
• Respond to routine internal inquiries regarding agency requirements and regulatory status

Process Improvement & Team Support

• Contribute to process improvement initiatives, documentation standards, and requirements quality initiatives

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Accounting, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
• 2+ years of experience in payroll tax compliance
• Solid working knowledge of federal, state, and local payroll tax regulations, filing requirements, payment rules, and reporting standards
• Demonstrated ability to research, interpret, and clearly summarize routine regulatory information
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to convey regulatory updates clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Strong attention to detail and commitment to documentation accuracy
• Proven ability to collaborate effectively across cross-functional teams
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and jurisdictions in a deadline-driven environment
• Comfortable working under direct supervision in a remote setting, with guidance and review available from senior team members

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience interacting directly with taxing authorities or participating in agency e-file programs
• Familiarity with payroll tax software, SaaS platforms, or ERP systems
• Experience writing business requirements, user stories, or functional specifications
• Understanding of electronic filing formats and data structures (e.g., XML, EFW2, fixed-width, CSV) at a conceptual level, without requiring coding ability
• Proficiency with Excel and other Microsoft 365 products
• Familiarity with Agile methodologies and project/ticket management tools (e.g., Jira, Azure DevOps)
• Active membership or participation in industry organizations such as the American Payroll Association (APA) or National Association of Computerized Tax Processors (NACTP)
• Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) or Fundamental Payroll Certification (FPC) designation, or progress toward certification

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