Payroll Tax Specialist

Homebase•Houston, TX

5d•Hybrid

About The Position

Homebase is building a dedicated Payroll Tax function within its Payroll Care Team to help customers navigate payroll tax notices, filing questions, and account issues. The Payroll Tax Specialist investigates tax notices, identifies root causes, and resolves standard and moderately complex issues independently using established processes and sound judgment. The specialist escalates novel, higher-risk, or high-dollar cases with a clear summary and recommendation, and works directly with customers and alongside Payroll Care and Payroll Operations teams. The role also supports quarterly filings and year-end readiness, develops working knowledge of federal, state, and local payroll tax requirements, and helps maintain internal compliance documentation. The specialist reviews customer accounts for risks and missing information, tracks cases and communications, drafts agency correspondence, and shares recurring issues and customer feedback to inform process and product improvements. The role uses approved AI tools and automation to support research, case organization, documentation, and customer communications. The specialist is expected to verify important information, apply human judgment, measure the impact of workflow improvements, and share useful learnings with teammates. This is a hybrid role with required in-office attendance Monday through Thursday.

Requirements

2 to 3 years of experience in payroll, payroll tax, accounting operations, or a related field.
Working understanding of payroll and payroll taxes, including withholding, FUTA/SUI, quarterly and annual filings, and W-2/W-2C corrections.
Hands-on experience with tax notices, payroll corrections, registrations, or similar operational work.
Strong attention to detail and ability to follow structured processes accurately.
Problem-solving skills, including the ability to investigate why an issue occurred and find reliable information.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including explaining complicated information clearly to customers.
Comfort communicating directly with customers, including when an answer requires additional investigation.
Organization and dependability to manage multiple open cases, maintain accurate records, and follow through on commitments.
Comfort working with spreadsheets and learning payroll, ticketing, reporting, and other operational tools.
Good judgment about when to proceed independently and when to escalate.
Interest in deepening payroll tax expertise.
Curiosity about AI and automation, with examples of improving work processes.

Nice To Haves

Experience at a payroll provider or payroll SaaS company.
Progress toward CPP or FPC certification.

Responsibilities

Review incoming payroll tax notices, investigate root causes, and determine appropriate next steps using established processes and judgment.
Cross-reference notices with customer tax profiles, payroll history, and filing records.
Resolve standard and moderately complex tax notice scenarios independently; escalate novel, higher-risk, or high-dollar cases with a clear summary and recommendation.
Communicate with customers about investigations, information needed, and expected next steps.
Partner with Payroll Operations and other internal teammates to resolve tax issues and follow through on open actions.
Track notices, customer communications, next steps, and resolution timelines accurately in the ticketing system.
Draft agency correspondence and penalty abatement requests, and maintain case documentation.
Document learnings and update templates and guidance for recurring cases.
Flag recurring issues and patterns for senior teammates to investigate process or product improvements.
Help customers prepare for quarterly filings by explaining steps, gathering missing information, and resolving common blockers.
Review accounts for missing agency IDs, tax rates, TPA/POA information, and other filing requirements.
Identify accounts needing additional attention and escalate potential risks.
Support customers with quarter-end filing and variance questions.
Conduct year-end account reviews and flag missing or inconsistent information that could affect payroll tax filings.
Maintain accurate customer and case documentation during quarterly and year-end cycles.
Build working knowledge of federal, state, and local payroll tax requirements through hands-on experience, training, and research.
Research agency requirements using approved authoritative sources and internal resources.
Help customers understand agency-sourced registration requirements, deadlines, and filing processes using established guidance.
Help maintain documentation on filing frequencies, TPA/POA requirements, agency IDs, registration processes, and jurisdiction-specific requirements.
Support compliance calendar maintenance and ensure required customer information is identified and tracked.
Escalate customer questions outside established guidance rather than providing tax or legal advice.
Review customer accounts for warning signs such as blocked accounts, missing agency information, outdated tax rates, or unresolved filing issues.
Flag potential risks and partner with the Payroll Care Team to close open customer issues.
Share recurring questions, friction points, and customer feedback to improve customer support.
Help newer teammates learn established processes.
Use approved AI tools to support research, organize information, summarize cases, improve documentation, and draft customer communications.
Develop AI-enabled templates or processes for repeatable workflows, measure their impact, and share useful prompts and learnings with teammates.