Assistant Manager – US Payroll Taxation

Job Description: Assistant Manager – US Payroll Taxation

Experience: 8+ Years

Job Summary

We are looking for an experienced and results-driven Assistant Manager – US Payroll Taxation to oversee end-to-end US payroll tax operations across multiple teams and client portfolios. The ideal candidate should possess strong hands-on expertise in federal, state, and local payroll taxation, tax deposits, quarterly and annual filings, tax reconciliations, compliance management, and resolution of complex tax issues.

The role involves leading payroll tax operations, ensuring regulatory compliance, managing client relationships and escalations, strengthening operational controls, and driving automation, process transformation, and continuous improvement.

Key Responsibilities

• Payroll Tax Operations Management: Oversee end-to-end US payroll tax operations across multiple clients, teams, and processes, ensuring accurate, timely, and compliant service delivery.
  
• US Payroll Tax Compliance: Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local payroll tax regulations, including federal withholding, Social Security, Medicare, FUTA, SUTA, and applicable state and local taxes.
  
• Tax Deposits and Payments: Oversee payroll tax liability validation, deposit schedules, electronic tax payments, payment confirmations, and reconciliation of tax liabilities against payroll records and tax agency accounts.
  
• Quarterly and Annual Tax Filings: Manage and review quarterly and annual payroll tax returns, including Forms 941, 940, W-2, W-3, and applicable state and local filings, ensuring accuracy and timely submission.
  
• Tax Reconciliation and Reporting: Oversee payroll-to-tax liability reconciliations, tax return-to-ledger reconciliations, deposit verification, and resolution of filing and payment discrepancies.
  
• Tax Notices and Escalation Management: Manage complex tax notices, agency inquiries, missed or incorrect deposits, filing discrepancies, penalties, interest, amendments, and other compliance issues through timely investigation and resolution.
  
• Tax Account and Registration Management: Oversee employer tax registrations, account maintenance, tax agency correspondence, account access, and jurisdictional setup to support accurate payroll tax processing and compliance.
  
• Audit and Compliance Management: Coordinate internal and external audits, tax agency inquiries, compliance reviews, audit documentation, internal controls, and remediation of identified issues.
  
• Operational Excellence and Process Transformation: Drive automation, standardization, process improvements, and transformation initiatives to enhance filing accuracy, payment controls, productivity, and operational efficiency.
  
• Client Relationship Management: Manage client relationships, business reviews, escalations, service delivery expectations, and stakeholder communication to maintain high client satisfaction.
  
• Workforce and Capacity Planning: Optimize resource allocation, workforce capacity, team utilization, productivity, and cross-training to meet client requirements and statutory deadlines.
  
• Performance Monitoring and Reporting: Monitor KPIs, SLAs, filing and payment accuracy, compliance risks, outstanding notices, productivity, and quality metrics; provide regular management updates and dashboards.
  
• Compliance Governance and Risk Management: Establish and maintain tax calendars, operational controls, SOPs, documentation standards, quality checks, and risk mitigation procedures.
  
• Team Leadership and Development: Lead, mentor, and develop Team Leads, SMEs, and payroll tax professionals, strengthen technical expertise, and support employee development and succession planning.
  
• Client Transitions and System Enhancements: Collaborate with clients, payroll operations, finance teams, and technology stakeholders on process transitions, system implementations, UAT, and operational changes.
  
• Continuous Improvement: Identify opportunities to reduce filing errors, penalties, manual effort, and processing delays while improving resource utilization, scalability, and client satisfaction.
  

Requirements

Required Skills and Competencies

• Advanced knowledge of US payroll taxation, including federal withholding, Social Security, Medicare, FUTA, SUTA, and state and local payroll tax requirements.
  
• Hands-on experience in payroll tax deposits, quarterly and annual filings, tax reconciliations, tax notices, amendments, and agency account resolution.
  
• Strong understanding of federal and state filing requirements, tax deposit frequencies, filing deadlines, and employer tax compliance obligations.
  
• Experience managing tax registrations, agency correspondence, payment discrepancies, penalties, interest, and complex compliance escalations.
  
• Strong leadership and team management experience across multiple clients, processes, and operational teams.
  
• Expertise in tax compliance governance, internal controls, audit readiness, quality assurance, and risk mitigation.
  
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, root-cause analysis, and decision-making capabilities.
  
• Experience in client relationship management, stakeholder engagement, escalation management, and business reviews.
  
• Proficiency in operational reporting, KPI/SLA monitoring, process automation, workforce planning, and productivity management.
  
• Strong communication, presentation, documentation, and change management skills.
  
• Ability to manage critical tax deadlines, drive operational scalability, and deliver continuous process improvements.
  

Preferred Software and Tools

• Payroll Platforms: PRO, Worklio, Prism, and isolved.
  
• Payroll Tax Software: MasterTax.
  
• Tax Agency Portals: Experience with federal and state tax agency websites for deposits, filings, account maintenance, and notice resolution.
  
• Reporting and Automation: MS Excel, payroll tax reconciliation tools, automated filing solutions, reporting dashboards, and workflow automation platforms.
  

Educational Qualification

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Commerce, or a related discipline.
  
• Professional qualifications such as CPA, EA, CMA, or equivalent are an added advantage.
  

Experience Requirements

• Minimum 8 years of experience in US payroll taxation, payroll tax compliance, or related payroll tax operations.
  
• Hands-on experience managing federal, state, and local payroll tax deposits, quarterly and annual filings, reconciliations, and tax notices.
  
• Prior experience managing multiple client portfolios, leading teams, and overseeing end-to-end payroll tax service delivery.
  
• Experience in a BPM, BPO, shared services, or payroll outsourcing environment is preferred.
  
• Demonstrated experience in client management, compliance governance, audit support, process transformation, and operational improvement.