Senior Payroll Operations Specialist - Remote (CHICAGO)

Overview

Come join Payroll Tax Operations (PTO) as a senior payroll tax expert and Subject Matter Expert (SME) on a team responsible for the end-to-end resolution of payroll tax issues across Notices, Corrections, and Amendments. The Staff Payroll Tax Processor is a technical lead and catalyst for the team, spending significant time as a resource for less experienced staff while independently owning the most complex cases in the queue. We are looking for a driven, expert-level payroll tax professional with a passion for solving hard problems, building team capability, and continuously improving the processes that deliver for our customers.

This role is primarily about fixing payroll tax problems, not running payroll. The Staff Payroll Tax Processor resolves complex State and Federal tax notices, prepares and files amended returns across multiple states, corrects multi-period payroll tax errors, and ensures that the knowledge to resolve those issues gets transferred to the team. Candidates whose experience is concentrated in payroll processing rather than tax defect resolution will not be the right fit.

About SelectTime 

SelectTime employees provide virtual expert services directly to Intuit’s customers, working year-round with flexible hours and schedules. This role has a minimum of 20 hours per week with the option to flex up to 40 hours per week based on business need. As an hourly, non-exempt position, this role is eligible for overtime pay.

Responsibilities

• Resolve the most complex State and Federal payroll tax notices in the team's queue, including multi-quarter, multi-state, and penalty assessment scenarios, owning the full case lifecycle from intake and root-cause analysis through agency response, submission, and confirmed closure.
• Prepare and file amended Federal and State payroll tax returns (Form 941-X and state equivalents) across 10+ states end-to-end, including reconciliation to the original return, recomputed liability schedules, W-2c preparation, and SSA reconciliation.
• Diagnose and resolve payroll tax errors spanning multiple pay periods or jurisdictions; trace discrepancies to the originating payroll run, determine tax impact across all affected quarters, and drive the complete correction workflow to confirmed resolution.
• Maintain high productivity case resolution, resolving customer Correction, Amendment, and Notice resolution requests with high accuracy.
• Monitor team WIP daily; identify aging cases, stuck holds, and Known Issues (KIs); resolve barriers proactively and bring systemic blockers to M1 with root-cause analysis and a recommended resolution path.
• Serve as the primary real-time resource for Senior Payroll Tax Processors, answering questions via Slack, Zoom, and side-by-side sessions while teaching the resolution process so the team builds capability, not dependency.
• Conduct structured coaching sessions at least once per quarter with each assigned team member using the SBIC feedback model; increase frequency for agents who are underperforming or working through a learning gap.
• Contribute to team huddles, group QA sessions, and process meetings.
• Author, review, and approve SOPs and Knowledge Base (KB) articles for core processes; identify recurring error patterns in QA data and bring corrective action recommendations to M1.
• Identify trends and emerging compliance issues; communicate findings to M1 and relevant stakeholders with a recommended response; drive implementation of resolutions.
• Support cross-functional collaboration with Corrections, Amendments, Pay & File, and Tax Notice teams to resolve interconnected customer issues end-to-end.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of payroll tax experience with a demonstrated focus on tax defect resolution for notice response, amended return preparation, and payroll error correction across multiple states.
• Expert knowledge of State and Federal payroll tax notice types; proven ability to independently draft penalty abatement requests and formal agency response letters with complete supporting documentation.
• Hands-on experience preparing and approving amended Federal (Form 941-X, W-2c) and State payroll tax returns across all states, including jurisdictions with complex local requirements such as PA, OH, and more.
• Deep knowledge of federal payroll tax law: FICA, FUTA, FITW, employment tax deposit schedules, and associated penalty and interest structures.
• Multi-state payroll tax expertise: reciprocal agreements, resident and nonresident taxation, SUI account management, and local tax compliance across multiple jurisdictions.