Payroll Tax Specialist (Hybrid)

About this role

Hi, Future Homie!

At Homebase, you’ll join a team that’s bold, fast-moving, and obsessed with helping small businesses thrive. We build with empathy, act with urgency, and take big swings that drive real-world impact. Here, every Homie shows up to raise the bar, support one another, and celebrate wins as a team.

We’re not just building an app—we’re building unstoppable teams. So what do you say, are you in?

 📍Your Impact Starts Here

We're building something new at Homebase: a dedicated Payroll Tax function that sits inside the Payroll Care Team and owns the most technically complex, trust-critical layer of our payroll product.

Right now, when a customer receives a tax notice, there's no in-house expert to triage it, investigate the root cause, or coordinate a resolution with our embedded payroll partners. That gap costs us customers — and it costs small business owners peace of mind they can't afford to lose.

You'll change that. As our first Payroll Tax Specialist, you'll be Homebase's resident payroll tax authority — the person who turns an overwhelming notice queue into a structured, resolved, documented operation. You'll work directly with customers, partner closely with our payroll operations team, and flag patterns that help Product and Engineering build a smarter product. Your work won't just resolve tax notices — you'll uncover the patterns that help us build a smarter payroll product powered by automation and AI.

This is a builder's seat. You'll be defining the playbook as you go — and your work will directly shape how we scale this function.

These are the key ways you’ll contribute and create impact in this role:

Own Tax Notice Resolution — Primary Focus

- Serve as the first line of defense on all incoming payroll tax notices: triage, investigate, and deliver clear initial responses to customers that build trust fast.

- Cross-reference each notice against the customer's tax profile, payroll history, and filing records to identify root cause before escalating anything.

- Coordinate with internal payroll operations partners to drive resolution — and follow through until issues are closed.

- Track open notices in the ticketing system, maintain resolution timelines, and identify patterns that point to systemic issues worth escalating to Product.

- Request penalty abatements, draft agency correspondence, and manage the documentation trail for each case.

- Build scalable documentation, playbooks, and operational standards for Homebase's Payroll Tax function as it grows.

Quarterly and Year-End Proactive Support

- Prepare customers for their first filing quarter — walk them through the filing lifecycle, explain draft filings, and resolve blockers (missing IDs, TPA/POA gaps, agency mismatches) before the deadline hits.

- Conduct quarterly account hygiene reviews: verify TPA/POA is in place for all active filing states, confirm agency IDs and rates are current, and surface any at-risk accounts before they generate notices.

- Monitor for year-end risk factors — owner/shareholder changes, 2% shareholder benefits, compensation adjustments — and surface them proactively.

- Support customers through quarter-end variance questions and help reconcile payroll updates with tax filings.

Registration and Compliance Guidance

- Serve as an internal SME for customers expanding into new jurisdictions — providing agency-sourced guidance on registration requirements, deadlines, and filing frequencies.

- Maintain a running tracker of agency-specific requirements: filing rates, TPA/POA requirements, "Applied For" ID timelines, and agency quirks. Keep it current.

- Support compliance calendar maintenance and ensure customers have what they need to meet their obligations — without crossing into advice or completing registrations on their behalf.

Proactive Customer Account Health

- Review accounts for early warning signs: blocked accounts, taxes held by the client, outdated rates, unresolved prior-quarter filing failures.

- Surface risk to the right owners before a customer feels the impact.

- Partner with the broader Payroll Care Team to close the loop on patterns across the portfolio.

🚀 The Foundation for Success - These are the experiences and strengths that will set you up for success in this role:

- 3–5 years of payroll tax experience in a multi-state environment — ideally at a payroll provider or payroll SaaS company

- Deep working knowledge of federal, state, and local payroll taxes: withholding, FUTA/SUI, quarterly and annual filings, W-2/W-2C corrections, and tax registrations

- Hands-on experience managing and resolving tax notices from state and federal agencies — this is the core of the role

- Familiarity with TPA/POA processes and agency-specific filing requirements across multiple jurisdictions

- Strong written and verbal communication skills — you can translate complex compliance situations into clear, confident updates for small business owners who aren't tax experts

- Comfortable working directly with customers in both high-stakes and routine interactions

- Organized and methodical — you can carry a queue of open issues across multiple accounts and agencies without things slipping

- Demonstrated ability to identify systemic issues and recommend scalable process improvements

- Advanced Excel skills; experience with payroll systems and reporting tools

- CPP (Certified Payroll Professional) or FPC designation preferred, or meaningful progress toward certification

- SQL or scripting experience a plus for report automation

- Leverage AI to accelerate investigations, improve documentation quality, draft customer communications, and continuously improve operational workflows.

- Identify and build repeatable, AI-enabled workflows and templates that reduce resolution time and scale this function over time.

- Measure and share AI-enabled workflow improvements that reduce resolution time or improve customer outcomes.

- Approa

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