People Services Payroll Specialist

This is an exciting opportunity to join a global leader with over a century of dedication to innovation and excellence in the beauty industry. As a vital member of their newly established People Services function, you will play a crucial role in centralizing critical HR operations, fostering collaboration, and significantly enhancing the employee experience. Your expertise will directly contribute to ensuring compliance and accuracy in payroll tax processing, impacting the financial well-being of a large, diverse workforce and supporting the company's commitment to its people.

**About the Role:**

We are seeking a dedicated and detail-oriented professional to join a dynamic team focused on payroll tax processing and compliance. This role is pivotal in providing exceptional service to the employee population, ensuring the accuracy of tax withholding, and maintaining adherence to complex multi-state regulations. You will be instrumental in upholding the integrity of payroll operations and contributing to a seamless employee journey.

**What You Will Contribute:**

* Provide outstanding customer service related to payroll tax inquiries for a large employee population.

* Serve as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in assigned areas of payroll tax.

* Manage and resolve employee cases regarding taxable wages, tax withholding, and reporting within established service level agreements (SLAs).

* Conduct audits to ensure precise employee tax setups.

* Perform quality reviews of work from payroll Specialists and Sr. Specialists, offering coaching and training as needed.

* Execute payroll tax reconciliations and audits to ensure data integrity.

* Investigate and resolve discrepancies between various internal payroll and tax systems.

* Review, audit, and respond to investigations stemming from tax notices.

* Interpret and apply internal and external payroll, time, and labor laws, policies, and practices to ensure tax withholding compliance.

* Administer pay cycle batch data input for adjustments to taxable wages and tax withholdings.

* Audit and reconcile annual wage and tax statements (W2s) with employee pay statements.

* Continuously monitor and maintain up-to-date tax knowledge pertaining to employee wages and taxes.

* Participate in internal and external compliance and audit processes.

* Respond to employee and leadership inquiries via calls, cases, and emails regarding taxation within established SLAs.

* Conduct various testing on pay codes, system configurations, and project-related tasks.

* Reconcile and maintain quarterly tax processing, including amendments and W-2cs.

* Facilitate the setup of new tax types and jurisdictions as required.

* Liaise with various taxing jurisdictions to research and resolve employee tax issues and company-level tax notices.

**Must-Have Qualifications:**

* High School Diploma or equivalent combined with 5+ years of experience in the payroll profession.

* Demonstrated experience with multi-state payroll for a large employer.

* Proficiency in garnishment processing.

* Extensive knowledge of payroll and timekeeping systems.

* Expertise in multi-state tax calculation.

* Experience with Short Term Disability Calculation, including offsets.

* Capability in Overpayment Calculation and Recovery.

* Knowledge of Salary Prorations.

* Proficiency in MS Office applications, particularly Excel.

* Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, complex, deadline-oriented environment.

**Nice-to-Have Qualifications:**

* Bachelor's degree.

* Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) and/or Fundamental Payroll Certification (FPC).

* Experience with enterprise-level payroll and time platforms.

**About Aquent Talent:**

Aquent Talent connects the best talent in marketing, creative, and design with the world's biggest brands. Our eligible talent get access to amazing benefits like subsidized health, vision, and dental plans, paid sick leave, and retirement plans with a match. More information on our awesome benefits! Aquent is an equal-opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics. We're about creating an inclusive environment-one where different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives are valued, and everyone can contribute, grow their careers, and thrive.

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