Canada Tax Research Analyst

Symmetry is the payroll infrastructure for software & payroll platforms powering the paychecks of over 64 million workers each year. Our fully integrated suite of payroll tax APIs and software tools allows companies to solve tax compliance issues and build applications across the entirety of the payroll process. 

About the Role:

We are seeking a Canada Tax Research Analyst to join Symmetry’s Tax Research team. This role reports to the Manager of Tax Research. You will be responsible for finding, monitoring, and communicating tax changes and compliance updates to cross-functional teams for Symmetry’s Canada products. You will leverage your prior payroll, tax, or accounting experience to empower new products and functionality in the payroll and HR tech space. 

About the Team:

The team consists of five Tax Research professionals, each bringing their own unique set of skills and experience to the table.  Tax Research is the cornerstone of Symmetry’s products and is relied upon by all teams. Symmetry is not a top-heavy organization so you’ll work directly with all levels of staff and management in this role. You’ll have the opportunity to perform compliance research that touches all of Symmetry's products, and shapes new ones. “The right taxes, the first time” is our company motto. This especially rings true for the Tax Research team, and guides their work. They are a close-knit team that works exceptionally well together based on mutual respect and highly developed communication skills. They strive to deliver the most timely and accurate compliance products in the market, provide world-class customer service to our stakeholders, and uphold our reputation as the compliance leader. They embrace change and are always looking for new ways to streamline and automate their processes and research. This is a high-impact role in an extremely collaborative environment that will help shape Symmetry’s future today and tomorrow.    

Here’s what you’ll be doing:

• Manage a set of Canada jurisdictions that are your responsibility to keep updated. Analyze, interpret, and communicate federal, provincial, and local payroll tax compliance changes
• Calculate source deductions and net pay for employee payrolls in Canada, utilizing methods published by Canada Revenue Agency and Revenu Québec
• Actively shape Symmetry’s Canadian Tax Engine and Forms products, and collaborate with the team to expand product offerings
• Research current and evolving Canadian payroll tax legislation and identify topics that will impact payroll withholding requirements. Track legislation from the time of inception, and follow it full-cycle
• Gather and present research on new taxes. Work with tax agencies and partners to deep-dive on the withholding attributes of the tax. Serve as a critical member of a cross-functional team to deploy the tax to clients. Assist with providing external-facing write-ups
• Research and answer client questions facilitated by our Support team. Investigate the behavior in our products to ensure compliance with the most recent regulations. Troubleshoot with cross-functional partners
• Actively participate in process improvement, testing of new processes, and providing feedback
• Adopt and test new technologies such as AI
• Involvement in Canada payroll industry groups
• Collaborate with Marketing to launch payroll tax and compliance content 
• Take on special projects outside of the year end timeframe. Act as the DRI (Directly Responsible Individual) on one or more OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) per team goals and objectives for the fiscal year
• Audit taxes to ensure the requirements have not changed. Work with tax agencies to obtain the most up to date information and agency relationships

Here’s what we’re looking for:

• Bachelor’s Degree, preferably in a STEM-related field, Tax, Accounting, Finance, or Social Sciences
• 5-7 years of experience in payroll tax, compliance, accounting, or related fields
• If remote, travel to the Scottsdale, Arizona office up to once/quarter

Preferred certifications and experience:

• National Payroll Institute in Canada PCP certification
• Calculations for Canada Federal and Provincial withholding tax liabilities, Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Employment Insurance (EI), Québec Pension Plan (QPP), and Québec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP) 
• Personal tax credits for Canada employees
• US payroll tax experience is a plus
• Prior experience with tax laws, regulations, and third-party research databases
• Payroll service provider, agency, or tax filing and reporting experience
• Prior experience with tools like Google Workspace, Jira, NetSuite, or Airtable
• Prior technical experience developing compliance requirements for software developers

Required skills and mindsets:

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Experience calculating withholding taxes on employee paychecks, from gross pay to net pay
• Self-motivated. Ability to prioritize among multiple objectives. Experience working independently to deliver long-term research projects and hit milestones
• Critical and strategic thinker. Ability to work through a problem with multiple steps, utilizing logic. Ability to think long-term about Symmetry’s future
• Enthusiastic learner as additional certifications or trainings may be beneficial
• Exhibit persistence, confidence, and poise when calling and emailing agencies. Calm and professional, yet persistent, with the ability to break down complex regulations into understandable pieces for the agency
• Extreme attention to detail in write-ups of compliance information and communication
• Flexible, adaptable, and open to change
• Able to build strong networks inside in the company and with industry professionals

Our cash compensation amount for this role is targeted at $85,000/yr - $107,000/yr in Scottsdale & most major metro locations. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate experience and expertise and may vary from the amounts listed above.

Symmetry has a physical office space in Scottsdale. Employees who are based in those locations will be expected to work from the office on designated days approximately 2-3 days per week (or more depending on role).

When approved to work from a location other than the office, a secure, reliable, and consistent internet connection is required.

Working at Symmetry

Being happy at a job goes beyond just doing the work. Where you choose to spend 40 hours a week should be a place that challenges you professionally and aligns with your personal goals and well-being. We truly love what we do, and our customers love what we produce. Our family-owned and -operated business is collaborative, fun, and friendly. We offer the opportunity to work with all kinds of positions across the company, from the CEO to support to sales and everything in between.

Recently, Symmetry became part of Gusto. More than 300,000 businesses use Gusto’s people platform to hire, pay, insure, and support their team–from modern payroll and benefits to distributed work services and international contractor support to expert HR. Together, Symmetry and Gusto are pushing the entire industry forward by helping growing businesses access tools and services that for so long have only been available to larger corporations.

Our customers come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it makes our company stronger. If you share our values and our enthusiasm for small businesses, you will find a home with us.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate in hiring or any employment decision based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or other applicable legally protected characteristic. Our company considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Our company is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. We want to see our candidates perform to the best of their ability. If you require a medical or religious accommodation at any time throughout your candidate journey, please fill out this form and a member of our team will get in touch with you.

We take security and protection of your personal information very seriously. Please review our Fraudulent Activity Disclaimer.

About our products

Our products make sure millions of paychecks are right, no matter where people live or work in the U.S. We simplify the payroll process with accurate and dependable payroll withholding tax solutions. Our clients include Fortune 500 companies, like Walmart and Southwest Airlines, and leading payroll service providers, including ADP and Paychex. With a 95%+ customer retention rate, our products always have to be top-of-the-line, and so do our employees.

Symmetry is also the company behind the popular website PaycheckCity.com, which helps millions of Americans better understand their paychecks every month.