Sales Tax Analyst

Red Lobster; Orlando (FL); On-site; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Red Lobster in Orlando, FL is seeking a Sales Tax Analyst to handle data aggregation, analysis, system maintenance, and reconciliations for multi-state sales and use tax compliance.

The role supports planning projects, audits, and internal initiatives, collaborates with finance and licensing to ensure accurate tax accruals, timely returns, and research on complex transactions. Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance required; strong Excel skills preferred.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in accounting or finance.
• 3+ years accounting experience with tax knowledge.
• Understanding of multi-state sales and use tax filing concepts.
• Proficient in Excel with advanced functions (XLOOKUP, SUMIFS, pivot tables).

Responsibilities

• Prepare documentation and data files for multi-state sales/use/local tax returns.
• Review draft returns from third parties and resolve data variances.
• Serve as primary contact for taxability questions and resolve vendor disputes.
• Ensure accurate accounting for tax accruals, payments and reconciliations.
• Maintain master sales tax rates and update monthly for changes.
• Update POS tax rates and verify system configurations.
• Respond to inquiries and notices from tax authorities; document research.
• Research and process payments for short-paid tax invoices; resolve discrepancies.
• Reconcile sales tax with delivery partners and address variances.
• Coordinate with licensing to verify registrations and licenses.
• Assess tax implications of rollouts and identify tax-saving opportunities.
• Analyze accrued use tax and reverse accruals where exempt.
• Issue and track resale certificates to vendors.

Skills

Accrual accounting

Internal controls

Multi-state tax

Excel advanced functions

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Accounting or Finance

Tools

Oracle

Vertex

Hyperion

CCH

SureTax

Business Intelligence

Job description

SUMMARY

The Sales Tax Analyst is responsible for data aggregation, data analysis, system maintenance, and reconciliations supporting multi-state sales and use tax compliance. This role blends transactional tax compliance with system maintenance and cross-functional support, in addition to supporting planning projects, audits, and internal initiatives.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Prepare supporting documentation, work papers, and data files for multi-state sales, use, and local tax returns.
• Review draft returns prepared by the third party, actively researching and resolving any data variances prior to submission.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for routine internal and external taxability questions, resolving vendor disputes on taxed invoice amounts while providing research support to the Senior Tax Manager on complex transactions
• Ensure accurate accounting for tax accruals, payments, and related expenses by preparing journal entries and monthly balance sheet reconciliations.
• Maintain the internal master sales tax rate listing, verifying and updating it monthly to reflect state and local changes.
• Update and maintain sales tax rates within the Point of Sale (POS) system. Review and validate to ensure POS system configurations are operating correctly.
• Support responses to inquiries, jurisdictional notices, and assessments from various taxing authorities maintaining clear and organized internal documentation
• Research, validate, and process payments for short-paid tax invoices to resolve outstanding vendor discrepancies.
• Reconcile sales tax collected by third-party delivery partners, ensuring compliance with applicable marketplace facilitator laws, and resolve variances directly with delivery partners as needed.
• Coordinate closely with the licensing department to verify that corporate registrations and tax licenses are compliant.
• Support the evaluation of tax implications for product and operational rollouts by compiling data for cross-functional departments to assist in identifying tax-saving opportunities on bulk purchases.
• Analyze and review accrued use tax and administrative use tax to identify, document, and reverse accruals on invoices where tax-exempt status applies.
• Manage the issuance and tracking of resale certificates to appropriate vendors.
• Analyze tax-exempt transactions to ensure required documentation is on file, manually processing and calculating tax adjustments for non-compliant orders.
• Support the Senior Tax Manager in handling emerging, unstructured tax inquiries and execute ad hoc compliance or data analysis projects as required.

REQUIRED TECHNICAL SKILLS

• Minimum three years of relevant accounting experience, including understanding of accrual accounting and internal controls,
• Understanding of multi-state sales and use tax filing concepts
• Proficient in Microsoft Excel with mastery in advanced functions such as XLOOKUP, SUMIFS, and pivot tables

REQUIRED EDUCATION

Bachelor's Degree in Accounting or Finance

OTHER KEY QUALIFICATIONS

• Strong communication skills both verbal and written. Ability to communicate effectively with taxing authorities, analysts, IT and accounting departments and restaurant managers
• Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills with the ability to manage high-volume workloads in a fast-paced environment
• Highly self-motivated with the ability to quickly learn and apply new concepts.
• Collaborative, proactive team player with a positive, customer-service mindset

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Experience with large ERP systems, such as Oracle
• Experience with other tax and accounting software such as Vertex, Hyperion, CCH, SureTax, and Business Intelligence