Prepare and file payroll tax returns.

“Prepare and file payroll tax returns.” is a supplemental task performed by Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks. Among the occupation's 22 rated tasks, workers place it 19th by importance (#4 most important). About 37% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Prepare financial documents, reports, or budgets. in Documenting/Recording Information
• Perform administrative or clerical activities. in Performing Administrative Activities

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E1. Direct exposure — a language model could plausibly cut the time to do this task by at least half.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 1.00. Automation potential label: T3.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Verify attendance, hours worked, and pay adjustments, and post information onto designated records. · importance 4.7
• Process and issue employee paychecks and statements of earnings and deductions. · importance 4.7
• Compute wages and deductions, and enter data into computers. · importance 4.7
• Process paperwork for new employees and enter employee information into the payroll system. · importance 4.7
• Prepare and balance period-end reports, and reconcile issued payrolls to bank statements. · importance 4.6
• Review time sheets, work charts, wage computation, and other information to detect and reconcile payroll discrepancies. · importance 4.6
• Distribute and collect timecards each pay period. · importance 4.6
• Record employee information, such as exemptions, transfers, and resignations, to maintain and update payroll records. · importance 4.5
• Issue and record adjustments to pay related to previous errors or retroactive increases. · importance 4.5
• Compile statistical reports, statements, and summaries related to pay and benefits accounts, and submit them to appropriate departments. · importance 4.5
• Keep track of leave time, such as vacation, personal, and sick leave, for employees. · importance 4.4
• Balance cash and payroll accounts. · importance 4.4
• Compile employee time, production, and payroll data from time sheets and other records. · importance 4.4
• Keep informed about changes in tax and deduction laws that apply to the payroll process. · importance 4.3

See all tasks on the Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks page.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-task-23954,
  title  = {Prepare and file payroll tax returns.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-23954}
}