Lina Shelat
**** ********** **** **, *** # M***, Pleasanton, CA 94588
Phone 732-***-**** (H) 925-***-**** **********@*******.***
Summary: Eighteen plus years of experience in Finance; Tax, Treasury and Credit & Collection experience
within Telecommunications, Manufacturing & Banking Industry.
Highlights
Complex problem solving & Research Reconciliation
• •
Oracle (11i) & PeopleSoft expert (8.9 & 9.1) Data Analysis
• •
Account reconciliation Customer relations
• •
Data analysis/ Fixed Assets Analysis Budget – Quarterly & Yearly Forecast
• •
Valuation Analysis & Negotiate Values People oriented
• •
MS Office Suite Team player
• •
Advanced computer proficiency (both PC and Strong work ethic
• •
Mac) Excellent communication skills
•
Tax Savings & Process implementation Self motivated professional
• •
SOX Compliance Detailed oriented
• •
Internal & External Audits Calm under pressure
• •
Journal Entries Reliable & Flexible
• •
Quarterly & Yearly Forecast Analytical & Organized
• •
PTMS Property Tax Software (legacy & new) Bilingual [Hindi & Gujarati]
• •
Staff training & Supervision
•
UAT (User Acceptance Testing) participant
•
Accomplishments and Skills
Auditing
Extensive experience with audits, reviews, compilations and tax audits.
•
Value negotiations with tax assessors within compliance.
•
General Ledger Accounts
Maintained accurate accounts including cash, inventory, prepaid, fixed assets, accounts payable, and line of credit
•
transactions while streamlining the process by working with IT department for Automation.
Accounting
Operated computers programmed with accounting software to record, store, and analyze information.
•
Increased compliance for the property Tax department by research & aiding in internal and external audits.
•
Reduction of tax liabilities by cleaning up of Fixed Assets while working with other groups such as engineers at the
•
local site.
Conducted detailed technical and analytical review of government local state tax returns, and quarterly & yearly tax
•
estimates prepared
Researched and resolved billing problems that had been previously missed.
•
Reduced multiple tax payments to one jurisdiction by combining invoices in to one check payment.
•
Decreased tax liabilities continuously by negotiating with assessors, and saved tax liabilities by 20%, yearly.
•
Professional Experience:
FEB 2013 – JUNE 2013
Cisco Systems, Inc. Pleasanton, CA
Tax Analyst - (Consultant) Property Tax and Sales & Use Tax
Prepare multi state personal property tax returns by adhering to compliance in PTMS.
•
Work with others in the department to gather and clean the data before filing returns.
•
Lina Shelat Resume Page 1
Keeping the trend and previous year's history in mind, file the tax returns per requirement of the company
•
as well as the assessors.
Review assessments while adhering to the company's original filing position and rendered values, and
•
pay tax bills against the final and correct values.
Research any Tax law changes.
•
Sales & Use Tax Prepare paperwork for audit defense Run sales tax reports, pull sales invoices and
•
SOW's when required with each asset data and PO's.
Run Fixed Asset data from Oracle and compare to the sales invoices by each purchase order while
•
searching for any Sales and Use tax accrued.
Reconcile the GL account for an old acquisition and provide explanations behind the data.
•
Systems PTMS, Oracle; eBusiness AP and AR, Oracle; Rapid Install Release 11i with AP & AR
inquiry, and MS Excel (pivot tables and V look ups), Fusion DFM (Document Flow Manager).
Intelli Connect (CCH) Tax research site.
Verizon wireless, basking ridge, NJ (June 2001 – June 2012)
Sr. Property Tax Analyst Financial
File local multi states property tax returns; specifically GA, MA, CT, KS, VT, FL, IN, KY, WY,NC
•
• Worked under pressure during Tax Season to ensure all tax returns reporting deadlines are met,
Review and analyze property tax assessments for accuracy and reasonable valuation within the
•
specifications according to the laws.
Closely working with other groups and with their help manage large database of assets to keep it
•
streamlined with the reporting.
Responsible for property tax compliance, valuation and audits while adhering to the government’s
•
compliance and company’s position as well as look for potential cost savings, clean up of assets in data
base by finding opportunities within compliance.
Large Data analysis of fixed assets
•
File appeals while working with the board of assessor to negotiate the assessment values whenever
•
applicable and reduce tax liabilities.
Research and investigate any discrepancies between renditions and assessments received.
•
Responsible researching tax laws that permits to file property tax returns lawfully as well as any
•
exemptions, which may be applicable for tax savings.
Prepare accounts reconciliation and State Tax Summaries, which includes calculation and projecting the
•
budget for fulfilling the tax liabilities at least three times a year per properties filed at the beginning of the
year. Prepare reports for management on quarterly bases to build the budget for the department’s tax
liabilities and any pending risks such as audit.
Review, process and pay tax bills while ensuring accuracies. Assist team mates and department on
•
departmental projects as they come up. i.e. Distribution of the mail, prepare returns, pay bills, accounting
projects, etc. Also responsible for real estate part of the properties that required intense research and
clean up of all properties owned by Verizon Wireless and Verizon Corp.
People Soft AP interface to upload the check requests for property tax payments.
•
Handle various Audits, which include but not limited to, provide property’s data, review & analyze, and
•
calculate potential tax impact that is pertaining to the Tax Compliance Group. Also seeking alternate
opportunities and new avenues to save on tax liabilities.
Provided inputs on process improvements for the department and its operation. Attend meeting with
•
management on bi weekly bases to provide feedback of the current trends, issues, and share any
success stories.
Lina Shelat Resume Page 2
Skills analytical, communicate effectively with senior management in regards to the assessments of the
•
properties, negotiate with local government while complying with laws, and able to and have worked with
little or no supervision.
Worked with outside CPA/accounting firm such as Duff & Phelps to research and analyze the tax
•
discrepancies, and auditing firm like Tax Management Associates (TMA) and Trailor Business Services
(TBS).
Tax research skills with CCH Intelli Connect
•
Worked on accounting, audit, SOX and asset clean up projects as needed for department.
•
Systems PTS, PTMS, PeopleSoft (8.9 & 9.1), NetDoc, DataMart (SAP based), Great Plains, MS Access, MS Excel (pivot
table & vLookups) & MS Word, PropAre (FA database for updating locations)
Verizon Wireless, Warren, NJ (February 2005 December 2006)
Accountant Billing and Collections
Accounts collection of equipment sold to indirect agents and follow appropriate actions required to
•
resolve the credit hold based on criteria provided and discretion of the supervisor.
Process Sales commission withholdings as required for payment, confirm completeness of the
•
withholding and applying the withholding to the equipment account.
Responsible for applying payments and open credits to accounts as requested by agent, account set up
•
and maintenance and monitor the wire transfers receivables and apply them to the agent’s account.
Responsible for an accurate and timely monthly reporting and analysis on overdue payments associated
•
with billings.
Responsible for daily research, analyze accounts and accurately report bad debt accounts to (OCA)
•
Outside Collection Agency, if needed.
Process and post Journal Entries in PeopleSoft for proper allocation of GL as well as written off balance
•
Provide data support for journal entries relating to cash management activity and work closely with
•
Accounting to resolve any discrepancies
Send monthly statements of accounts and related correspondence on equipment accounts.
•
Responsible for cash Management by applying Electronic ACH payments to customer’s account on a
•
daily basis and proving the batch work.
Responsible for daily reconciliation while using ReconNet.
•
Process refunds to the customer, researching misapplied/unapplied payments from time to time and
•
assist supervisor on special projects as needed.
Maintain DataScape with Billing and collection and monitor accounts to ensure the process is followed
•
smoothly.
Creating invoices customers for Datascape NSF activities.
•
Manage accounts for one of the area of United States.
•
Special projects Performed general accounting related duties while ensuring proper accounts are being
•
used.
Verizon Wireless, Morristown, NJ (Oct 2002 Jan 2005)
Lead Coordinator Treasury Support Services
Provide support to all Customer Service employees; Wireless data, financial services/ Collections and
•
external customers by acting as a liaison with the Treasury /Finance department in order to resolve all
Treasury/ Accounts payable and receivable issues.
Lina Shelat Resume Page 3
Interact with finance and accounts payable to investigate customer’s payments and processing all BA 7’s
•
(Accounts payable Voucher).
Analyze valid credit balances on Final Billed accounts and releasing them through Vision billing system
•
via interface and process checks and forward them to correct lockbox.
Work through TOPS (Treasury Operation Performance System) and Vision to research customers
•
misapplied/not applied payments and issue refund checks when applicable.
Resolved escalated issues for Executive Relations.
•
Frequently updated write ups of M&P for security deposits and credit releases for training purpose.
•
Support all Wireless Data Regions in CDPD (Pilot Plus Systems) by researching payments, adjusting
•
balances, and releasing credits for refunds thru BA 7s’.
Participated in UAT (Used Acceptance Testing) for a release of Credit & Security deposits
•
Organized weekly meetings for ensuring the efficiency and accuracy of the TOPS website that flows from
•
various teams to Treasury.
Process People Soft AP interface to upload the check runs on customer’s refund via Interface and run
•
Query to ensure only valid refunds are to be processed.
Assign and distribute duties on behalf of Supervisor among all employees in the team and ensure that all
•
deadlines & requirements are to meet as well as keeping track of work records of all team members.
Assist other team members to help on a difficult task and assist Executive relations on legal complaint
•
while escalating calls of irate customers when required.
Provided training on New Hires of Customer, Financial and Treasury Services as well as assisted new
•
employees in Wilmington, NC to transition the department of Refunds.
Supervised in absence of the Manager and acted as a supervisor for six months when transitioned
•
Treasury Support team to NC.
Generate the reports in MS ACCESS and run them on a daily basis to provide a list of accounts in
•
EXCEL to distribute them to team members for Credit Final Releases.
Billing Systems: Great Plains, Dymax, Vision, I2K, People Soft, RMS, Net Ace, ACSS, CACS, CATS,
Pilot Plus and Vista Plus.
Verizon Wireless, Morristown, NJ (June 2001 September 2002)
Customer Financial Services Specialist/CFS/Collection
Collected on 30, 60 & 90 days delinquent accounts from customers over the phone.
•
Resolved outstanding problems that prevented customers from making payments.
•
Focused on rehabilitating accounts and prevented account suspension by providing proper payment
•
scheduling.
Worked with administrative team to negotiate, recommend and settle on write off accounts through in
•
house recovery.
Resolved customer disputes while keeping customer’s satisfaction in mind. Also demonstrated ability to
•
handle multi task and consistently produced above average results.
Received commendation from customers for providing outstanding customer service and resolving of an
•
ongoing dispute.
Helped Credit and Operation department for approving credit applications and reducing/eliminating
•
redundancy of incoming calls.
Summit Bank/ Fleet Bank, Dayton, NJ (2/2000 to 5/2001)
Collection Representative (Part-Time)
Monitored customer’s loans for high delinquencies and called clients averaging 40 calls/hour.
•
Lina Shelat Resume Page 4
Taking promises from customer to make payments within few days.
•
Responsible for obtaining/collecting payments in timely manner.
•
Automatically process/debit customer’s accounts for payments.
•
Opened new accounts, provided customer service and closed on personal, auto, and home equity loans.
•
Monthly, quarterly and yearly audits.
•
Referred retail and commercial clients to other areas of the bank to help increase bank’s revenue and
•
provide a better service.
Assisted in branch manager’s duty when needed.
•
Received Vice President’s award twice for most loans closed.
•
Designed and generated weekly, monthly and quarterly sales reports for the branch (using LOTUS 123).
•
Computer Skills: Microsoft Word, MS Access, Excel, Power Point, Windows – 2007 & 2010 Outlook.
Education:
University of Phoenix Online College:
Masters of Business Administrations 2014; Accounting or Global Finance
Bachelors of Science – 2010
Major: Finance 3.5GPA
Level 1 Tax Certification Course @ Georgia Tech, GA Aug 2007
Diploma in American Institute of Banking 1995 Paramus, NJ
Additional Information
Awards: Achieved awards like "Team Commitment", "Employee of the Month", and Vice President's Award.
•
Personal: Highly motivated, Professional, Interpersonal, Analytical, and Organized, Independent yet a team player
•
and Responsible individual seeking a career with in Finance.
Lina Shelat Resume Page 5