Overall Satisfaction with Avalara
We partner with Avalara to help companies collect and remit sales taxes across the US, due to its relatively easy integrations to multiple GL systems, it can be integrated readily, thus, with proper sales tax mapping and nexus set up - create reporting for taxes owed by jurisdiction. It is a bit more like a rate database with product taxability - and is an excellent product for those with a relatively simple invoicing system - i.e., invoice and add taxes.
- Amazing sales process.
- Great marketing.
- Loads of connectors.
- Fun.
- Service - too self-service with no personal resources.
- Videos cannot be the only way to provide support.
- Somewhat inflexible.
- Huge improvement over manual calcs.
- Reporting is very helpful for reconciling and reporting for returns.
- Easy to set up nexus.
- Quickbooks
- Intacct
- NetSuite
- Shopify+
- MicrosoftNAV
- Sage
- Yes - almost all clients use some element of returns or information to calculate returns themselves, outsource or a biproduct of both - Cert Capture is a relatively basic exemption cert repository system, but it is hands-down better than paper files, since one can track expiration dates and certs by state.
Limited with home rule jurisdictions and taxability categories, it's not a very robust product, but will meet most of the needs of e-commerce end users or a business needing tax calculating on an invoice without having to run the iterations manually.
Avalara Feature Ratings
Using Avalara
6 - tax
6 - tax knowledge
- Rates
- Rules
- Managing exempt certs
- Managing returns
- Wayfair thresholds analytics
- Data grab for audit support
- Income tax factor apportionment data
- Understanding reporting trends by state.
- Amassing transactions not taxed but mb should be.
- Calculating transactions for Wayfair.
- Marketplace information.
- Connecting to other software.
Evaluating Avalara and Competitors
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Prior Experience with the Product
- Existing Relationship with the Vendor
connections to GL systems and e commerce functionality
Avalara Implementation
- Implemented in-house
Change management was a minor issue with the implementation
- getting connectors to talk to GL systems
- challenges with understanding native functionality within Avalara
Integrating Avalara
- Shopify
- Magento
- Basic website API