Ease your tax management worries.
May 05, 2024

Ease your tax management worries.

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Modules Used

  • Returns
  • AvaTax
  • CertCapture

Overall Satisfaction with Avalara

We are a medical device manufacturing/distribution organization. We sell into many states throughout the US, and as we grew, we quickly realized we could no longer handle sales tax management in-house, even if we hired additional staff. Avalara's returns filing and certificate management service have allowed us to focus on managing /growing the business while remaining compliant with sales tax. They have tax codes that fit our business, enabling us to calculate sales tax for our customers accurately. Other products we've used previously did not have the range of tax codes that Avalara offers. Avalara also provides an API that allows seamless integration with our ERP. They do all the work for us regarding sales tax management.
  • Exemption Certificate Management.
  • Timely Filing of Tax Returns.
  • Extensive list of product codes for determining tax rates.
  • N/A
  • The ROI with Avalara has been significant. We did not have to hire additional staff to manage sales tax. Before Avalara, when we managed taxes in-house, we constantly received late filing notices and paid related penalties. That all stopped once Avalara took over.
The integration process was not always smooth. Avalara uses a third party (Argentis) to manage its integrations. When things did not work, we had many instances where Argentis would tell us it was Avalara's issue to resolve. We'd call Avalara, and they would tell us it was Argentis' issue to resolve. That was extremely frustrating for me as an accounting professional with limited IT experience who could not do a lot of troubleshooting on my own.
It is very user-friendly, and the menus are intuitive. I wish they had one website that handled tax filing and certificate management, but overall, both sites are easy to use.
  • Avalara Returns
  • CertCapture
  • Professional Services (nexus studies, registrations, backfiling, etc.)
We use all three services and cannot imagine not utilizing Avalara Returns and CertCapture. Those are big pieces of sales tax management. We have occasionally used professional services when we've had large projects, such as multiple state registrations at one time.
We selected Avalara because our prior service did not have the range of tax codes required for our products. They had nothing related to medical devices or supplies, so we used a generic 'taxable' tax code. Customers were unhappy because some states exempted the product we sold, even if the customer was not tax-exempt. It caused many issues, including credit memos to refund sales tax charges.

Do you think Avalara delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Avalara's feature set?

Yes

Did Avalara live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Avalara go as expected?

No

Would you buy Avalara again?

Yes

Avalara was the only solution we found that fit our needs. The tax codes were a sticking point with other solutions, as they did not have medical device/diabetic supply-specific codes.

Avalara Feature Ratings

Sales and Use Taxes
10
Cross-border Taxes
Not Rated
VAT / GST Taxes
Not Rated
Energy and Fuel Taxes
Not Rated
Geolocation for Tax Assessment
10
3rd-Party Software Integrations
10
Tax Data Reporting
10
Compliance Administration Management
10
Tax Exemption Processing
10
Tax Document Management
10
Complex Tax Scenario Management
10