Avalara

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Avalara
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Avalara AvaTax connects to the software that businesses already have and delivers sales tax decisions based on precise geo-location in more than 12,000 taxing jurisdictions in the U.S.N/A
Pricing
Avalara
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Avalara
Free Trial
No
Free/Freemium Version
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Yes
Entry-level Setup FeeOptional
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Avalara
Considered Both Products
Avalara
Chose Avalara
Avalara has excise tax and returns and easy sales tax for business
Chose Avalara
For the tasks I use it for, it's much easier and cost-effective to use.
Chose Avalara
I have not used other forms except directly from the IRS.
Chose Avalara
Avalara mails out the forms to the vendor and Government for you. All you have to do is supply the information for each vendor. Let you know when it is being sent out, if the emails were good and if the recipients downloaded the document. They will resend if necessary.
Chose Avalara
Avalara is much more user friendly and1099 online is harder to navigate. It is about the same cost to file but it is harder to find what you are looking for. I used it beucase I was able to make certain corrections.
Chose Avalara
In the past we used QuickBooks to file 1099s. Avalara is cheaper too than QuickBooks
Chose Avalara
I have used other software for filling and filling tax forms; Avalara is the quickest and easiest I have used.
Chose Avalara
Much easier to use and understand. Easier to upload information from our system to Track 1099. Did not give you the option to email 1099's to your payees. When they found something wrong the system would reject and not create a 1099 for that payee.
Chose Avalara
This system was hard to use and is discontinued now.
Chose Avalara
I only ever used Track1099, so had no comparison but I’m glad I found this first and continue to enjoy using it.
Chose Avalara
Although i really like QBO for accounting needs, Avalara was cheaper and more efficient to use for 1099 filing
Chose Avalara
I a new HOA Treasurer and haven't used any other products
Chose Avalara
Have not used other 1099 software other than manually entering and reporting
Chose Avalara
I found Avalara's offering early in the search process and had an easy experience at an easy price point.
Chose Avalara
Avalara is designed for businesses and tax professionals by making the workflow more simplified. Manual entry is reduced and the process is more steamlined reducing errors and stress. The platform is clear, focused and uncomplicated. These attributes is why I have chosen …
Chose Avalara
I found Avalara to be much more accurate, and cost effective compared to Sovos. With Sovos, I ran into serious issues with the data transfer, causing the data to be corrupted or incorrect. Since the timeline for sending out 1099s is extremely narrow, this creates a real …
Chose Avalara
For 1099 filing, I have used the system offered inside QuickBooks Online, as well as Tax1099.com. Avalara's 1099 filing system is very straightforward, easy to use and simple to keep track of what is needed when filing multiple forms or for multiple companies.
Chose Avalara
Easier to use, no printing and mailing
Features
Avalara
Type of tax
Comparison of Type of tax features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
8.4
376 Ratings
7% above category average
Sales and Use Taxes9.3370 Ratings
Cross-border Taxes8.882 Ratings
VAT / GST Taxes7.472 Ratings
Energy and Fuel Taxes8.330 Ratings
Tax Reporting & Compliance
Comparison of Tax Reporting & Compliance features of Product A and Product B
Avalara
8.5
395 Ratings
8% above category average
Geolocation for Tax Assessment9.1219 Ratings
3rd-Party Software Integrations8.5293 Ratings
Tax Data Reporting8.7344 Ratings
Compliance Administration Management8.6254 Ratings
Tax Exemption Processing8.3259 Ratings
Tax Document Management8.8274 Ratings
Complex Tax Scenario Management7.4171 Ratings
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Avalara
Small Businesses
TaxJar
TaxJar
Score 8.0 out of 10
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Lappa
Lappa
Score 9.0 out of 10
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ADP SmartCompliance
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User Ratings
Avalara
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(471 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(35 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(463 ratings)
Availability
8.1
(11 ratings)
Performance
8.1
(11 ratings)
Support Rating
5.7
(24 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.0
(2 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(4 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.8
(199 ratings)
Configurability
8.7
(8 ratings)
Ease of integration
8.7
(14 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.8
(10 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
7.6
(11 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
7.9
(11 ratings)
User Testimonials
Avalara
Likelihood to Recommend
Avalara
I find Avalara to work very well if you are using a software system that is integrated with Avalara, and it is set up to calculate the tax and file the returns. It is very streamlined and efficient. It doesn't work as well if the tax is calculated elsewhere and you have Avalara filing your returns; the options for getting the tax info into Avalara are very limited.
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Pros
Avalara
  • Establishes the connection with the appropriate municipal entity,
  • Provides ample time for review of the sales and use tax liability,
  • Submits the returns in accordance with the requirements of the respective municipal entity.
  • Maintains historical record of each remittance.
  • Allows for easy retrieval of past returns.
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Cons
Avalara
  • Avalara needs to be able to provide tax and legal advice, so we don't have to go to an outside source.
  • Some states we file in have more than just sales tax on the return. For example, Washington has B&O tax, tire tax, sales and use tax. It would help a lot if Avalara could report all of these taxes, so we don't have to file manually.
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Likelihood to Renew
Avalara
Avalara is the best sales tax compliance product on the market. Avalara allows us to accurately comply with our sales and use tax obligations in an accurate and timely manner for a reasonable cost. Avatax is a versatile and helpful product. We also are looking forward to implementing the cross-border product.
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Usability
Avalara
I only say this because we had no real training on the system at all. We requested it multiple times, and no one could give us that. We had to figure a lot out for ourselves, got a rep change and finally got someone to help us navigate a bit better. Please make sure any onboarding clients get proper training and resources before going live.
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Reliability and Availability
Avalara
I have been using Avalara for years and do not remember ever having an outage during working hours. The service is accurate and dependable.
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Performance
Avalara
We do have trouble tying Avalara's reporting back to our POS, but we just got a new POS system and there are bugs we are still trying to work out within the POS system. I do not believe this is an Avalara issue
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Support Rating
Avalara
It does not [matter] how much you pay in support packages for Avalara, [from my experience] you will never receive timely response times. Additionally, [it seems to me] their support techs are not experienced and/or do not understand the nature of your issues. I have resolved the majority of my issues before the support team is able to.
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In-Person Training
Avalara
I wasn't here when they first started with Avalara.
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Online Training
Avalara
The documentation online we informative and helpful. The videos from the Avalara institute and the help tab if we have any questions and the search too were helpful. We like the ease of using the click here for more information tool about nexus and the information for the ECM Pro training were helpful. Whenever we have a question we normally get an email along with the tool as to where to find our answer. We also like that it shows information about nexus status of the states we maybe approaching and we can look more into it.
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Implementation Rating
Avalara
The rating of a 6 was not because I was displeased with Avalara's service or implementation team. The implementation process and implementation team were great. The issue I had with implementation was finding the time of an implementation specialist to devote to our account. With the fast growth of Avalara, my specialist always felt rushed which made me feel I did not get adequate time or support.
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Alternatives Considered
Avalara
When I started with the company, they were using a version of CCH. This was my first experience with that program and I found it very cumbersome. It was unable to calculate multiple tax rates (this may have changed in the last 10 years) and while it filled out some of the tax returns for us, we still had to manipulate many and file them ourselves. Now we just verify that what we show in our system matches Avalara and hit approve and we are done for another month.
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Scalability
Avalara
It is usable across all departments
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Return on Investment
Avalara
  • We have been able to keep staffing the same even though business has more than doubled.
  • Avalara filing my returns has cut down on my time spent by hours.
  • I hopeful our new integrations will soon help the rest of the sales staff as well.
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ScreenShots

Avalara Screenshots

Screenshot of the Avalara portal homepageScreenshot of returns, appearing in the Avalara portalScreenshot of transactionsScreenshot of reportsScreenshot of jurisdiction details