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.
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.
AvidXchange is well suited for companies with multiple locations where approvals may be hard to get directly. A user can log on when they have time basically from anywhere to review, code and approve invoices. This would allow for processing of invoices centrally more efficiently then with appear invoices being moved from one place to another to be processed
Our contractors and vendors can submit invoices electronically through AvidBill, removing the tedious task of sorting and coding mail. This feature saves on time and administrative duties.
Communication is key, and being able to log a comment or question in AvidInvoice allows for clarification and expedited approval process.
Having multiple properties, having the Property Code and % Allocation features allow us to ensure the correct entity is charged it's portion of expenses. For example, we may have a service that is coded to all 32 properties. With AvidInvoice we are able to allocate each entity's pro rata share of the invoice.
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.
AvidPay needs some improvement to minimize the amount of time it takes to issue payment for invoices
The search features within AvidXchange on the advanced search screen sometimes do not function correctly (sorting by ascending / descending order doesn't work all of the time).
The log enhancement follow-up procedure could use some work.
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.
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.
AvidXchange is very easy to use and the customer service is always there is you need help or more training. New employees even comment on how easy it is to pickup the program.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
We are presently evaluating a move to Concur Invoice, not because of any real lack of functionality from AvidXchange, but simply because we have other business functions already on Concur Invoice. From what we have seen so far, the functionality is similar, though I believe Concur Invoice is more expensive.
