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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Avalara

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/AAvalara 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.

    $69

    per month per state

    TaxJar

    Score8 out of 10
    N/ATaxJar offers automated sales tax reporting and filing. According to the vendor, capabilities include: Accurate, Detailed Sales Tax Reports: TaxJar’s local jurisdiction reports show sales and sales tax collected not only for each state, but for local jurisdiction (counties, cities, special jurisdictions, etc). Users can also sort data by any date range. Estimated Sales Tax Reports: Users can see a comparison of what they actually collected versus what…

    $19

    for up to 200 orders/month

    Vertex

    Score8.8 out of 10
    N/AVertex is global indirect tax compliance software for enterprise tax and finance teams. Indirect tax covers transaction-based obligations, such as sales and use tax, value-added tax (VAT), and goods and services tax (GST). Vertex supports tax determination, electronic invoicing (e-invoicing), reporting, filing, and audit-readiness workflows. Vertex’s official website Key Capabilities Tax determination: Calculates applicable indirect taxes…N/A
    Pricing
    AvalaraTaxJarVertex
    Editions & Modules
    Core Compliance + SST
    $69
    per month per state
    Core Compliance
    $79
    per month per state
    Custom
    Custom
    per year
    Starter
    $19
    for up to 200 orders/month
    Professional
    $99
    for up to 200 orders/month
    Premium
    Custom
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    AvalaraTaxJarVertex
    Free Trial
    NoYesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalOptionalNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsCore Compliance: $79/state/month - Avalara AvaTax with AvaTax Exemptions for exemption management - Avalara Managed Returns — filing, remittance, and notice management - Compliance support and audit readiness - Business system integrations (ERP, ecommerce, accounting) - Nexus monitoring across all 50 states *Annual revenue less than $50M; Limited integrations Core Compliance + SST Services: $69/state/month - Everything in Core Compliance package - SST program enrollment - State-sponsored registration in participating SST states - Tax calculation in SST states — state-funded for qualifying sellers - Returns filing and remittance in participating states — states cover the cost - Avalara-backed liability for calculation errors in participating SST states - Audit support — audit inquiries handled by Avalara on your behalf - Single registration ID across all participating SST states *Annual revenue less than $50M; Limited integrations Custom: - A solution configured to your specific business scope and compliance needs - Advanced compliance support for complex tax scenarios - Multi-entity management and consolidated reporting - Customized services and workflow configuration - Dedicated compliance guidance and support *Custom plans are flexible and include integration with the systems your business uses. Avalara has 1,400+ signed partner integrations.30 day free trial. No obligation, no activation fees. Upgrade, downgrade or cancel anytime. Pricing based on order volume. Transactions are equal to -Orders imported into TaxJar with one or more line items -SmartCalcs API pushed sales tax calculation If you go over your transaction limit during a single month, we will charge you the difference between the plan you’re on and the next highest plan. The next month you’ll start back on the original plan that you subscribed to, and the process will repeat itself again. This is all done automatically. Your plan will never be interrupted and you will not have to speak with a salesperson.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    AvalaraTaxJarVertex
    Considered Multiple Products
    Avalara
    Chose Avalara
    TaxJar's product was no as robust as Avalara and did not participate in the SST program. We were not comfortable with returns being handled by a third party located off-short, Hungary I believe. We could not find another provider that offered an all in one solution.
    Incentivized
    Chose Avalara
    TaxJar is integrated with Kaseya autotask, and this integration is very inefficient and was not easy to set up. Neither TaxJar nor Kaseya support was helpful at all, "rude" is the only word to describe that, whereas Avalara has always tried to be helpful and has been very …
    Incentivized
    Chose Avalara
    At the time, Vertex wanted to show us a demo and then never called us back.
    Incentivized
    Chose Avalara
    Setting up a state in Vertex was not intuitive or user friendly. The system itself was clunky. Trying to set up a custom tax override was a nightmare. Whereas any of these tasks are very simple with Avalara. Setting up a state is as simple as checking a box and entering a start …
    Incentivized
    Chose Avalara
    Avalara has a simple format that is easy to understand in comparison to Vertex.
    Incentivized
    Chose Avalara
    Avalara is much more comprehensive than TaxJar. For some reason, TaxJar doesn't offer filing in specific locations which is very frustrating.
    Incentivized
    Chose Avalara
    Avalara and Vertex are cloud-based solutions for sales tax compliance, but they differ in features, pricing, and customer reviews. Avalara and Vertex offer tax calculation, tax filing, exemption management, reporting, and audit trail features. However, Avalara claims to have …
    Incentivized
    Chose Avalara
    We briefly reviewed TaxJar, but went with Avalara when we did our evaluation. Avalara Provided everything that we needed.
    Incentivized
    Chose Avalara
    Avalara stacks well against Vertex but the integration is eaiser with Vertex.
    Incentivized
    Chose Avalara
    Chargebee had an agreement with Avalara so we could not use our current provider for sales tax. Avalara is good for sales tax collection, and even easier to set up, but Vertex Returns was better because once it was set up there were fewer issues than we have had with Avalara, …
    Incentivized
    Chose Avalara
    Avalara is significantly more user friendly than the Vertex product we previously had. It also makes the taxability determinations and our Vertex product did not do that without us manually setting up and/or changing the taxability.
    Incentivized
    Chose Avalara
    I don't have experience with any similar products.
    Incentivized
    Chose Avalara
    I think it's very comparable. Avalara was already in place prior to me joining my current employer.
    Incentivized
    Chose Avalara
    Avalara's AI and overall ease of use make Avalara stand out.
    Incentivized
    Chose Avalara
    We previously used TR OneSource and did not find the UI to be user friendly at all. Avalara is more straightforward for our business needs.
    Incentivized
    Chose Avalara
    better billing model for us, can't speak to usability since we didn't select it.
    Incentivized
    Chose Avalara
    We use Avalara for the day-to-day research.
    Incentivized
    Chose Avalara
    Avalara offers the most robust content around the transaction taxes for the hospitality/hotel industry.
    Incentivized
    Chose Avalara
    I find Avalara easier for me to use and find information
    Incentivized
    Chose Avalara
    Avalara has provided additional content for product taxability and tax rates. Additionally the ease of use or user friendliness of the platform for our tax team to utilize the full capabilities of Avalara has proven to be best in class. Other platforms may require additional …
    Incentivized
    Chose Avalara
    Avalara outshines all its competition.
    Incentivized
    Chose Avalara
    Avalara was the preferred option for an Acumatica integration.
    Incentivized
    Chose Avalara
    Easier to use, but since our compliance is outsourced, we went with the same software that our consultants are using.
    Incentivized
    Chose Avalara
    Avalara seems to be a better user experience from my interaction with these systems.
    Incentivized
    Chose Avalara
    Very Compatible. Both have their pluses and minuses depending on each company's requirements.
    Incentivized
    Stripe
    Chose TaxJar
    At the time we made the switch, Avalara did not appear to do what we needed. They did not try to stop us from leaving or seem to care why we were leaving. About a year later I did reach out to Avalara after a mailer we got from them. They did clear up that they could do what …
    Incentivized
    Chose TaxJar
    TaxJar was a better price than Avalara, mostly because it was a streamlined version of Avalara. TaxJar offers a no-frills software that does exactly what you need it to do, calculate and collect sales tax. If you need something more robust then I would look elsewhere, …
    Incentivized
    Chose TaxJar
    I looked at Avalara in the beginning and the price point was way too high. I have been with TaxJar since shortly after they started and they are a great company. Watching them grow has been great. Just need to accommodate the accountant a little better.
    Incentivized
    Chose TaxJar
    TaxJar is SO much cheaper than Avalara and SO much easier to use. Not even close - TaxJar is better. The only reason I would choose Avalara is if it had better native integrations with whatever software stack my business ran on. For our business, TaxJar made so much more …
    Incentivized
    Chose TaxJar
    I believe TaxJar is better suited to smaller, especially Home-Based businesses with its good customer service focus and more reasonable pricing for small biz. Avalara, as far as I know, is not priced competitively for micro-sized businesses. TaxJar began in the small business …
    Incentivized
    Chose TaxJar
    I thought taxjar had a much easier intergration and UI
    Incentivized
    Chose TaxJar
    TaxJar is less expensive, simpler to integrate and their billing is straightforward so that you don't have to worry about huge surprises at the end of a month or quarter. They spend a lot less time on sales/marketing but their support is excellent and overall we have had a …
    Incentivized
    Vertex Inc.
    Chose Vertex
    In my opinion, there is no comparison of Vertex customer service oriented approach to clients vs. Avalara. I think Vertex by far outshines Avalara 10 to 1.
    In my experience, communication with Vertex is much more streamlined and handled efficiently than with Avalara.
    In my …
    Incentivized
    Chose Vertex
    Avalara is pricy in overall usage terms.
    Incentivized
    Chose Vertex
    Vertex seemingly has more capabilities than Avalara, but Avalara's user interface is more intuitive and easier to use for business users.
    Incentivized
    Chose Vertex
    Vertex has helped us streamline and track tax returns more accurately then Avalara did.
    Incentivized
    Chose Vertex
    I haven't evaluated anything else or any other products like Vertex. I have only seen some of the Comparisons between Avalara and Vertex. I don't remember much in terms of differences.
    Incentivized
    Chose Vertex
    I personally find Avalara to be more straightforward and user friendly. I personally find Vertex to be more powerful and customizable.
    Incentivized
    Chose Vertex
    I find Avalara to be more user friendly but not as robust as Vertex.
    Incentivized
    Chose Vertex
    In comparison specifically with Avalara, Vertex is better in every way. It is much more customizable and allows us to change the way our tax software is set up for our business needs. Avalara is much more constricted, and is using the SST system which can allow for simplified …
    Incentivized
    Chose Vertex
    TaxJar had a limited number of products covered when we assessed their product. Their API did appear to be cleaner than Vertex's, and other options Sovos did appear to have a good number of tax codes; however, their pricing and APIs were not as good as Vertex's. Avalara, at …
    Incentivized
    Chose Vertex
    Avalara does not have the ability to write custom rules within the software to handle complex tax scenarios. It also does not have the ability to automate consumers use tax. If you have a complex ERP such as Oracle or SAP, Avalara will not be able to provide you support since …
    Incentivized
    Chose Vertex
    Avalara has a more intuitive user interface, but I find that the transaction detail I need isn’t there (Shopify Plus), so I use Avalara just for real-time rate calculations. Am not impressed with Avalara’s reports, so I rely on the Shopify transaction export for tax filing …
    Incentivized
    Chose Vertex
    Our company is way too large and has way too many transactions on a daily basis for a system like Avalara, and it was not able to handle all the data. With that said, it was a no brainer that our company to go with Vertex O Series for sales tax and procurement.
    Incentivized
    Chose Vertex
    Vertex is far above and easier than Avalara. it is user friendly and provides better integration and efficiencies.
    Incentivized
    Chose Vertex
    Vertex offers more flexibility and taxability under US tax rules, and product mapping is also good in Vertex.
    Incentivized
    Chose Vertex
    The functionality and feature set is similar. However, I prefer Vertex's UI over ONESOURCE. I have found Vertex to have certain taxability categories that ONESOURCE did not have historically.
    Incentivized
    Chose Vertex
    Once setup the software is user friendly.
    Incentivized
    Chose Vertex
    O series is more expensive and out dated.
    Incentivized
    Chose Vertex
    Vertex real time tax rate & tax determination updates is second to none. The quality of and accuracy in report generation is simple & easily understood.
    Incentivized
    Chose Vertex
    O Series does everything we require in a tax software, other products are limited in what they can do for the leasing industry.
    Incentivized
    Chose Vertex
    Vertex has a much better reputation and software customization to suit our needs.
    Incentivized
    Chose Vertex
    OneSource, Avalara, Taxware and CCH
    Incentivized
    Chose Vertex
    Vertex is a market leader for a reason!
    Incentivized
    Chose Vertex
    Customer support is always available.
    Incentivized
    Chose Vertex
    Vertex is more streamlined.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    93%
    Would buy again
    259 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    8 Answers
    96%
    Would buy again
    69 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    92%
    Delivers good value for the price
    231 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    7 Answers
    93%
    Delivers good value for the price
    54 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    271 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    8 Answers
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    69 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    87%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    176 Answers
    88%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    7 Answers
    88%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    38 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    81%
    Implementation went as expected
    184 Answers
    88%
    Implementation went as expected
    7 Answers
    86%
    Implementation went as expected
    50 Answers
    Features
    AvalaraTaxJarVertex
    Type of tax
    Comparison of Type of tax features of Avalara and TaxJar and Vertex
    Feature
    Avalara
    8.2
    386 Ratings
    7% above category average
    TaxJar
    9.3
    6 Ratings
    20% above category average
    Vertex
    8.2
    142 Ratings
    7% above category average
    Sales and Use Taxes9.1381 Ratings9.76 Ratings9.3139 Ratings
    Cross-border Taxes7.888 Ratings9.01 Ratings7.945 Ratings
    VAT / GST Taxes7.674 Ratings00 Ratings8.568 Ratings
    Energy and Fuel Taxes8.331 Ratings00 Ratings7.311 Ratings
    Tax Reporting & Compliance
    Comparison of Tax Reporting & Compliance features of Avalara and TaxJar and Vertex
    Feature
    Avalara
    8.0
    405 Ratings
    3% above category average
    TaxJar
    9.6
    6 Ratings
    21% above category average
    Vertex
    8.6
    136 Ratings
    10% above category average
    Geolocation for Tax Assessment8.3227 Ratings10.03 Ratings8.6103 Ratings
    3rd-Party Software Integrations8.3303 Ratings8.76 Ratings8.795 Ratings
    Tax Data Reporting8.1354 Ratings9.85 Ratings8.7122 Ratings
    Compliance Administration Management7.9261 Ratings9.54 Ratings8.786 Ratings
    Tax Exemption Processing8.0267 Ratings10.02 Ratings8.7100 Ratings
    Tax Document Management8.4283 Ratings9.54 Ratings8.783 Ratings
    Complex Tax Scenario Management6.7177 Ratings10.01 Ratings8.096 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    AvalaraTaxJarVertex
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    Medium-sized Companies
    Lappa
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Lappa
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Lappa
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Vertex
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Vertex
    Score8.8 out of 10
    ADP SmartCompliance
    Score8.2 out of 10
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    User Ratings
    AvalaraTaxJarVertex
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.4
    (568 ratings)
    9.3
    (13 ratings)
    9.0
    (167 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (37 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (20 ratings)
    Usability
    8.7
    (560 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.6
    (63 ratings)
    Availability
    8.3
    (11 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.5
    (10 ratings)
    Performance
    8.3
    (11 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.5
    (10 ratings)
    Support Rating
    6.2
    (25 ratings)
    7.5
    (2 ratings)
    7.5
    (25 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.7
    (3 ratings)
    Online Training
    9.0
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.6
    (5 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.4
    (199 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.9
    (17 ratings)
    Configurability
    8.1
    (8 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (80 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    8.1
    (14 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.9
    (7 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    9.4
    (10 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.7
    (57 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    8.0
    (11 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.9
    (20 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    7.5
    (11 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (13 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    AvalaraTaxJarVertex
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Avalara
    In my opinion, the worst customer service and fraudulent withdrawal from our bank account. We've used Avalara for 3 years. When our renewal came up, we were considering other options. They sent an email stating we had to request a new contract, I sent the request and followed up. There was no response from Avalara so our contract price was unknown. I waited to hear from them and ended up canceling within their window, via the appropriate channels. I followed up multiple times, requesting cancellation confirmation and removal of our bank info (you can't self serve, although you can self serve add it). In my experience, they ignored me for 2 months until I posted publicly about their poor service. I changed our login information and migrated to another platform. In my experience, they withdrew funds from our bank account, the new provider said our taxes weren't paid and the funds are nowhere to be found. Avalara should have never withdrew the funds or billed me after I canceled. Beware of this company, in my opinion, they are non-responsive and unpleasant to deal with.
    Read full review
    Stripe
    If you aren't a tax professional, this is a must. Trying to manually calculate which county/city/state sales tax is owed will break your brain. Actually, even if you were a tax professional, why would you want to manually do it when you could just have a tool like this to calculate it for you. I wish it was also affordable to have it file for you and there are some crunchy bits, but its pros definitely outweigh the cons.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Vertex Inc.
    I have used Vertex since the very beginning of my career. I have always found the information clear, and easy to use. The documentation to use the product was thorough. We file returns in all 45 states that have sales / use taxes and having the ability to import data, key additional data in and print out a signature ready return has made life easy. I've never wanted to look at any other return preparation software as none of them come close to the product that Vertex created.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Stripe
    • The CSV upload for clients that do not have or want to connect directly is very good. It allows us to get a lot of the information done quickly.
    • The cost is very competitive.
    • According to our clients, the integration is relatively easy.
    • For the most part, the reports are accurate.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Vertex Inc.
    • Vertex does a great job of building in-house industry expertise (leasing in our case) so they truly understand the tax technical and compliance obstacles we face day to day.
    • Vertex actively solicits for and responds to customer feedback on development and product roadmap suggestions. The Leasing users group is an example where Vertex takes an active role in communicating with and taking feedback from our industry.
    • Vertex tax updates are very timely and thorough, which makes the compliance process less stressful for our team.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Avalara
    • Avalara's State Registrations option is pretty expensive and should be quicker and cheaper
    • Avalara's State Filing Setup is not coordinated with their State Registrations, so you still have to set up manually what they just registered for you.
    • Even if Avalara has all of your data, they won't set up a state filing if you miss a deadline of the 20th of the current month they won't file that month, even though they have all of the transactions. (This could happen when a new state is selected for tax calculation but the state registration hasn't been completed yet.) They should allow you to set up the returns by the first of the month it is filed in at the least.
    • Avalara's extractor is very base and limited; it can't extract multiple lines into Avalara, it takes an entire invoice and inputs it as one line. We were told after frequent calls that it works that way by design. Those out there who file returns on a regular basis can identify the problem with this scenario and why this won't work for tax filing.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Stripe
    • Continually increase its native integration features with BigCommerce, which recently just opened up more Checkout APIs and Sales Tax APIs.
    • The Amazon integration is confusing only because Amazon (sometimes?) calculates and collects sales tax on your behalf. It's not clear what's best-- to let Amazon do it for you or for TaxJar to handle it.
    • Onboarding could be a bit easier and guided.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Vertex Inc.
    • Reporting: Vertex VAT Compliance is not fully ready to support all EU country's requirements.
    • Data storage.
    • Online reporting in VVC: many countries require to report VAT Declaration in an electronic way. This function is still missing for some of the countries from VVC.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Stripe
    No answers on this topic
    Vertex Inc.
    We are satisfied with the overall performance of Vertex. The software has provided my company with many efficiencies. We have shorted our audits and found that many audits are happy that we are using Vertex to calculate our taxes. We no longer need to worry about updating our rates each month since Vertex sends us a file to upload
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Avalara
    Overall, Avalara has been an excellent resource for the company. We highly recommend it. Once you get familiar with the software it's not hard to navigate and use for your business' needs. There are reports for any type of tax detail you need from individual jurisdiction detail to a comprehensive summary of all states filing or not filing in.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Stripe
    No answers on this topic
    Vertex Inc.
    Vertex itself is very good software. Its tax calculation is very accurate, and there should be no doubt whether Vertex is calculating the tax. Customer support is also good, and the response is quick. The updates are also good and easy to understand, making this an excellent application.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Read full review
    Stripe
    No answers on this topic
    Vertex Inc.
    I have always felt VERTEX support was available when needed, and I have felt comfortable calling in some heavy hitters when needed
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Stripe
    No answers on this topic
    Vertex Inc.
    Our Vertex performance is good, although we are now experiencing Error 502 when adding additional data points to our transaction tester single tests. At Exchange, I was told to reach out to support....that most likely the On Demand system needed some additional CPU resource added. I have a currently open ticket, that has not yet been fixed on this matter
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Stripe
    We had a few questions about integrations & onboarding, and support answered quickly and in-depth. They understood our questions - which were a bit technical in nature - and were able to provide an explanation in a timely and specific manner that allowed us to get the system up and running quickly.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Vertex Inc.
    Level 1 support has always been kind and understanding but times they do not always provided the technical help sometimes their response or protocol is not related. I feel that I have to beg for a developer to look over my issue. On the other hand, there have been times a Level 1 support person has taken the time to research my issue and provide valid feedback & solution
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Avalara
    I wasn't here when they first started with Avalara.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Stripe
    No answers on this topic
    Vertex Inc.
    By training I'm referring to our engagement with Vertex Consulting's professional services group. Each person on the engagement had prior leasing industry tax experience and most if not all used O Series before joining Vertex. Consultants with industry specific tax experience provide so much more than just "training". They are able to engage in deep tax technical discussions with actual experience while in private practice. This coupled with having visibility to how numerous other leasing peers approach similar tax issues is a huge plus on top of the standard training.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Avalara
    The videos go too fast; I kept having to pause them and go back. They don't allow for any practice transactions or provide training materials.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Stripe
    No answers on this topic
    Vertex Inc.
    Vertex has offered multiple webinars for the products we have purchased that are informative and helpful. I've also attended a few of the Vertex annual conferences where I was able to strength my knowledge of Vertex. I also found that their online library and videos can be helpful in resolving issues and answering questions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Stripe
    No answers on this topic
    Vertex Inc.
    The implementation is challenging, make no mistake but will provide much value over time. Make sure you have full support of IT and your major stakeholders in your company. I found that while many people claimed to understand tax was important, they had no idea how deep tax in entrenched throughout the lease life cycle.
    Incentivized
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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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    Stripe
    TaxJar is less expensive, simpler to integrate and their billing is straightforward so that you don't have to worry about huge surprises at the end of a month or quarter. They spend a lot less time on sales/marketing but their support is excellent and overall we have had a much better experience with TaxJar.
    Incentivized
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    Vertex Inc.
    In comparison specifically with Avalara, Vertex is better in every way. It is much more customizable and allows us to change the way our tax software is set up for our business needs. Avalara is much more constricted, and is using the SST system which can allow for simplified returns, but in our case was causing more problems. Avalara is also much more expensive than Vertex, for less capabilities. Vertex' customer support is much stronger than Avalara's, as they are focused on obtaining and retaining customers whereas Avalara was continually trying to find ways to get money from us
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Avalara
    It is usable across all departments
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    Stripe
    No answers on this topic
    Vertex Inc.
    There needs to be a time-consuming setup both in the Enterprise Resource Platform and in Vertex and the related tools as well but once this is all established, Vertex is very proficient at calculating Sales and Use Tax in the USA and in Canada with GST/HST, as well as several of the provinces where we are located. As we added plants in different jurisdictions via greenfield expansion and aquisition, Vertex was able to integrate those as long as the tax department is fully informed of the system.
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    Return on Investment
    Avalara
    • With Avalara, manual tax reporting and calculations have been reduced drastically, reducing manual effort and increasing efficiency.
    • Since it is integrated with Sage Intacct, reporting in both Sage Intacct and Avalara is well balanced, and reporting with tax authorities has been handled well.
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    Stripe
    • With regards to ROI, it definitely saves time. And time, as they say, is money. It may be hard to put a particular dollar sign on this, but it definitely has provided a positive return.
    • It keeps me aware of where I have sales tax nexus that I might not know about otherwise. This is important. Even if I have to check it manually, at least I am made aware of where I need to file.
    • It allows me to track how much in sales tax we've paid year over year, which is a good indication of how our sales are doing.
    Incentivized
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    Vertex Inc.
    • We use Vertex on a monthly basis to see if tax has been over-accrued or over-charged on invoices. We do save tax every month using the tool. Not at liberty to share too much more - the technology does assist the human efforts.
    Incentivized
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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

    TaxJar Screenshots

    Screenshot of TaxJar Reports dashboard showing you the states in which you have nexus, how much sales tax was collected, and your gross sales summary.Screenshot of TaxJar state report showing breakdown of sales tax by city, county, and local jurisdiction for easy sales tax filing.

    Vertex Screenshots

    Screenshot of Vertex dashboard