Avalara

Score8.4 out of 10

957 Reviews and Ratings

What is Avalara?

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.

Categories & Use Cases

Tax Compliance

Media

Screenshot of the Avalara portal homepage

Screenshot of returns, appearing in the Avalara portal

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Screenshot of the Avalara portal homepage

Sales and Use Taxes
Software is capable of calculating and filing sales and use taxes.
Category average: 9
Geolocation for Tax Assessment
Ability to use geolocation, which is more precise than zip codes, for mapping taxes to specific jurisdictions.
Category average: 8.5
Tax Document Management
Collection and storage of tax documents, especially exemption certificates, and ability to retrieve them to use for tax audits.
Category average: 8.2

Cross-border Taxes
Software is capable of calculating and filing taxes, such as customs, across countries.
Category average: 7.8
VAT / GST Taxes
Ability to calculate and manage VAT and GST taxes.
Category average: 8.1
Complex Tax Scenario Management
Ability to automate handling of tax holidays and other anomalies.
Category average: 6.9

Most Frequent Users

Top 3 industries using Avalara.

Based on HG Insights installation data

View all Reviews

#1 most frequent

Manufacturing

20.9%

903 installations of 4,323

“We used Avalara to monitor our nexus thresholds in each state, collect and file sales tax for us.”
— Owner & ceo, Completing the Puzzle (Small Businesses)

#2 most frequent

Information

15.9%

687 installations of 4,323

“Reduction in research time”
— Assistant Controller, Perceptyx, Inc. (Mid-sized Companies)

#3 most frequent

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

15.6%

675 installations of 4,323

“Reduced time calculating tax rates. Many of our businesses were manually calculating their tax rates, which took up so much time that they were unable to scale.”
— Tax Accountant, Playcore (Mid-sized Companies)

Pros

Automated sales tax calculation across diverse jurisdictions
Streamlined 1099 form preparation and e-filing
Significant time savings through process automation

Cons

Customer service response times and consistency issues
User interface design could be more modern with improved navigation
High pricing, particularly for smaller businesses or individual services

Manvitha Katta

Staff Business Solutions Partner, Finance Systems in Finance and Accounting at 6Sense (1001-5000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Avalara is used to handle taxes for our organization. We have Avalara integrated with Sage Intacct for handling taxes. Avalara handles taxes based on a set of rules, and exemptions are handled efficiently. Sales tax is added promptly for Invoices in Sage Intacct as soon as the invoice is created. Reporting is easy on Avalara for taxes that have been added or are exempt.

Pros

Customer exemption certificates are handled well.
Exemptions and state rules are handled well.
Reporting out of Avalara is great.
Integration with Intacct is very easy for setup and product codes are easier for sync.

Cons

Custom rules can be improved.
India taxes are not been handled well and GST rules can be improved further.

Return on Investment

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.

Usability

Other Software Used

Sage Intacct, Navan, Snowflake

Brian Thomas View profile

Owner & ceo in Product Management at Completing the Puzzle (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We used Avalara to monitor our nexus thresholds in each state, collect and file sales tax for us. We used their Shopify connector and went through the migration with Shopify tax. Avalara was mostly used to file sales tax on our behalf. This was pitched as a value add, but you'll end up managing their time, and in my experience the product doesn't work as advertised. If it fails, in my experience, they'll take zero responsibility.

Pros

Files sales tax
Notification of nexus thresholds

Cons

Consistently paying taxes
Customer service
Communication
Response time
User experience of their portal
Billing
ACH settings

Return on Investment

In my experience, poor communication, they take weeks to respond or don't at all
In my experience, zero management, you will manage them. Every communication starts from square one and you have to explain everything in detail
Lack of ownership. In my opinion, they are not proactive in anything
High employee churn. In my opinion, our account manager turned more than any other company we work with
In my opinion, expensive. You can go with any other option and get at least the same level of service (low bar) and pay less
No responsibility. In my experience, when their software makes mistakes, it costs you money. In my experience, they don't help you with the bills and put everything on you. You'll need a team to manage their team

Usability

Jordan Davis View profile

Website Manager in Professional Services at BoxoUSA (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I am the Website Manager for BoxoUSA, a tool and tool storage manufacturer. I use Avalara for all things taxes for our business. It is used to calculate sales taxes on our e-commerce website based on shipping location, file state sales tax returns on our behalf, and monitor nexus status in the states we sell in.

Pros

They handle sales tax calculations seamlessly in our Shopify store via their Shopify integration.
As long as we approve our tax returns in a timely manner they file on our behalf which helps us a ton.
Their nexus status monitoring is really helpful to get the heads up when we need to register with a state's department of revenue.
Their customer service is superb. I am always able to chat with a live person and get my technical or tax questions answered quickly.

Cons

Taxes are naturally very confusing so having easier access to help docs or guides would be nice.
Not having to leave the user portal to start support would be nice.

Return on Investment

Avalara has actually saved us money despite how expensive the platform is. Without them we would have had multiple tax violations or incorrect tax returns that could have come back to bite us.
Their seamless integration into Shopify saves us time and money by importing our transaction data into their platform and reporting taxes based on that.
I do not have to worry about tax collection or filing now thanks to Avalara.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Shopify

Other Software Used

Klaviyo, Anthropic Claude, Google Workspace, Shopify Plus, NetSuite ERP, Teamwork.com, Trello, Google Trends, Shopify, Shopify Flow

Adam Migirditch

Key Account Executive in Sales at Gettysburg Flag Works, Inc. (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Avalara for tax exemptions. If a customer is a non-profit or tax exempt organization, we have to enter them into Avalara which then tells Odoo, our CRM software, that they should not pay taxes. It involves a bit more steps then our previous tax-exemption process, but it's definitely more secure.

Pros

Customer records/information
Tax exemption

Cons

Speed - always a delay between data entry and tax exemption in Odoo
Log-in - I always click "REMEMBER ME" and it never does

Return on Investment

More tax exempt sales
Repeat B2B tax exempt customers

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Odoo and Fiserv (First Data) - ICICI Merchant Services

Other Software Used

Odoo, Dropbox, monday.com

Kaya Klotzek View profile

President/CEO in Finance and Accounting at Life's Just Taxing (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

As a credentials tax professional I need Avalara on a daily basis. I am so pleased that they partnered with Xero so that small businesses get the right support for their everyday sales tax needs. They also have a product that helps me immensely helpful for me at year end or beginning of year when 1099s and W2s are due and a client needs a one off to 10 or more. So costly software, just the forms available immediately or safely mailed out for you at a small nominal fee. I have been using this company successfully for over 5 years and feel honored to know many employees that started out with the company. As long as they keep customer support in the US I believe they will always be the number 1 in their sector.

Pros

Ecommerce nexus between states
Return filing and paying of sales tax for multiple states
1099 and W2 forms for small businesses

Cons

When website updates happen they would loose important tax filing info in the portal
If filing has gone form paper to e-filing, send out a notice so compliance is smooth and timely
Partner commission even if I brought them on before the program existed

Return on Investment

The time saved in manual submission and payment of tax
The cost per volume could be readjusted based on time of use and quantity of needs
Grouping package may be easier for small business to utilize

Usability

Other Software Used

Xero, Handshake by Shopify (discontinued), QuickBooks Online Advanced

Sovos Intelligent Compliance Cloud

Thomson Reuters ONESOURCE

Vertex

Avalara

What is Avalara?

Categories & Use Cases

Media

Avalara Key Features

Top Performing Features

Sales and Use Taxes

Geolocation for Tax Assessment

Tax Document Management

Areas for Improvement

Cross-border Taxes

VAT / GST Taxes

Complex Tax Scenario Management

Who Buys & Uses Avalara

Most Frequent Users

Manufacturing

Information

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

Most Frequent Users

Small Businesses

Mid-sized Companies

Enterprises

Most Frequent Users

United States of America

Canada

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Most Frequent Users

Finance

Engineering

Sales

Avalara Reviews

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