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Avalara

Avalara

Overview

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.

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Recent Reviews

Avalara Review

7 out of 10
February 29, 2024
Incentivized
We use Avalara to track our sales tax eligible sales and calculating the correct amount of sales tax that should be charged and remitted …
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Indirect Tax

9 out of 10
December 05, 2023
Incentivized
I played a pivotal role in implementing AvaTax at Alchemee. I used to manage the system. We filed our US and Canadian returns through this …
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Great!

10 out of 10
December 05, 2023
Incentivized
We use Avalara for our sales tax compliance. Avalara is excellent at tracking the data necessary to fill out the sales tax returns. We …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 11 features
  • Sales and Use Taxes (294)
    8.9
    89%
  • Tax Exemption Processing (201)
    8.3
    83%
  • Tax Data Reporting (247)
    8.3
    83%
  • 3rd-Party Software Integrations (222)
    8.0
    80%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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Entry-level set up fee?

  • Setup fee optional
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.avalara.com/us/en/products/…

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Starting price (does not include set up fee)

  • $21 per month
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Product Demos

Avalara AvaTax Demo

YouTube
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Features

Type of tax

A list of the different types of taxes that can be filed using tax compliance software.

8.4
Avg 8.5

Tax Reporting & Compliance

Activities relating to tax filing, reporting, document management, and exemption certificate processing.

8.2
Avg 8.4
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Product Details

What is Avalara?

Avalara helps to make tax compliance faster, easier, more accurate, and more reliable for 30,000+ business and government customers in over 90 countries. Tax compliance automation software solutions from Avalara leverage 1,200+ signed partner integrations across ecommerce, ERP, and other billing systems to power tax calculations, document management, tax return filing, and tax content access. Visit avalara.com to learn more.

Avalara Features

Type of tax Features

  • Supported: Sales and Use Taxes
  • Supported: Cross-border Taxes
  • Supported: VAT / GST Taxes
  • Supported: Energy and Fuel Taxes

Tax Reporting & Compliance Features

  • Supported: Geolocation for Tax Assessment
  • Supported: 3rd-Party Software Integrations
  • Supported: Tax Data Reporting
  • Supported: Compliance Administration Management
  • Supported: Tax Exemption Processing
  • Supported: Tax Document Management
  • Supported: Complex Tax Scenario Management

Additional Features

  • Supported: Centralized tax management: Unifies sales and use tax calculation, document management, and returns preparation.
  • Supported: Integrations: AvaTax connects with more than 700 prebuilt integrations to connect with accounting, ecommerce, POS, and other systems, plus an advanced API.
  • Supported: Cloud-based: A software-as-a-service solution, AvaTax updates take effect as soon as they are deployed, helping to ensure the most current information is used.
  • Supported: Exemption management: Certificates from vendors are stored electronically for access and to track expiration dates. Automatic renewal requests are sent out before certificates expire.
  • Supported: Returns filing and remittance: Returns preparation and remittance in multiple jurisdictions. Avalara Returns can track and manage due dates and payment requirements, enabling users to pay returns with a single source of payment.
  • Supported: Lodging: Lodging tax for hotel or rental property are managed with a solution that plugs into reservation software to deliver lodging tax calculations in real time as well as preparation, filing, and remittances of lodge tax returns.
  • Supported: Communications: Tax calculations are delivered on an array of communications transactions by directly connecting to a current billing or ERP system, or to an in-house build via API.
  • Supported: Beverage Alcohol: Simplified regulatory compliance for suppliers, distributors, and retailers in the beverage alcohol industry.

Avalara Screenshots

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Avalara Video

Why Avalara?

Avalara Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

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.

Avalara starts at $21.

Vertex, Sovos Intelligent Compliance Cloud, and Thomson Reuters ONESOURCE are common alternatives for Avalara.

Reviewers rate Sales and Use Taxes highest, with a score of 8.9.

The most common users of Avalara are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(719)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 412)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
We are an online auction house that ships all over the States, as well as internationally. We track Nexus in all 50 states with Avalara's AvaTax. So far, we absolutely love what it has done for us. We have triggered in 5 states outside our home state of Kentucky. We also use the exemption function to store our customer's contact information as well as their exemption certificate numbers, if applicable.
  • Uploading bulk transactions
  • Storing exemption certificate information
  • The sales rate locator tool
  • I wish I could go in and look at transactions with more filters, i.e. Customer name, description, etc.
  • I wish the map would keep the states highlighted once you've triggered Nexus. Instead, the states recently-triggered disappear once you register them.
  • I would really like to be able to select any state - at any given time - and see what our "dollar amount" is in that state, regardless of whether or not we are near triggering in that state.
Avalara is great for general compliance but still needs better integrations.
March 04, 2024

Avalara helps a lot!

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We file sales tax returns in almost all taxable states. Avalara files our returns. We also use CertCapture and TTR.
  • Calculating sales tax
  • Keeping track of exemption certificates
  • Tracking nexus
  • Customer service reps knowledge
  • Response times when issues arise
  • Communication
Sales tax if set up properly is calculated perfectly. CertCapture works great most of the time but there are some issues with certificates not being applied or being applied. Issues with single-use certificates.
February 29, 2024

Avalara Review

Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara to track our sales tax eligible sales and calculating the correct amount of sales tax that should be charged and remitted to the states. We also utilize Avalara's involvement in the Streamlined Sales Tax process as a filer. Lastly, we take advantage of Avalara's research and other state tax information to assist us in our day to day operations.
  • Calculate Sales Tax
  • File SST returns
  • Research
  • UI is not very intuitive
  • Reports are not customizable
  • Hard to find features without googling them
Any company or entity or person that sells goods or provides services that may or may not be eligible for sales tax could easily utilize Avalara. Multi-State entities could also use Avalara simply because Avalara maintains the tax rates not just at the state level but the municipal and special jurisdictions which most people would find difficult or impossible to track accurately over time.
Todd Knowlton | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 2 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara Avatax to collect and remit sales tax. We sell to customer nationwide so we have economic nexus in states other than our own. We have an subscription to their Tax Research product as well.
  • The integration with QuickBooks online works well.
  • The automated filing of reports is convenient.
  • Their software is very poor. It is obvious that they have acquired multiple companies and services and cobbled them together in a way that makes very little sense to the user. There is no real central starting point that will allow you to access all of the various features and services. We regularly encounter website failures and login failures and messages saying it can't do something right now. It is very frustrating.
  • We were oversold services that we didn't need and advised to register in states that we didn't need to register. We actually had a state call us and ask us to please not register because we would be filing zero dollar returns forever. But Avalara insisted that the "most compliant" thing to do was to register. We ended up deregistering in multiple states.
  • The biggest issue is customer service. The front line support when you open tickets rarely has the competence to understand your issue or problem. And the response times can be very slow. We have had two account managers and both were not very responsive. We had some really big issues that finally got escalated to their Customer Excellence team after we left a negative review online. But then that issue got all the way to being promised a resolution from management the next day and then they disappeared. We have been trying to get another response on that issue for an entire month and can't even get a reply. Which is why I'm trying another public review since that seems to be the only thing that gets their attention.
The best I can do is a two. Our experience has been so bad, the software is not good in lots of respects, and the customer service people are either too overwhelmed with people with issues that they can't respond or they just don't care to respond. And the services come at a premium price. So you would think we could at least get a response.

I know Avalara has real tax expertise deep inside that company. But the tools and processes they have cobbled together to monetize that expertise are not delivering a good experience. And their customer support is literally the worst I have ever experienced--and particularly coming from a premium provider.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Avalara has provided excellent service in helping us setup each state we have nexus in for sales and use tax. Since the time of getting are accounts setup with each state, we now use Avalara for calculating sales and use tax, housing exemption certificates, and filing returns. The calculating sales and use tax is amazing, we do not have to worry about whether or not we have received and are collecting sales tax based on the most recent updates from each state. Avalara has incorporated into their system the ease of handling these tax updates for each state. Certcapture, which helps with the exemption certificates, works great and seemless with Avatax and helps us manage all of our exemption certificates, let's us know when we need to collect new certificates from our customers, and determines whether or not the customer reason of exemption is valid for each state. <br><br>We have sales all around North America and managing each state would require many employees to stay on top of managing sales tax in each state. We are able to have two employees that use only maybe 20 percent of their time in managing all of our transactions in Avalara.<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>
  • Calculating Sales Tax Precisely based on the Sales Transaction Data
  • Applying Exemption Certificates to transactions accurately
  • State filings completed accurately and timely and will resolve any issues with the state for any filing.
  • Sales Tax can be very tricky when you have a variety of product that is sold in any given state. The exact same item may be taxed in one state and not in another. We have identified the tax codes associated with each product and Avalara tax software will handle the rest on being able to determine whether the item should be taxed or not in any given state.
  • The search tool in the transactions does not work great. Once you review a transaction, the search critera is deleted and your results are removed causing you to enter the search critera in the fields again. This can be annoying when you are trying to review multiple transactions in the same search results.
  • Live metrics where we can see how much we have consumed of Avalara services based on our contract.
  • Being able to create custom reports. This would make some reports easier to navigate through only the information that I'm needing at that moment and not having it buried with all of the other data in the report.
It's hard to pick certain experiences because each month we have used Avalara it has provided a great experience and has been well suited for us. We have only one individual that reviews the sales and use tax on a monthly basis to ensure everything is ready to be filed and nothing seems out of the normal. If we did not have this software, this step alone would be extermely time consuming and even may require two people if not one.

One experience that sticks out is we had a filing with a state where the state had come back to us and said our filing was incorrect and that we owed a large sum to them for that month being reported. Avalara was aware of the situation and took care of it quickly. I never had to worry once I knew that one of Avalara tax professionals was assisting in the matter. It was nice to know we could focus on other things within our company while knowing Avalara had this handled.

I do not have a scenario where it is less appropriate because we purchased everything that is well suited for our company.
December 05, 2023

Satisfied Customer

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
We use Avalara to calculate our sales tax via our CRM as well to process our returns. We have used Avalara to calculate sales tax on our websites and connect directly to our QuickBooks file to calculate sales tax on one of our smaller companies.
  • Processing Returns Promptly
  • Calculate Sales Tax properly
  • Track Nexus
  • Handling Tickets
Using Avalara has cut my time spent on taxes by more than half.
December 05, 2023

Indirect Tax

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I played a pivotal role in implementing AvaTax at Alchemee. I used to manage the system. We filed our US and Canadian returns through this platform. In my current role at Infineon as a Tax Manager, the Indirect tax team uses your Avalara Cert capture and TTR Research tool.
  • AvaTax - Sale and Use Tax returns filing
  • TTR Research Tool
  • Cert Capture
  • Webinars
  • Customer Support
  • Technical Support
  • Reference materials
  • Add the Batch Import ID in the canned reports.
  • Based on my experience, I was assigned by a junior tax preparer. I suggest giving more experience.
  • Create a reconciliation report for prepayments, especially if there are a lot of roll-forward balances.
  • More compatible settings with the order management platform. We had issues with the Kibo platform connecting with AvaTax in the past.
Compatible settings with the order management platform. We had issues with the Kibo platform connecting with AvaTax in the past.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Our company uses it to capture sales tax in our e-commerce business. We integrate AvaTax with WooCommerce platform. We also use Avalara to submit the sales tax returns.
  • customer service is excellent
  • training is excellent - so many opportunities to learn about tax compliance
  • Avalara provides so many services to help the small business with tax compliance
  • Personal customer service communications is a bit difficult unless you have an account manager that works with your company
The sales state tax returns and Avatax platform are great! Completely makes it doable for small businesses to manage e-commerce. The downside is the financial cost of these services. A bundle package would be great.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use it to calculate the sale tax on invoice, to reconcile transaction for accounting purposes. <br>Only small problem we are running into is who is responsible to update the file frequently. We do receive quite a few letters regarding not filing in time and we are being charged interest and penalties.
  • Report is easy to understand
  • Easy access to data for audit purposes
  • Filing on time
  • Free webinars are the best.
  • We need Avalara to let us know why state has accrued sale tax
  • Is it possible to ask Avalara reviews our account to see what we are missing such as registration, filing frequent, etc...
Backfilling and follow up email to update status.
Account manager will follow up with us if we need to upgrade our renewal.
Please continue to provide free webinars.
December 05, 2023

Great!

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara for our sales tax compliance. Avalara is excellent at tracking the data necessary to fill out the sales tax returns. We have considered using them to submit our returns for us as we are continuously growing. We learned more about sales tax reporting through Avalara and Avatax.
  • Sales Tax
  • Nexus alert
  • Customer service
  • Use tax
  • Explaining nexus
  • Providing information about sales tax nexus for states without paying for a full analysis
Avalara is great if you have NetSuite and want your sales tax data tracked well. The use tax with NetSuite doesn't work as well as the sales tax, you have to click certain settings to just always track certain vendors. It would be great if it could somehow scan details to determine if use tax is necessary or not.
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We were told that Avalara can do what we needed it to do but after the purchase we spent a year talking to their support and no one could help us. Turns out we dont even need to use this platform. Cancelling was a nightmare.
In my opinion, not an ethical company and I would not recommend it
September 30, 2023

Avalara - My Evaluation

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It's used for calculating taxes for various commodities. It can be interfaced with Sage Intacct, and the invoices created in Intacct can be interfaced with Avalara with taxes, where we can download the report and reconcile it weekly. Many other options are also available.
  • We can save all the exemption certificates for each state for a particular customer
  • Avalara can provide you with notification in advance if the Sales Tax exemption certificate is expiring, or we can download the report
  • It also has a option, where you can check for which commodity and state which tax code to use and what is the percentage of tax
  • The invoices that are created in Avalara don't sync back to Intacct, not sure if that is the set up issue
  • Even though most of the state tax filing is 20th of every month, Avalara locks any modification on the 10th of each month, can this be extended to the 15th of each month..... to avoid doing any manual modification and to keep track of it
The client, which is having multiple entities, maximum commodities, exemption certificates for each of the state for each of the customers, auto filing sales returns, Avalara interfacing with other applications is the best experience and well suited for most of the industries.

The clients with one entity and commodities or nature of business (Non profit organization) where sales tax is not applicable. It doesn't suit.
September 29, 2023

The good, the bad and . . .

Kathleen Gage | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Currently, I am the primary user, with my manager as back-up. I do have plans to roll out the application to billing personnel in my company and to sales for tax calculation.
  • Calculate real-time sales tax for invoices.
  • CertCapture for managing my TEC's.
  • Transaction sales tax detail.
  • Local jurisdiction exemption certificates.
  • Avalara online university classes are not interactive and do not provide for practice applications.
Avalara does a great job with usual sales tax calculations, but it needs a bit of improvement in trickier or unusual sales tax calculations/exemptions.
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Determination if sales tax is in applicable in a particular state and/or locality. Also, file sales tax returns in all states applicable. Theoretically, use the product for various other questions related to sales tax, however, that has not worked that well.
  • Determination as to sales tax applicability in states and localities, although, in my opinion, they have provided incorrect information in some instances.
  • If you’re able to get the state set up properly, filing of sales tax returns as required
  • I find it virtually impossible to access people when you have issues with anything
  • In my experience, everything runs through account managers and they are non-responsive and unavailable most of the time.
  • In my experience, 99% of all communication with anybody at Avalara has to be done via some ridiculous form or via email. Human contact is extremely difficult to resolve an issue that sometimes requires human to human contact.
Multi state sales tax returns. I think the software is pretty good although it’s not intuitive. I found it takes some time to get used to using and you’re pretty much on your own. In my experience, they will not give professional advice. However, sometimes I think there is such a fine line that it is indistinguishable and, in my experience, they lead you right up to that line and then just stop.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are using Avalara for filing returns every month. Before using Avalara its to complicated to calculate tax on the basis of States and Counties. Now it's too easy, the transaction is automatically recorded on Avalara and integration provide us the auto calculate taxes.
  • Provide the state wise tax collection report.
  • Easy to file
  • Apply SST number for newly added tax State need to provide or fill all details again and again, you can assist us if the profile available data is already filled with the relevant field
Initially, we are used to 1 state and later we are to file 4 States' tax and which reduced our time for calculating tax.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We only use a small portion of Avalara's capabilities. I have found that their presence outside of the US makes submitting tickets challenging, and their tracking for cases could use improvement. I have heard many users commend Avalara for their use of the product; our company just doesn't have much of a need.
  • Takes a lot of data and condenses on tax returns
  • They are continually trying to improve
  • The support ticket system being in another country does create difficulty in language barriers at times.
  • Tracking for tickets does not exist once the ticket is closed, so unable to see historical tickets.
  • Price is a high for smaller users.
A small business with presence in many states is not quite the market Avalara is geared towards; the cost can be high in this situation. The products are excellent, but they do come with a high cost for us smaller businesses.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
The company uses Avatax integrated with invoicing software to calculate sales tax in 20 different states. Avalara also files the returns and makes the prepayments as needed.
  • Sales exemptions can be applied quickly allowing us to remove sales tax from orders efficiently.
  • The available reports make monthly reconciliation more streamlined.
  • Transaction details clearly display exact tax rates per line item.
  • Account managers change frequently. More longevity would be helpful.
  • Developing training for beginner users that makes no assumptions about the users prior knowledge would be advantageous. I was overwhelmed when I began learning how to use Avatax, do monthly recons, troubleshoot, add exemptions, monitor changing thresholds, how to register, set up returns, etc.
Avalara integrates well with the two ERP systems currently in use and is suitable for all invoicing needs.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara to calculate sales tax on our invoices to customers. We have 50+ US legal entities and have different set of nexus for each entity. As such, it is critical to use a software provider to assist with calculating the sales tax on the products we sell. Avalara fulfills those needs for us.
  • Correctly calculates sales tax
  • Informs us when we have approached or passed economic nexus in states we are not registered
  • provides the detail behind the calculations and provides charts that indicates what is taxable and what is not in various states.
  • As Avalara is connected to the invoicing system, it cannot be used for cash basis reporting
  • Would like to see it reference our system invoice names on the summary screens (currently have to click through to the transactional level to see it)
We had a situation where it appears sales tax was not being calculated correctly on a TN sale as the local jurisdiction did not have tax on the entire sale. However, that specific local jurisdiction has a max taxability and there is no way that I would have known about this without the use of Avalara. Given we just have to code the sale and then it determines taxability in all the various states, plus local jurisdictions, it would be impossible to handle the sales tax function without the use of a software like Avalara.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara to manage our sales tax compliance. We sell to customers across the United States including doing a lot of drop shipments for our customers. This leads to complexity as we navigate sales tax. Avalara helps us manage exemptions and ensures we charge the customer the correct amount. They also help save us from administration time in filing the sales tax returns.
  • Calculate Sales Tax
  • Managing Certificates
  • Improving the Communication when dealing with tax notices
Avalara does a great job at helping to make sure we are charging the customer the correct sales tax amount to customers. If you only have nexus in one state, it may not be 100% necessary but as nexus grows it's an invaluable resource in making sure we stay compliant.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avatax because we are shipping to customers all over the country and frequently need to collect and remit sales tax on behalf of the customers and states.
  • Estimate sales tax
  • compile sales tax needed to remit sales tax return
  • tracking different taxable items
  • keeping track of resale certificates
  • Communicating changes in states needs like codes used
  • Sometimes emails are vague and I don't know if I need to make a change on my end somewhere.
  • The initial setup was unclear. There are some people who were exceptionally helpful like Roger Ingalsbe and some who were not helpful at all.
Sales tax is complicated and you need to have a software that can help you track it all. Avalara does this pretty well over all.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Our Company onboarded with Avalara at the bottom of 2019 because of the South Dakota vs. Wayfair decision. The decision was that even though our Company did not have a physical presence in a specific state, economic nexus laws were passed allowing states to impose sales tax obligations to charge out of state sales tax. Avalara provided a way for us to set up our customers who purchase outside of our state as tax exempt in their state in order to purchase goods without having to pay sales tax. There are currently 46 states who have economic nexus and Avalara has made it easy for our Company by having all the sales tax information readily available and even alerting us once we hit economic nexus and have to set up in that state.
  • Filing returns for our business
  • Calculating sales tax
  • Automate tax compliance
  • Notify us of any tax changes/updates
  • Stores tax certificates
  • Provide better pricing
Avalara has been useful to our Company especially because we are eCommerce retail. It has allowed our customers to easily provide their tax certificate so they can be set up in our system as tax exempt. The integration of CertCapture to Shopify is also great because the tax calculations are automated and every state is different. The only thing I would change is offering more bundles with better pricing; our Company currently pays for the premium, however, we don't use all campaign side of what Avalara offers. We are essentially paying for a side of Avalara that we don't use, so if they were to provide just the CertCapture side of things, without having to bundle it with the campaign side, it would be more useful.
August 24, 2023

Avalara Works!

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara Avatax and Avalara Returns and are registered in most states either under Physical or Economic Nexus. Avalara provides the granular detail of tax rates in every jurisdiction so that we don't need to stay on top tax rate changes that seem to happen almost daily!
  • Calculate Detailed Sales Tax
  • Submit Returns
  • Awesome Tech Support
  • It is expensive, but is worth it.
  • Their Sales Team runs from Excellent down to Inattentive (The inattentive one seems to have moved on)
  • Quoting for help seems high.
I can't think of any area where it wouldn't be an asset to your company. The peace of mind that it gives any company that you are collecting and remitting the correct sales tax is invaluable. It is expensive, but when you realize that you would need a team to navigate the calculation of sales tax for every local, district and state sales tax rate where you ship, it would be mind boggling. It is an expense... a cost of doing business, but money well spent.
August 22, 2023

Great Time Saving Tool

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are currently using AvaTax for Filing returns, looking up rates, and CertCapture. Most all of our divisions use the programs as it makes the taxability decisions so much easier and more accurate. CertCapture helps to have one formatted letter to send to new customers for Certificates, and expired or expiring certificates.
  • Tax Calculations is a great tool to allow us to inform the customer of tax amount prior to billing.
  • CertCapture does a great job of organizing our Certificates.
  • Tax Returns are simple to set up and process.
  • CertCapture could have a more user-friendly method for reports.
  • Would be great if there was more user friendly options for validating certificates.
  • Uploading Customers and Certificates could be more user friendly.
Avalara is definitely suited for multi-division, multi-state companies to ensure compliance with tax billings and filings. It is also very helpful with the CertCapture to ensure that all Certificates are valid and reporting on expiring/expired certificates. The best feature is the ability to send a formatted letter that has the link for the customers to submit certificates directly to CertCapture.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Filing almost 100 return on a monthly, quarterly, annual basis for our entity - we are registered in all required states in the US and many individual cities/counties that have separately managed sales tax. This software prevents us from having to manually calculate tax each period and file returns. We also don't need to keep track of tax rate changes because the software updates them automatically. In addition we use the exemption portion to track certificates from our customers, many of whom are exempt because they are hospitals. WE also have the option to write custom rules when we don't agree with the outcome Avalara recommends.
  • Correct tax rates charged to customers based on rate changes automatically
  • Applies sales tax holidays which skips tax being charged on specific dates
  • Tracking of exemption certificates and reporting on ones expiring soon so you can get ahead of the expiration and not have any gaps
  • New exemption tool not as robust as previous version - cert capture
  • Support can be frustrating sometimes and not give helpful answers.
  • Passwords from business license should connect in Avatax so you don’t have to track twice and update in both places when you make changes.
  • Website has been crashing a lot lately and we aren't able to log on.
Before we signed up to start using Avalara I was manually calculating and filing 12 returns a month. It would take me an entire day during the close, and every month I would identify invoices which had the incorrect rate on them and had to be adjusted. Most times we couldn't go back to invoice the customer, so we were out of pocket for the difference. I would guess anyone who moves beyond their home state for shipping to customers could benefit from using Avalara as you are just not as familiar with the tax situation - especially if you live in a state charging local taxes.
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Signing up was easy and completed in a matter of minutes with a real person on the phone. After that, it was all downhill. Support is the worst of any company we deal with. Don't expect a real person to ever call you. Its all done by email. Employees all work from home so they lack any personal skills outside their little box. I email them a question and don't hear back for a few days. Then they explain I just need to login and everything is on my account page. They take money from my card with no explanation as to what all the "fees" are. We just paid a 33.00 fine to the state for something. They claim in Email "that shouldn't have happened" Well - no S**T ! No refund. Then they took 100.00 too much last month and will issue a credit. We actually had some kid call us last week about a billing problem, but he said he works remote and isn't in billing - we need to contact them. Well, good luck. Hope their emails make it to my inbox and not my spam folder. <br>At this point, I plan to just lick my wounds, suck up a 3000.00 loss and cancel everything. Even in the ratings, SUPPORT rates a 3 out of 10. How in the world did they even rate that high. <br><br>As for the Avatar system - I can't even rate it as a 10 when I get a bill with 3 different "fees" and no explanation as to what the fees are for. A 700 dollar tax bill with a 1400 debit to my account for 3 "fees"? I think a lot of their ratings are fake BOTS when you see nothing but a glowing report with -0- negative issues. I plan to shop around and find a different provider, but this experience has been so bad I may just have to keep it in house.
  • calculates tax for every single invoice in a matter of seconds
  • Only reply by emails.
  • They never pick up a phone to call.
  • The don't forward emails to the proper person to handle
  • Introduce the employees to a phone.
  • Assign a specific "account manager" for a customer to email for help
  • Have a real phone that you actually answer at your main office (if you even have a "main office")
Customer support is non-existent.
Complained about them needing to call on a phone and was told "we don't call anyone and doubt any other large company would place a phone call either" to help me with the initial install
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