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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.AvalaraAvaTax fan2018-10-16T20:12:26.970ZWe sell electronically downloaded software to several states. The burden of keeping up with the ever-changing state tax laws became overwhelming and so I reached out to Avalara for a solution. The setup was relatively simple and I was up and running after the first training session. Avalara integrates directly with my QuickBooks Online so I now know that the sales tax on each of my invoices is correct. I also do not have to worry about the multiple state reporting deadlines because Avalara files them on my behalf.,Avalara is in the business of sales tax and therefore stays ahead of the changes as they occur.
Avalara software integrates directly with QuickBooks Online so sales tax is correctly calculated on every invoice created.
Avalara takes care of the state filings so that I don't have to worry about them.,Although Avalara integrates directly with QuickBooks Online, it bypasses the QB sales tax system and creates the sales tax as a line item on the invoice instead of a calculation after the subtotal. This was confusing to some of our customers.
For the WA combined excise tax return, I have to email my WA B&O tax calculations to be included in the return by the 10th of the month even though the report is not due until the end of the month. There is currently no place on the Avatax console to add these figures.,10,Researching sales tax rates and calculating and filing multiple state tax returns was extremely time consuming before adding AvaTax. With AvaTax in place I am able to focus on other issues and have the peace of mind that the sales tax is calculated correctly and filed on time.,10,QuickBooks Online,10,Yes we have used the managed returns filing with great success. Since we only have a few exemption certificates, we have not utilized the exemption certificate management system yet.,Jodi PickeringAvalara makes life easier2018-11-05T22:32:04.005ZWe use Avalara for sales tax calculation on customer invoices and also to capture sales and file the sales tax returns.,Calculating sales tax in 20+ states
Preparing returns in 20+ states with different filing periods
Keeping us up to date with new tax laws and states we need to register in,I have only had one issue with a customer service rep that was out of the country, so I would say providing help from the country you reside in,10,Avalara has made the invoicing process much quicker since the tax is calculated automatically and our customer service reps don't have to look up the tax rates.
Avalara has freed up some time for me since I just have to verify the sales and total tax on the returns. Now I have more time to concentrate on other projects in the department.,9,9,We have benefited from the returns filing service that Avalara supplies.Jodi BurkettGenerally pleased2018-10-30T15:12:32.305ZWe use the Avatax software to make sales and use tax calculation for our traditional sales model, and our e-commerce platform. It is only being used by the accounting/customer service department, 1 programmer who is deeply involved in our NetSuite ERP software has also been involved in the Avalara launch.,Updated rates - compared to our old (manual) process, we're saving tons of time when we don't have to look up or update rates for new customers or new sites.
Direct customer support - our account manager is very accessible and if she doesn't answer a call, Kristin gets back to me same day. She turned a quote for a new project very quickly as well. Very pleased with her.
I've only sat through 3 trainings, or webinar sessions, but they were well done.,Very annoyed by the $500 annual sur-charge that we were threatened with for not having our account set up for auto-pay. Literally the only vendor we do business with that has tried anything like this. My Visa is currently on saved on file so we weren't upcharged, but paid this years renewal a few days early via ACH transfer.
We requested a custom rule to handle MO sales / use tax, that is unusual. It took months to get it finished, and we haven't gone live with it yet. This is partly on me though, and the fact that I'm not even 100% sure that my supervisor had gotten proper advice from MO dept of revenue on the issue.
The software is expensive. Must be nice to have that big of a market share. We spend the extra money though because we do feel (and have been advised) that Avalara is the best, and this is important enough to go with the best.,8,too early to tell from a staffing point, and we haven't been audited since we launched. I do feel confident that we'd pass, and part of that goes to Avalara. We spend less time processing orders for sure. While the annual software renewal is very expensive, i do think it's being offset by payroll savings.,10,Magento & NetSuite.,9,Not using either. But we've spec'd a side project that would require us to launch a much larger e-commerce site, and we'd at least start using the managed return filings, our account manager Kristin did a good job explaining the capabilities and quoting us a number we could use to market this project.,RYAN VANLANDINGHAMAvalara works well for us2018-10-26T21:10:42.537ZWe are using Avalara as a real-time cloud solution for SAP for the entire corporation. The core functionality is a substitution for our old solution which caused technical and support problems. In addition, we are using the tax filing tools and implementing CertCapture.,Seamless SAP interface
Great UI for master data maintenance
Excellent implementation support
Provides access to the right resources if problems occur,Tax returns are not very flexible
Special rules for Canadian taxes posed a problem
More local technical presence preferred,10,More stable real-time platform resulting in significantly less interruptions and internal support
Tax filing reduced reconciliation efforts
CertCapture implementation is in progress but will yield significant cost savings for certificate management and will improve customer experience,10,SAP
E-commerce system (Smartequip) in progress,9,We are currently implementing certificate management which will solve numerous manual process and customer interaction problems. The overall solution will benefit our organization multifold, internally and customer facing.,Michael HankenSalva-Avala Review2018-10-26T21:00:56.976ZIt is being used by the finance department to calculate and remit sales tax across states that we do business in.,Calculation of sales tax.
Reports by state and period to remit sales tax.
East of setup for various types of sales types and codes.,I think it would be great it Avalara offered advisory services, i.e., where should we be collecting sales tax, and what types of services are taxable/ non-taxable in each state.,7,Avalara saves a lot of time that someone would otherwise have to spend calculating payments by state and maintaining rates.,5,Sage Accounting
SAP,8,Currently we only use Avalara for tax calculation, but have considered the service for managing returns. It will come down to cost considerations.Sal Falcone
Unspecified
Avalara
187 Ratings
