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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

(26-50 of 412)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara for:<br>1) Excise tax filings (tax department)<br>2) For sales tax verification on live invoices (commercial department)<br><br>It addresses the ease of filing tax returns with various tax jurisdictions. Separately, it assists in calculating the proper tax amounts for our invoices sent to customers.
  • Effectively and efficiently handle sales tax billing on our invoices
  • Interface with the various tax jurisdictions for uploading specific tax return files
  • At times, we've had intermittent response time for general resolutions.
  • Haven't compared pricing to other competitors recently, but I'd be curious where it stands for similar products.
Generally, at least for the products our company uses, Avalara is well suited. I am not sure if they are the most competitive in pricing but we have been satisfied with the products in most respects. I will say the interaction I've had with our reps has been helpful on all aspects. They are pleasant to deal with at all times.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara to help with all our tax needs including reporting, tax requests and sales tax questions. It helps us make sure we have our state sales tax reporting accurately by jurisdiction.
  • Tax Research
  • Request and uploading Certificates
  • Resolving Tax discrepancies
  • Talking with customer service
  • High Cost
  • Supports sometimes lack knowledge
We use Avalara to assess sales tax to our customers. We utilize the tax codes and map them to our products. This helps assess tax on our products that are used throughout the USA.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are a manufacturing company that normally sells to dealers, who then sell to end users. The vast majority of our customers are exempt from sales tax for purposes of resale. Up until 2020, we were only registered in 3 states for sales tax. We then opened an eCommerce site that required the registration and filing of sales tax in all US applicable states. We use Avatax in conjunction with Progressive Edge to capture all taxable sales to our customers in our ERP system. We also use CertCapture to manage all of our resale certificates for thousands of customers.
  • Calculates the correct tax regardless of state, county, or local jurisdiction.
  • CertCapture provides a site for managing all resale certificates, updating, renewing, and providing reports/backup in the event of an audit.
  • One stop shop for all things tax makes my life easier!
  • The learning curve is difficult and not much "live" training is provided. Had to figure out much on my own.
  • Response time on questions is sometimes slow.
Works very efficiently for customers who are registered in multiple states and do not have adequate staffing to calculate appropriate sales tax, manage certificates and file sales tax returns. Had some initial issues trying to connect through Progressive Edge due to our own unique ERP system, but overcame those issues relatively smoothly. It is important to have good IT people to assist with the technical side of the software if necessary.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I use Avalara daily to ensure that we in compliance in every state in regard to sales and use taxes. Avalara make is easy to see the states where we are close to reaching economic nexus in.
  • Sales and Use tax compliance by State
  • Submitting Sales and Use Tax Returns
  • Keeping Track of Economic Nexus Thresholds
  • Customer Service
  • Response time on service tickets
Avalara helped get us in compliance with our online sales, and ensured that we were in filing the correct returns with each state.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Mainly, Avalara helps us make sure we have our state sales tax reporting accurate by jurisdiction as it relates to our myriad purchases we make on a day to day and regular basis. This can defer between the hardware vs software and services and across our disparate locales.
  • Tax reconciliation
  • Jurisdiction identification
  • type calculation
  • collection and allocation
It's good for what it does and what it is meant to do. I wouldn't change much given the speedy timely visibility of tax data as it related to our application.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It facilitates the calculation of sales tax and it prepares monthly sales tax reports and submits payments to the appropriate agency
  • Calculate Sales Tax
  • Provides reports
  • Submits payments to agencies
  • When transactions are revised they take a long time to update, sometimes we need to come back the next day to see updated numbers
worry free sales tax calculations and management
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Avalara is integrated with our NetSuite application to charge customers sales tax. We do not have the bankwidth to make sure tax codes are correct and to ensure that we have captured the all the taxes that need to be charged for a transaction. We processes over 100 invoices a day and Avalara and AvaTax work in the background to verify resale certificates and charge sales tax on our transactions when the criteria for resale is not met. It cuts down on all the guess work!
  • Integration with NetSuite
  • Ease of use
  • Seamless process for charging tax on transactions
  • Initial implementation was a little cumbersome
  • Could benefit from a little more detailed training
  • Provide assistance to customize reports and show users how to create
If you have a need for Sales Tax implementation and your current platform is not cutting it, Avalara is excellent. It has taken the guess work out of Sales Tax billing and is easy to use. It took some time to get it set up initially, but once implemented; it has been great. We have the ability to add companies if they receive a new resale certificate and it is an easy process. If you have several companies that need to be added you can do it with an upload that is quick and painless.
When it is time to pay taxes to the state, etc you have access to reports that calculate the sales tax collected. Avalara and AvaTax have been a great time saver for our company and I would recommend it to anyone needing this sort of application.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara to help with our tax research and savings. It helps us save money by allowing us not rely constantly on outside advisors.
  • Audit Support
  • Tax Research
  • Rate Validation
  • VDA Work
  • Customer Support
  • Portal Management
  • Agreements and Contracts
During a recent audit, Avalara helped saved over a 100,000 in tax by helping us find an exemption on services we use. We were also recently able to automate our sales tax compliance process to save us money on outsourcing those returns.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are in the banking software industry and Avalara does a great job in keeping up with the always changing software laws in the states where software is taxable. The Wayfair vs South Dakota changed this software taxability law to another level that we have not seen in the US before and without Avalara, I don't think it's possible to keep up with the changes day in and day out. Avalara is in my opinion the #1 Sales & Use Tax software available today in the market to tackle these software law changes. Having said that, we use Avalara in conjunction with our ERP (NetSuite) for years now and the process is very smooth. As an out-of-state seller into many jurisdictions the process was becoming unmanageable when we were tracking and reporting sales tax manually. Avalara's service cleaned everythng up and it is a releif not to have to worry about the liability and possible mistakes of manual sales tax reporting. We recently got audited by the State of Texas and when the auditor saw that we are using Avalara, she said this makes the process so much easier, and in fact the audit was finished quitely smoothly. Overall, I love this product/software and the entire Avalara team. I am happy and recommend them to anyone looking for a good sales tax and exemption system.
  • Tax Rate Changes are always accurate
  • Local jurisdictions taxability is top notch
  • Informs of the user of all the changes periodically
  • None
In my opinion, Avalara is my go to software for all sales tax compliance work for any company in the United States. Without Avalara, I won't know how to stay in compliance because the change in laws are so many and it comes when you least expect it. Thank you Avalara!
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Avatax to file sales tax returns. Now that we file based on financial nexus, Avalara helps to keep us in compliance.
  • They file timely and accurately
  • They handle any state notifications
  • They have a resale certificate tool that we are planning to use
  • They need to ease the process of adding new states
  • Need to make their program more intuitive
  • Speed up the system - takes a bit too long when changing screens to refresh.
Avalara is an expert in sales tax compliance and easily connects to our systems.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara across our sales and accounting departments. Avalara integrates with our e-commerce platform to calculate, charge, and collect sales tax. It's helpful that Avalara knows the correct rates to charge for all products in all jurisdictions for all classes of customers. That information is then transmitted to our accounting staff to reconcile with our internal records. Avalara then files the necessary tax returns.
  • Determines tax rates for customers depending on that customer's exact ship-to location.
  • Files returns correctly and on time.
  • Tracks and uses customer supplied exemption certificates to determine a customer's taxability.
  • Avalara assumes that companies have IT support. Dumbing down some of their training would be helpful.
  • Avalara leads you to believe that they do everything. There is a significant amount of internal time spent setting up and making necessary adjustments to Avalara.
Avalara is well-suited to a company that has accounting software that has the ability to integrate through API. It becomes more manual when you have a situation where third-party software does not integrate well. The more time that you can spend in the setup phase, the better your experience will be.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We currently use Avalara in the finance and accounting departments. We love how great it is for Avatax and filing sales tax returns. It helps us keep track of all our exempt customers in one centralized system. We use it multiple times a day to reference whether sales tax should be charged to a customer.
  • It keeps track of all customers' exemption forms and reasons
  • Calculates tax in NS based on the CertCapture status
  • Submits tax returns at the end of the month for all states and jurisdictions
  • A better FAQ section so we don't need to contact customer service
  • Quick chat box for questions
  • I didn't have any training as I started after we implemented--would be nice to have some training once a new account was made for me
Setting up sales tax for the state of Louisiana was very complicated in our company. There were many different jurisdiction that needed specialized tax rates. Customer service was able to help me create over five combinations of unique tax amounts for state and parish. This was very important, as certain parishes had exemptions for medical devices, which we sell.
May 30, 2023

Avalara review

Kelly Beck, CPA | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara to assess sales tax to our customers. We utilize the tax codes and map them to our products. This helps assess tax on our products that are used throughout the USA.
  • Adding tax on invoices
  • Easy to add new products
  • Easy to navigate
  • Adding tax exempt certificates
  • High cost
  • Supports sometimes lacks knowledge
Avalara is easy to use. Reporting can be downloaded to Excel. Avalara isn’t great and helping assess tax codes with products. They also weren’t helpful with tax reconciliations which is why we switched to someone else to generate our returns.
February 11, 2023

Puts Your Mind at Ease

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
They track all sales and capture sales tax file returns and keep an eye on our exemption certificates. Our business uses Avalara since the government said we needed to pay sales tax in all states. That was way more than our accounting dept was able to handle.
  • They are very quick to help with any questions I have.
  • They have always kept me updates on any changes with tax in all states.
  • They always include our company with any new webinars and the Avalara Crush this year.
  • Training on the how the program works for brand new people.
  • Sometimes, it is very hard to understand the customer service people.
  • Sometimes, I would like to talk to someone on the phone rather than opening a support case.
I was having trouble getting our discounts to show up from CV3 and I opened a case and we had it solved within a day. There was a time I was going to have a zoom call and the customer service person had the wrong time zone - it took a month for it to happen, but by then I had figured it out. Sometimes, customer service isn't efficient enough.
February 04, 2023

Confidence in Compliance

Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We utilize Avalara as our resale and exemption certificate library. We integrate CertCapture with Oracle NetSuite to ensure accurate tax application on eligible sales both retail and wholesale. Utilize AvaTax to compile returns and tax data via an API integration with AvaTax and NetSuite. We also utilize Avalara to request certificates from our customers.
  • Provides webinars that bring clarity in the landscape evolving tax compliance.
  • Has a large library resource of information to help guide users of their products.
  • Filing returns on behalf of their customers.
  • Clear access to a resource where links can be accessed directly to state tax websites that provide regulatory information about tax compliance.
Avalara is well suited for businesses that have a broad reach of sales across multiple taxing jurisdictions. Specifically, where the business may have customers that also have a broad expanse of sales across multiple taxing jurisdictions. Avalara helps to manage the certification, reporting, and paying of tax across multiple tax jurisdictions. Avalara most-likely is less appropriate for business that only selling in one taxable jurisdiction.
February 04, 2023

Avalara Review

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara to manage our exemption certificates, maintain and file our state returns. We currently ship to every state in the US and many international countries. This type of program will track all the various information, returns and help us gather the correct exemption certificates for each location to ensure compliance.
  • Certificate Library
  • Webinar training
  • Support/knowledge center is excellent
  • Automated messages from Managed Services to customers should be easier to understand. These are too technical for the average non-accountant getting the initial request for an exemption certification or other information.
  • Communication options within the system between users and customers or other users. When trying to figure something out, we always have to go outside the system. It would be helpful to have a way to do it all within the system easier.
Avalara would be well suited for any company that has exemption certificates that it needs to track and monitor. Also, if there are sales in multiple jurisdictions where returns need to be filed, or the internal employee's knowledge base is low, Avalara would be a great fit. If a company only has sales in one state, then Avalara may not be appropriate, depending on the state and the product being sold, because there my not be many exemption certificates and there could be as little as 1 return.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara to automate our sales taxes. AvaTax integrates with our Shopify so we don't have to manage tax rates or collection. Shopify remits to us, Avalara gives us a report showing what we owe, and we remit Avalara, who remits to the states. We enrolled for the Streamlined Sales Tax program which saves us a lot of money too!
  • Integrations with cloud platforms
  • good user experience
  • makes sales tax easy
  • one-off exceptions
  • helping when a filing frequency gets confused (if you switch to monthly too early, they can't go back and file an annual return)
Well suited when you reach Nexus in lots of states. Not helpful if you haven't reached Nexus in more than a few states I think.
February 02, 2023

Review

Deana Davies | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara to calculate our sales tax, and submit our returns.
  • file returns timely
  • calculate sales tax
  • customer service
  • educating
We have had many scenarios when Avalara has been unable to help us get situations resolved. A lot of back and forth. Where issues remain unresolved.
Score 2 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Our business sells direct to customers online as well as wholesale to stores that resell our products. We use AvaTax for tax calculations in Shopify and in our ERP system, and we have Avalara file and remit our returns based on those transactions. Additionally, we utilize Cert Capture for exemption certificates, which connects into AvaTax to exempt customers with valid certificates on file.
  • most of the time, it properly calculates sales tax on transactions.
  • filing returns is easy and handled entirely by Avalara once everything is setup.
  • I feel customer service in all areas needs drastic improvement - customer support, implementation, account management, etc.
  • Support for implementation; have the implementation team understand the business you are in and what products/ services you have purchased. Improve upon the sequence of implementation to make logical sense.
For the most part, the software does what it is supposed to do. We have had several glitches that we've spent months working with support on fixing. In our experience, implementation was awful and the Avalara team we worked with was not up to date on what products and services we had purchased, every meeting we had to review that with them at the beginning. The order of implementation was mind-boggling, as they did not even start Cert Capture training until after our planned go-live date (which we had to move 3 times due to Avalara delays), which makes no sense as you would want that live and setup before going live so that resale customers have those certificates on file on day one. We purchased Managed Services work to assist in collecting certificates, which was a huge mistake and a huge waste of money. I would not recommend anyone utilize that service. In my opinion, customer service is beyond awful. Our account manager is impossible to reach and we've had probably 5 different account managers in 6 months. Customer Support is supposed to answer tickets within 8 hours, based on paying a premium for the "pro" level support. However, the response we receive is never within 8 hours, and normally is an email stating they need additional information to look into the issue, and then it's another 24+ hours before you get another response. If the software ran smoothly and never had issues, it would be fine because you would never have to interact with anyone at Avalara, however, that has not been our experience.
February 02, 2023

Basic use of Avalara

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We mostly use Avalara for filing sales tax returns and charging tax on invoices. We are able to pull workbooks with sales information that we can use to analyze taxability for new states/countries.
  • Compatible with our accounting systems
  • Research information is available
  • Many options for reports that we can use for filing foreign returns outside of Avalara
  • The site for looking at transactions is very slow and drags out our monthly review processes.
  • Our attempt to complete a VDA with Avalara was a horrible experience that was barely started and eventually moved to another provider after not being able to get past the basic setup. It included weeks of pushing.
Avalara is helpful in keeping our tax rates up to date for the various jurisdictions where we are registered and provides a simple process for filing returns. I would not recommend using their services when service (as opposed to technology) is required. For example, VDA assistance was not a pleasant experience and there are other providers that may charge more, but are worth every penny you pay to get them done in a timely manner.
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara for calculating and reporting sales tax. Avalara provides the calculation for sales taxes and files and pays sales taxes.
  • Calculation of sales taxes on our products and services
  • Filing sales tax returns and payments
  • Integrating with NetSuite
  • providing integration with states for change in return frequency requirements
  • flexibility in timing and support for errors
  • amending returns and requesting refunds
Avalara did fine on the calculation and remitting of sales taxes and integrated well with NetSuite. However, we've had numerous challenges: 1) States changed filing frequency requirements and we did not receive notification and Avalara did not help with this. We received penalties and interest and it was significant work and effort to file past returns (i.e. state moving us from annual to monthly filing requirements). 2) We found an error on the 11th day that resulted in a significant overpayment of taxes which were not due until the 20th of the month and Avalara was unwilling or unable to help us. It cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales taxes which we have not yet received the refund on. 3) Smended return process is difficult and it is hard to get a hold of people in support.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara to track sales and sales tax exemptions for our wholesale distribution company that has been rapidly expanding geographically to become almost nationwide. We have more recently began using AvaTax and managed returns for our e-commerce direct to consumer branch. Avalara has also been highly involved in registration and setup for collecting and filing Canadian GST/HST with a Canadian expansion in 2022.<br>Avalara has consistently provided a starting point for information on when and where to register, as well as addressing any individual state tax notices.
  • Track sales by state
  • Managing sales for taxable/tax exempt customers
  • Providing warnings of potential new Nexus status
  • More assistance and availability of knowledge on Canadian Taxes
  • More consistency in connectors for various accounting systems and ERPs
I have no real experience with any other system for tracking and filing multi-state sales tax. I can't imagine trying to calculate and track these things manually, so Avalara has seemed appropriate in all the situations I am directly involved.
February 02, 2023

Wonderful experience

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Our company just started using Avalara and is very happy with their service. They assisted us with setting up sales tax in all states and processing our returns on time.
  • Sales Tax management
  • Exemption certificates management
  • Filling timely returns
  • Communication
A scenario where Avalara was less appropriate was during our implementation process. There was no communication on the steps we needed to follow with our service team vs. the Avalara team.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We sell product all over the world and have nexus in 35 states as of January 1. We have hundreds of customers and constantly deal with sales tax and compliance. My role consists of being the point person for all things sales tax, including consulting our customers on the specific laws and regulations. Additionally, I research the compliance requirements for each state in which we collect tax in so that we have the correct documentation on file to protect our company as well as our customer.
  • Efficiency
  • Accuracy
  • Communication
  • Understanding of help tickets/cases and providing accurate solutions
Avalara is perfect for companies that ship all over the world and often, most specifically multi-address drop shipments. Avalara allows the tax for each location to be calculated efficiently and accurately with very little manual manipulation necessary. This pertains to the scope in which I've used Avalara.
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