Avalara doesn't provide what's promised in their contracts
We used Avalara to track, file, and remit state and international sales taxes.
Starting at $21 per month
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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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Popular Features
- Sales and Use Taxes (295)8.888%
- Tax Exemption Processing (201)8.383%
- Tax Data Reporting (248)8.383%
- 3rd-Party Software Integrations (223)8.080%
Reviewer Pros & Cons
Pricing
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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Avalara AvaTax Demo
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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
Avalara Video
Why Avalara?
Avalara Integrations
Avalara Competitors
Avalara Technical Details
| Deployment Types | Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Unspecified |
| Mobile Application | No |
Avalara Downloadables
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 8.8.
The most common users of Avalara are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Reviews and Ratings
(720)Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(301-325 of 413)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
May 09, 2019
Avalara is AWESOME!!
Currently, the Excise Tax team is using Avalara to prepare and submit returns to various states. It helps keep track of all the various rates, tax determinations, return creation, and submissions.
- Tax determination.
- Saves time in return creation.
- Being able to review transactions.
- They need to provide release notes in a more timely manner.
May 09, 2019
Avalara is crushing it!!
We use Avalara for tax calc, and returns. It has simplified our billing process, as we sell all over the US and Canada. I would, however, like to see revisions to the vendor discount procedure.
- Calculates the proper tax.
- Simplifies returns.
- The learning center.
- The vendor discount procedure.
- They could make registration for state sites more simplified.
- I wish I could call Avalara for tax advice and not be told: "ma'am you will need to contact the state of .... for that info."
May 09, 2019
Avalara Tax Return
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
The Fuel Tax group is currently using Avalara Tax Return Software for Fuel Excise and Sales Tax. Avalara cuts our return processing time by 30%. This gives us more time to work on Tax Saving initiatives.
- Allows flexibility to setup different scenarios depending on the data we receive from our fuel inventory system.
- I love that Avalara listens to their customers and enhances the software to make our return filing more seamless.
- Their conferences allow their customer to get together and meet other software users and share their tips with each other
- I love that Avalara listens to customer feedback and tries to improve the products based on customer feedback
- if you are adding additional information to a location, it would be nice to append the additional information, for instance, if the state now requires a county code, but the address information hasn't changed.
- Reconciliation reports that can be added to the return to show a summarized version of the data on the return.
- An additional function to add a check request of cash voucher with payment information and GL account information for approval and posting.
May 09, 2019
Show me why should I stay
It provides real-time tax rate information on our product based on the country the product is sold. It also aids with tax reconciliation.
- Provides real-time tax information.
- Quick response on basic issues.
- Online tool.
- Account management responsiveness.
- Report accuracy.
- Tax rule logic matching documentation.
Currently, we have been using the AvaTax module since Sept 2018 and the AvaTax Returns since JAN 2019 in our tax department and at the Point of Sale Level. Primarily it's a tax dept use, but the whole organization has been affected by the program. AvaTax rates are current and correct and more automated when rates change, so our branches are seeing the most current rates that are accurate for POS application. Our credit department is the first line of contact for our customers in setting up an account with our company, so they set the profile to exempt our taxables and capture the exemption certs at that time.
- Makes using the software simple. It's very user-friendly.
- Makes taxed fun -- these CRUSH events, for example, are educational but also a lot of fun.
- Streamlines the process of filing returns.
- Ease of transitioning or adding new taxing jurisdictions as needed.
- Reconciliation. Their tax dollar allocation doesn't gel with corporate accounting, location-based systems.
- Returns are filed but not very location-based, affecting the tax accounting and reconciliation efforts.
- The help center can be complicated to navigate to find the information needed. After discussing with a help desk person, they pointed out a link specifically for the issue at hand.
- The help desk wait time is ridiculously long, though I do like how we leave the number and they can call back.
May 09, 2019
Useful Technology, but Some Support Issues
We implemented Avalara in order to automate the calculation and filing of sales tax on our product. It is currently only being used by the Finance team (Accounting). It has helped us to streamline the filing of our sales tax returns, and to ensure that tax is accurately reflected on all outgoing invoices, virtually eliminating the need to separately attempt to collect tax from our customers and protecting us from negative audit findings.
- Integration with ERP is seamless and easy to set up for the calculation on our invoices.
- Filing review is simple. It's easy to tie to our ERP system and to sign off on a monthly basis. Automatic acceptance is useful for states where we have $0 filings.
- Setting up sales tax exemptions is cumbersome and requires double work, as the customer's exemption information needs to be configured in both our ERP and in AvaTax (we do not license CertCapture, which I believe might mitigate some of those issues).
- Support from our account team is sometimes severely lacking. Responses can be extremely delayed, and we were at one point told that they would not complete an evaluation required by our internal information security team because we do not meet a minimum amount of spend with Avalara on an annual basis.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Avalara has helped our online shipping company keep up with frequent sales tax changes and economic nexus laws so our accounting software and website are automatically charging our customers the correct sales tax amount. Automatic integration with our software and website makes sales tax quick and easy. Avalara gives us the reports we need to file sales tax returns in multiple jurisdictions.
- Automatic integration with accounting software and website.
- Updates keep sales tax rates current.
- Detailed reports to help file tax returns.
- More options for detail vs. summary reports.
- Include product returns in price.
- Include other options of customer exemption storing and return filing options in Avatax for the same price. However, I do understand that some businesses may not want to pay for those options if they’re not using them, so I see why they’re separate.
April 22, 2019
AvaTax makes life easy for my sales team!
AvaTax is being used by our sales team to calculate tax for proposals and quotes and is directly linked to our quoting system.
- Integrates seamlessly to our quoting system.
- Works without us having to do anything extra in our process.
- Allows me to configure states in which I charge tax.
- I don't have anything that AvaTax isn't accomplishing for me. Works as promoted.
Avalara is used for sales tax management across our organization. Avalara ensures we are collecting the right amount of tax where our products/services are taxable and helps ensure we meet our compliance obligations.
- I have found Avalara to be extremely easy to implement and maintain.
- Avalara offers a tool called CertCapture to ensure tax exemption certificates are maintained and applied correctly.
- Avalara's admin console is extremely intuitive and it's easy to contact support.
- Follow-through from Avalara support could be better to ensure issues are completely resolved.
- I have not used their foreign VAT module yet, but I understand it's still in its early phase.
- I would like to see more granular Avatax codes to ensure our products/services matchup more accurately with the taxability codes with Avalara.
April 19, 2019
Avalara makes taxing easy!
We currently use Avalara integrated with our Epicor ERP system. Once configured, Avalara verifies your shipment address and sets the tax rate for that invoice based on where it's delivered. We are putting a webstore online with amazon and we needed to provide taxing details for that store, Avalara Trustfile is made specifically for web stores.
- Address verifcation
- Review results of taxes by line
- Website to review current setup and history
- Support answers all nexus issues
- Your sales rep helps to get you the right taxing solution for your needs
- Avalara now mates with quoting in epicor erp to show taxes. More and more customers need the total of what they may spend with taxes.
- You are charged by transaction, not sure of an easier way, just make sure you purchase enough transactions for the year. Your sales rep can help figure that out
- Not everyone uses Avalara the same way, we had to purchase avatax and trustfile to meet all of our taxing needs
April 17, 2019
It was easy
It is used in our ERP system to calculate sales tax on customer orders. We have nexus currently in 8 states and it is used to determine taxability on our products and calculates the correct tax amount. We no longer have to maintain tax tables and unless a customer has an exemption it will change sales tax.
- Constantly updated tax tables
- Quick tax calculations during SO entry and invoicing
- Good reporting tools for reconciliation
- With their rapid growth customer support is not good with the first level of contacts
- Some of the fees they charge when changing plans seem unfair when you are upping your services
April 17, 2019
AvaTax and 3dCart plug and play
Our company has Nexis in 12 states. Prior to using AvaTax, the tax calculation was done manually. This was very prone to errors as we could not account for all of the taxing districts and certainly could not keep up on changes.
It was the establishment of our e-commerce web store that got us started with AvaTax. It easily integrated with our 3dCart store software. The on-boarding process was quick and easy. All of our online transactions were done automatically and accurately.
We then purchased the API option and developed an interface from our ERP system to pull the tax rates from AvaTax. Now even our offline sales are calculated with 100% accuracy. No more manual tax tables.
It was the establishment of our e-commerce web store that got us started with AvaTax. It easily integrated with our 3dCart store software. The on-boarding process was quick and easy. All of our online transactions were done automatically and accurately.
We then purchased the API option and developed an interface from our ERP system to pull the tax rates from AvaTax. Now even our offline sales are calculated with 100% accuracy. No more manual tax tables.
- Accurately calculates the appropriate sales tax for every transaction.
- Tax tables are updated constantly so we don't have to worry about it.
- Works with our ecommerce software as well as our ERP system.
- None offered. AvaTax works for us.
April 17, 2019
Avalara AvaTax takes the Hassle out of Sales Taxes
We use Avalara AvaTax in our accounting department to calculate sales taxes on all of customer invoices, to file all of our sales tax returns and to remit payment to all of the states where we have reporting requirements.
- Avalara AvaTax connects seamlessly with our accounting system.
- The initial setup was very straightforward and easy to complete.
- Sales taxes are automatically calculated on a real-time basis.
- Tax payments and returns are filed automatically on a timely basis.
- The fees are affordable and reasonable for the features it provides.
- It automated what would otherwise be a very time consuming process.
- Overall we don't have any complaints on the use of Avalara AvaTax. We have been very pleased with the functionality and features.
- The interface and the look and feel are not as current as newer applications, but that hasn’t affected functionality.
April 16, 2019
Avalara Review
We use Avalara to calculate our sales tax on our invoices for our corporate customers. We also use Cert Capture to track the tax exemption forms of our customers.
- Certificate Capture
- Details of sales tax jurisdictions
- Support
- Implementation was a bear!
- Better training
- More hands on sales
January 18, 2019
The Growing Solution
The tax team is using it to calculate sales tax on orders. They are also using their returns service for sales tax compliance. The customer service (group sales) team is using their certcapture service to verify exempt customers and store exemption certificates.
- They listen to recommendations for improvement
- Availability of support
- Responsiveness of compliance team
- Support is not super effective (I'd say we're at about ~50% having an answer of our questions)
- Pricing is high
- Sales team was a bit misleading as to the volume their system can handle
December 18, 2018
Avalara - A great do it all Tax solution
We used it for all aspects of tax consolidation. From returns and excise tax to consolidation and reporting. it its mostly being used by the tax department but we do engage our central teams when they are looking for and asking for various tax information in their analyses across products.
- Really good interface for users to look at.
- The reporting aspect is one of the best I have ever seen from a financial software.
- Security access and changes is simple and straightforward.
- User workflow for processes is not straightforward.
- integration with other systems could be improved.
- leaving notes within the tool for other uses to pick up would be a nice add on other systems have.
December 12, 2018
Useable but could use some improvements
We use Avalara to calculate our sales tax on invoices for our entire company for each branch. We use Avalara so that we do not have to maintain tax tables in our current system. That is done at Avalara for us. We only need to figure out how we should be taxing items and they calculate based on the address. We do not use their functionality within their cloud software that allows them to determine taxability.
- They were able to work with us when we needed to use their cloud system in a different way. Meaning we maintain the tax category taxability in our system and when we send our invoice information they only need look at our address and not the item number. We do not maintain our inventory item listing in their online cloud software. That was a benefit as we can't function using that capacity with our business model.
- We struggle with them on how quickly they get back to us when we have problems. Granted, we didn't buy the best support contract with them which is partly the reason, but, that being said, I would expect faster communication with them when we are having sales tax problems as well as quicker follow-up. I say that because it's never just one customer that is affected but several so the problem needs to be fixed immediately. We greatly appreciate when we get update emails saying, "Here's what we are working on, here's who is working on it and this is where we are in the process of figuring out the issue. I'll send an update tomorrow if you don't hear from us with a solution."
- I don't appreciate when their help desk attempts to shift the blame on our IT department when there is an issue. I would appreciate a better approach where we figure out the problem and leave the blame to the side. The point is fixing the problem not assessing blame for who caused it.
- I also don't appreciate when we let them know there is a problem with their sales tax rates and they don't believe us until we send them a screenshot of what the state's site actually says.
December 11, 2018
Manage sales taxes with Avalara!
Moroccanoil uses Avalara Avatax to determine the sales taxes to be charged on our e-store orders. State sales taxes are very complicated in the USA and Avalara Avatax automates this process for us! Moroccanoil also uses Avalara's returns service to complete and submit our various state sales tax returns. This is very helpful as well and ensures we are tax compliant. I recommend both of these services to companies who need to collect sales taxes in various states.
- Sales tax calculations
- Sales tax returns
- Keeps me informed of sales tax legislation changes
- Customer service
December 07, 2018
BBX Employee's AvaTax Review
It is being used to calculate sales tax throughout the US. It is being used by the accounting group. They help us understand the tax implications as well as file the state tax returns on a monthly or quarterly basis depending on the state requirements.
- Receive reports in a clear and concise manner
- Generate reports on a timely manner
- Accurate when creating reports and filings
- Hard to add new state requirements when setting up
- Help desk is not easy to navigate
December 07, 2018
AvaTax is a simple solution for complicated sales tax rules
We use Avalara's AvaTax to calculate tax for eCommerce and in-store retail sales. We are a franchise organization and have almost 300 unique legal entities in our organization.
- Ease of use for setup
- Incredible account model for franchisor
- Really great resources for questions and investigation
- Level 1 support
- Website navigation
December 06, 2018
Quick Avalara Review
Avalara is being used across the entire organization to apply sales tax to our orders as well as filing the sales tax and cert capture. The program allows us to be accurate and not spend the time researching and changing tables within our invoicing system. The Avatax program works very well when serving multiple jurisdictions as a small company.
- The Avatax program works well.
- We use the Tax filing component which works equally as well.
- Multiple shipping points and the different tax structures based on where an item is shipped from
December 05, 2018
Avalara pays for itself
Avalara is in use by our accounting department. Our sales tax liability expanded to many states in 2015 and we purchased Avalara in place of needing to hire an employee specific to sales tax. The product paid for itself, and didn't require much hand holding on our side. A lot of problems were prevented by implementing Avalara.
- User Interface
- Ease of Use
- Automation
- Cost
- Integrations should be included in base package
December 05, 2018
Manually calculating sales tax and filing returns yourself? WHY?! Avalara does that for you!
We use Avalara to automate our tax tables, and to file our monthly state sales taxes. It is used by our finance department only. It addresses the problem of constantly having to change tax rates manually in Excel and uploading them each month. Avalara changes in real time on the back end so you do not need to worry. It also addresses having to manually calculate sales tax each month and actually file a return with every state each month. Again, they handle it and you don’t have to worry.
- Automates taxation codes for billing
- Files taxes with each state on a monthly basis with very little work
- Provides good reporting
- User-friendly UI
- Support and account management
- Performance and down time
December 05, 2018
Near perfect.
Avalara addresses almost all aspects of sales tax. It connects to our enterprise system for automated tax calculations on invoicing with minimal maintenance on tax rates in different jurisdictions. It maintains our certificates for compliance with the numerous states rulings, and provides digital access to all certs across our different locations. Using the data it provides for our tax, it files our sales tax returns for all states with approval. This automation has reduced the need to grow our tax department size and maintain all these needs with one staff member overseeing the processes without forfeiting our compliance.
- Automation
- Compliance
- Too many departments to know how/where to contact for issues
- Follow up with customers
November 09, 2018
Avalara Makes Things Easy
We are using Avalara for our sales tax calculations at our online store, our sales tax return filings, and for our sales tax certificate collection and management. Our accounting department and customer service group both use the software. It makes selling online possible and makes compliance feel so much easier.
- The technical support is fantastic.
- Software is easy to use.
- They solve a problem that would otherwise keep me up at night.
- Some of the import spreadsheets and coding are very particular.