Skip to main content
TrustRadius
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.

Read more
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 …
Continue reading

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 …
Continue reading

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 …
Continue reading
Read all reviews

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 (295)
    8.8
    88%
  • Tax Exemption Processing (201)
    8.3
    83%
  • Tax Data Reporting (248)
    8.3
    83%
  • 3rd-Party Software Integrations (223)
    8.0
    80%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

View all pros & cons
Return to navigation

Pricing

View all 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
Return to navigation

Product Demos

Avalara AvaTax Demo

YouTube
Return to navigation

Features

Type of tax

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

8.1
Avg 8.4

Tax Reporting & Compliance

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

8.1
Avg 8.4
Return to navigation

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

Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of

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 8.8.

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

Comparisons

View all alternatives
Return to navigation

Reviews and Ratings

(720)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 202)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
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.
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

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.
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 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 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 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
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
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.
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 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 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.
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.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use AvaTax for tax calculation and Avalara Returns to file the US and Canadian returns. AvaTax is used to calculate taxes on our invoices with the correct rates and taxability determinations. A significant number of our returns are also filed using Avalara Returns, freeing up time for my team to focus on more value added activities.
  • Calculation of tax using customers ship to address
  • Timely filing and payment of returns
  • Taxability determination for most products
  • Response with statutory support to questions regarding the taxability determination on certain tax codes
  • Responses to account questions sent to account manager are too slow and often require multiple follow ups to get a response
  • Need additional tax codes to account for changing technology in the software industry
Avalara has a great product if you are selling standard products in multiple locations. It is less effective if you have custom products that may not have a tax code that appropriate captures taxability. The Returns product is user friendly and makes the filing process much more streamlined and efficient.
February 02, 2023

Avalara Review

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use it daily, with uploading new tax certificates for customers. I also use it to reach out to customers to inform them when their tax certificates are about to expire and request a new tax certificate to be put on file. I use it daily to confirm with customers and coworkers if a customer has a valid sales tax exemption form on file or not.
  • Easy upload form process
  • Great reports for expiring forms
  • Easier to manage the website, feel like there is a lot hidden that can be used.
Like I stated previously, I think Avalara is well suited for the quick questions that come from customers and/or coworkers about their sales tax exemption forms and if they are valid in a specific state or if they are needing to fill out more sales tax exemption forms to be sales tax exempt.
Return to navigation