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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 (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

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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.

8.1
Avg 8.4

Tax Reporting & Compliance

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

8.1
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

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).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(720)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(101-125 of 413)
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April 21, 2022

I LOVE AVALARA!!!

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara for tax compliance and document management. We are a large company and it helps us file sales and uses tax returns efficiently and timely with ease. It keeps up with Nexus compliance and it takes the thinking out of knowing when and how close you are getting before triggering Nexus requirements.
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use AvaTax to calculate rates on sales orders. We have issues with addresses bringing back incorrect rates when inside/outside city limits or special jurisdictions. We use Cert Capture to retain imagines of certificates. Our issue with this is the price of the product. Very Expensive.
Andy Webber | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara as our primary system to track and collect all Tax Exempt certifications that we get from our schools and school district partners. In addition, we also log every transaction that we make into Avalara in order to have automated returns created for us and sent to the IRS. This allows us to not have a dedicated Finance person on our staff.
January 27, 2022

Run away.

Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Stay away from this service. We used Avatax to help monitor economic nexus and file returns. We were initially quoted under $1000 for the year for this service. I have now been charged upwards of $6,000 in a 12 month period. Mind you, we file returns for one state, and our business has less than 3,500 transactions per year. I have found customer service to be incredibly unhelpful. This is 100% not OK.
Score 2 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Unfortunately, I can't recommend this product. Communication and customer support are abysmal in my experience. It does a good job of interfacing with our Woocommerce site to properly calculate sales tax based on customer's location and our nexus, but if you run into any issues you're in for a frustrating experience in my opinion. Don't expect them to keep you properly informed on what's happening with sales tax rules in the 50 state (I thought that's what we were paying them for, but apparently not), and it feels like you're pretty much on your own if you have questions about how or when you need to collect and remit sales tax. I would consider myself very tech-savvy and able to navigate new technologies effectively; that being said, I feel their website is utterly confusing and not at all user-friendly. This means you'll often have to reach out to customer support to figure out what needs to be done, which brings me back to: the customer service is abysmal. It's been incredibly frustrating using Avalara for the last couple of years, and I'm currently looking at switching to other providers.
Kristina Beckman | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
This software was incredibly expensive. They were also increasing our pricing with every year. It was not fully integrated with our software, every time we submitted notices, we were told that in order to help us they need to charge us extra. Once when we finally canceled our service, they canceled our sales tax registration with 23 states "by mistake". Very nonresponsive.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We currently use Avalara to file our sales tax returns. Avalara is a very helpful program that saves us a lot of time when filing sales tax. Since we sell in almost all 50 states, it is hard to keep up with the changing tax laws and tax rates. Therefore partnering with Avalara takes the guesswork out of are we charging the right tax amount to our customer. Avalara is a good product that can benefit companies of all sizes.
December 23, 2021

Avid Avalara User

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara to help collect & remit sales/use tax. It is a helpful tool in determining what states we are required to file in as well as [determining] when we meet economic nexus thresholds for certain states we do not have a physical presence in. The webinars they offer are always really engaging and super helpful. Like all tools - we have had issues with importing transactions & switching over from their legacy import to the new one. However, their support team is quick to respond when tickets are opened.
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We were contacted by Avalara in April 2020, and they were to supply VAT numbers for European countries where we held stock with Amazon. It had become apparent that filing was not an easy task. Having no experience, we were assured that their full support would be given to us, and the process would be seamless. Having suffered a stroke, I immediately paid the £5028 they asked for filing back-dated and current VAT, and as an Amazon seller, we needed the VAT numbers in 16 weeks to allow our continued use of the Amazon site. We were happy with the ever growing 150,00 sales which we were taking. No VAT numbers were ever forthcoming! Amazon European sites shut down one after the other, even after begging for help.. The documentation we requested was sent up to 6 times. Our one account manager? what account manager. 19 months and 366 emails later we have been refunded our £5028 Business now in administration, al large part of this due to the £150,000 are not now taking in Europe, personally out of pocket by over £250,000 pounds, life ruined... It takes forever to get a reply from Avalara however I seem to be able to get a reply to negative reviews left within the hour. Avalara is not the right choice for any small business in the UK. It's in shambles, unprofessional, non caring organisation... [In my opinion] their duty of care is nonexistent, I’m sick of hearing "sorry", " we understand" because [in my experience] really they don’t! I have reached out to the directors, board members and senior management, as I would personally like compensating for there catastrophic failures, and the position they have left me in, legally I am sure they will say I have no recourse. Morally ? I will let everyone make their own mind up. You may be interested and should really take a look on other review sites, before handing over anything to these guys.
Dan James | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We're a small startup Firearms, Ammunition, Shooting Supplies and Accessories business developing an eCommerce site to reach the continental US. Avalara will provide my sales tax rates for every sale as well as let me know when I reach Nexus in each state and then take care of filing and remitting for us.
Shlomi Rabi | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
As a first-time entrepreneur, the learning curve is steep, and there are so many verticals to cover. Avalara made the tax collection and tracking portion so much easier. I would be remiss not to highlight [...], an Onboarding Specialist, who embodied professionalism and customer service. She took what would have been a very daunting task, and walked me through the entirety of the process, always responded promptly to my inquiries, and was patient and professional. If this is the type of individual Avalara hires, clearly their standards are high, and they ensure that their products have the best possible ambassadors. I couldn't recommend their services enough.
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are currently new with Avalara. We went live with a new web platform in April 2019. We are using it to calculate our tax on our web, but we are not entirely sure if it is working correctly for us. We have gone to Avalara University for training, but it isn't helpful to our situation. Currently, we don't see committed transactions, so we don't actually know if or even how to use it correctly.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We utilize Avalara in a few different ways from our commerce site, handling returns, SST CSP, and setting up non-SST states. By utilizing Avalara it streamlines our sales tax functions without paying high costs to other software companies and CPA firms.
Wes Hardin | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Wayfair v South Dakota exposed many companies to sales tax liability in multiple states/jurisdictions. Avalara has mitigated the risks and our exposure by integrating with our existing accounting/ERP platform and seamlessly collected tax data, prepared the returns, and filed/paid for the returns as required in multiple states/jurisdictions. This would have been a full time job for 1.5 to 2 people, but with Avalara we are able to manage/maintain the tax integrity of our business without the need to hire additional staff.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Avalara helps us manage the ever-changing environment related to sales and use tax. Avatax files our sales tax returns, which frees us up to do other tasks. We find the reporting easy to read and customizable to our specific needs. We also utilize CertCapture to help manage our exemption certificates. It is user-friendly and easy to navigate. Adding new users with different role levels is helpful too. We have found this to be a very nice tool. Overall, the modules we utilize with Avalara have been helpful in providing us with time savings, through ease of product and functionality.
October 05, 2021

Avalara to the future

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It is used by a billing department. It managed all tax requirements that need to be charged to our customers when it comes to invoicing. However, it's not flexible enough to use, especially when connected to the ProntoXi ERP accounting system. There is almost no support from Avalara on this Pronto ERP software.
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Avalara is our tax software that determines all applicable sales tax on our sales transactions. The Accounting department and IT are the only departments involved with the tax software. We sell to all 50 US states as well as ship globally. Avalara is convenient because it accurately applies the correct tax rate to each sales transaction based on the ship-to address. Our company does not have to load any rates which are convenient as rates change frequently across many states and their local jurisdictions. We have not found any issues where the incorrect sales tax rate was applied to a transaction.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara across multiple sales channels. We sell on multiple Shopify sites and Amazon. Avalara helps us collect the correct amount of sales tax across those channels. We also use Avalara Returns so each month Avalara remits our tax returns for us.

I don't have to worry about sales tax compliance anymore with Avalara, a problem become more pronounced as our business has grown.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara across our entire organization. We sell to distributors, retailers, and through our websites. Avalara keeps us compliant with the accurate application of sales tax rates and the subsequent collection of taxes on taxable sales.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Avalara is being used by the USA entity of our organization. It is used to calculate sales tax which is then displayed on our invoices via an integration with our ERP system. We also maintain tax exemption certificates using CertCapture and leverage AvaTax to compile and remit sales tax returns. The system reduces the human resource needs to comply with sales tax requirements.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara to look up sales tax rates for our sales orders. Our main usage is connected to our e-commerce websites to ensure our customers are getting the correct sales tax rates. We also use salestax.avalara to look up rates for our internal orders. Everybody at my company uses Avalara to look up rates.
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