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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

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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 8.8.

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

(76-100 of 413)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are a small, family-run business, so I started off handling a little bit of state sales tax for our online retail company. More recently I handle all of the tax-exempt customers we serve. Avalara is a good place to keep all of these tax-exempt records. They also communicate directly with our website so that those customers can go to our site, sign in, and place their orders without having to worry about being charged sales tax. It is a simple process and the help desk was friendly and knowledgeable when it came time to set that up. They have been just as friendly and knowledgeable any time I have had a question. This is a good program to start with when you do not have a tax professional on staff. The steps are easy to understand and troubleshooting is efficient.
  • Communicates directly with your online shopping cart so that tax exempt customers' information is stored and there is no lapse in service.
  • Troubleshooting is efficient.
  • Helpdesk staff are friendly and knowledgeable-- they understand that they are working with small business owners and not tax professionals.
  • If a list of tax-exempt codes is available, I have not found it and the help desk has not shared it. That code is necessary for Avalara and the online shopping cart to communicate that a customer is tax-exempt.
  • When I first started using Avalara I could upload documents. Now I need a higher subscription level (as in, pay more money) to do the exact same task I was already doing for years.
  • The one or two issues that I had that were not resolved right away were never really resolved. Luckily, we were able to eventually figure it out, but there were one or two cases (out of many, so still a low number) that were closed without a resolution.
Our company has used other software similar to Avalara, and we do like it much more in comparison. The helpdesk is helpful and the program is easy to use for simple tax purposes. Most small online stores do not have a need for a full-time tax professional, so Avalara definitely fulfills a need, and most tasks are simple and require little more than a few clicks of a button. There is some room for improvement, such as having necessary codes readily available and not changing functionality to a different/higher subscription level. All in all, it is a great program if your company just needs basic tax information day-to-day.
October 07, 2022

Avalara Benefits

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We sell products across the country and have established nexus in multiple states. Sales tax calculation became too complicated and time-consuming for us to handle on our own. We needed software that would manage sales tax calculations for us, keeping up with current rates and determining which jurisdictions to collect tax for.
  • Sales Tax Calculation
  • Filing Returns
  • Providing Summary Data
  • Customer Service
  • Technical Support
Avalara is well suited for companies selling into multiple states or tax jurisdictions or companies with high sales volume. The amount of time it will save on tax calculation alone makes it worth the cost. The only instance in which Avalara may not be necessary or the cost may not be justifiable is if you're a small company that only sells locally or just one tax jurisdiction. Then I could see handling the tax calculations and reporting on your own and saving the money on the Avalara subscription.
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara to assist with Sales and Use Tax reporting in various states for sale of merchandise as well as VDA Services.
  • Collection of data
  • Producing reports
  • Communication with clients
  • Accuracy of returns
  • Tax Notices of Delinquency received after returns have been filed
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Avalara, through AvaTax and CertCapture, greatly simplifies our company's compliance with sales tax filings. The representatives are usually very quick to respond when opening a support ticket and are very helpful when needing to ask questions about how to handle new and complex transactions. CertCapture makes it very easy to record tax-exempt forms for clients and reduces the frequency of rebills for customers that were erroneously charged sales tax. AvaTax makes reviewing monthly sales activity for multiple states streamlined, and having Avalara file sales tax returns on our behalf of us allows our finance department to spend less time on the more tedious compliance aspect of sales tax.
  • Filing Sales Tax Returns
  • Correctly Calculating sales tax
  • Support for voluntary disclosure agreements
  • Setting up new companies
  • Easier summary for monthly activity for multiple companies
Avalara is well suited for companies that have sales activity, and nexus, in multiple states. It is especially helpful if there is a larger amount of customers that are exempt from sales tax, or selling products with different or special tax rates. If expanding the business into new states, Avalara is great to track the activity in the new states to monitor how close you are to triggering nexus. Avalara may be less appropriate if business activities are limited to a few states with minimal customers that are exempt from sales tax and more standard sales tax rates.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara (Avatax/Cert Capture). This is used to capture all the tax exempt certificates for our customers and file them properly by state. This takes away the guess work in how much taxes should be applied by using Avatax that is connected to our ERP system, Netsuite.
  • Avatax
  • CertCapture
  • Better How To's - sometimes it doesn't give enough information.
  • Responding to questions that need a response sooner than later.
  • Easier training.
Avalara is a great tool to help take out the guess work of taxes.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Avalara is integrated with our accounting software and accurately calculates sales tax for our multistate operation. We utilize CertCapture to maintain exemption status for our customers. Additionally, Avalara does all of our sales tax filings.
  • Calculates sales tax for our invoices.
  • Files our sales tax returns.
  • Maintains exemption certificates from our customers.
  • Entering sales tax credits and other adjustments is a cumbersome process.
A multistate operation needs a resource like Avalara for accurate sales tax calculations and reliable sales tax filings.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara for their tax software, certificate of exemption tracking software, and VDA services.
  • Avalara helps with personalized assistance for the VDA process.
  • Avalara has webinars that help new employees get trained.
  • Avalara properly runs tax to add to invoices so that is does not have to be done manually.
  • Avalara helps keep a record of exemption forms.
  • The only issue I have run into is usability. There is so much information in Avalara that it can be hard to find what you are looking for.
When your company is behind on taxing customers in a state Avalara is a huge help on getting the VDA process taken through step by step.
October 04, 2022

Just Getting Started

Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I am currently implementing Avalara in a service industry. The implementation has had some hiccups because there were certain NetSuite set up requirements that were not made known during our initial review of software vendors.
  • Avalara has a good taxability matrix
  • Clearer information in the taxability of service industries
I would like to see more category codes related to the service industry, specifically in the administrative area.
October 04, 2022

Avalara Review

Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We linked sales tax rates to our main accounting software which updates rate depending on the ship to area. Avalara reducing our invoicing time and made easier to file sales tax in the relevant area.
  • Tax rate update
  • Periodical informational newsletter
  • Q&A tax information
Avalara automatically adds correct sales tax at invoicing which is very good but researching tax implications on customized base are not provided.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Our company uses Avalara to manage and organize customer exemptions, calculate appropriate sales tax, and file sales tax returns.
  • Organizing customer exemptions
  • Calculating sales tax as orders are being written
  • More than one state's exemption cannot be associated with a customer ship to.
  • The sales tax information for reconciliation and review prior to filing a return can be hard to interpret, especially if there were unique adjustments.
Avalara helps the sales tax process, at large, on a day to day basis but can have its quirks or issues when dealing with non-standard issues.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Avalara helps in a few ways. It report all our sales to various state agencies. Avalara also maintain state threshold reports for us. We utilize their API in our bookkeeping software to compute sales tax on all our sales too. Whenever we have a tricky issue, more often than not, they have a solution either by talking to an agent or their website's vast support library.
  • Tax calculation.
  • Reporting to various state agencies.
  • Tax support.
  • Everything seems to be an add-on (US based support, better tax support libraries)
  • Service/website/setup in general has a bit of a learning curve for non-tech people.
  • Not always easy to discuss billing issues. You have to schedule appointments most of the time.
I truly view Avalara as a tax leader, especially for cloud based SaaS companies like mine. While it was difficult to at first set up, their support team did an amazing job getting us up and running. With immersion, he product gets easier to use. They offer great webinars too, which provide great insights on how to maximize their products, as well as knowledge on new tax regulations. For being all about tax, their webinars are never boring, which is kinda nice.
October 04, 2022

Avalara review

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara to generate sales tax liability reports and tax-exempt customer certificates.
  • Generate sales tax liability reports for each state
  • Let us know when we have reached nexus for filing in a new state
  • Certcapture - customer sales tax exempt forms
  • Integrates with our ERP (Navision) to generate correct sales tax on customer invoices
  • Responding to questions more timely (email and/or phone call)
Overall, Avalara is working well for us; however, when we have an issue or question, we are basically on our own to figure it out.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I'm a Certified Implementation Partner that has worked with Avalara for many years. I'm certified in AvaTax, Returns, CertCapture, and SST. I also assist clients with Registrations.
I recently worked with Janay Bridges to implement SST for 5 states. She was thorough, knowledgeable, and communicative. The project was completed without a hitch.
  • Accurate tax calculations
  • Plethora of reporting and data importing/exporting tools
  • Integration with ERP
  • Use Tax integration with Sage 100
eCommerce giftware retailer (Shopify) in multiple states works seamlessly with tax calculations and files/remits multiple states. Great visibility into states nearing economic nexus.

Another case needed extensive use of Avalara Tax Codes. The Tax Matrix builder is a phenomenal tool for this research.

Marketplace configuration seamlessly handled an Amazon MFN client need.

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use the Avalara License Managment for Accountants (ALMA) product to maintain various state and local business licenses across the US. In addition to standard authority to do business licenses, we also track our state sales tax licenses in addition to numerous gross receipts based tax returns. Given we are an equipment leasing company we have nexus wherever our leased assets are located which is substantial as a small ticket lessor. Additionally, we have a business unit that provides lease servicing as a service to third party clients. Each client adds incremental license tracking which, while not material in terms of dollars, had become harder to maintain via excel. We initially purchased a product called BLMS which was later acquired by Avalara. The tool has met our needs to centralize all licenses in one application which also includes workflow and dashboard capabilities.
  • We were their first legacy portfolio conversion client (from BLMS to ALMA). Their technical team was very responsive!
  • The contract negotiation process while long, went smoothly for the most part.
  • They've been receptive to our feedback on future roadmap development needs.
  • Probably due to them acquiring (vs developing) the BLMS product, but we later found out one of the roadmap requests we gave them was actually already available in the system.
  • Contract pricing metrics is not very user friendly (renewals, overages etc.).
Their licensing product is very well suited to any company that high volumes of nexus in the US (brick and mortar locations, equipment leasing etc.)
Jason Heckel | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use this for sales and use taxes collection and compliance.
  • Easy to set up.
  • Great interface.
  • Pricing for larger businesses.
This is a great place to start for sales tax compliance. This can plug-in to a ton of interfaces, revenue systems. The pricing is much more affordable than other larger-scale solutions.
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Tax compliance is our main reason for using Avalara. It is impossible to manage all the different tax Juris without this type of software.
  • Keeping tax rates updated.
  • Providing multiple report options for creating returns.
  • Sales. There is a definite disconnect between sales and what happens been you are signed up.
  • Training. Having good tools for learning how to navigate your account.
  • Communication. Our current account Rep, which is our third, is great, but prior ones were not. Most previous never made contact and never responded to the email. The first one was not truthful.
For small companies, Avalara is a good choice, as it is one that offers a benefit that includes free transactions and returns filing for SST states. This helps keep the cost at a lower tier. It can still be costly for small companies, so things like storing the PDFs for exemptions [have] not been appropriate for us.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Avalara is being used by our accounting department alongside Quickbooks Enterprise Desktop. It helps us address sales tax nexus as helps with accurate sales tax calculations in the various different tax jurisdictions.
  • Monitoring Sales Tax Nexus
  • Calculating Accurate Sales Tax
  • Providing Reporting for Ease of Remitting Taxes to Various Jurisdictions
  • Speed - sometimes the calculation call-outs can take several seconds
  • Monitoring # of transactions versus just $ of transactions for economic nexus
I haven't been in any situations where it is less appropriate but Avalara is well suited for all types of sales tax tracking, reporting, and calculating.
Rebecca Fortman, MBA | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
TydenBrooks utilizes Avalara for our tax calculations and tax return preparations. Avalara is linked directly with our Epicor ERP software. AP and AR both utilize the software for managing the taxation of goods sold and paying tax collected into states. Our company has Nexus in all states currently collecting tax from to marketplace, online sales, traveling salesmen, etc. Avalara makes tax apportionment, billing, and filing efficient and streamlined across our company.
  • Tax calculation
  • Tax filing
  • Historical data retention
  • Tax consult and tax support
  • Conversion to CAD
  • Selecting all states as one option vs. having to list state after state individually for setups, such as for our marketplace
  • Filing refund requests vs. carrying credits
It is amazing for Domestic US taxes, however, not being able to convert to CAD is a huge headache when it requires downloading data to do manual conversions for CAD filing.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara to calculate the taxes for our shipments to over 40 states in the U.S. Without Avalara it would be nearly impossible to keep up with the tax rates and rate changes.
  • Calculate Sales Tax.
  • Tax Compliance.
  • Stay up to date with tax laws.
  • Updating the companies accounts when they have reached a new level of filing status.
  • Better follow-up from sales team.
Calculating taxes for sales made specifically in complicated jurisdictions. CertCapture is also a nice feature if you're willing to pay the upcharge. We were audited by our state and Avalara was not really much help with the resale certificates, but the reports did come in very handy and very accurate.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Avalara on a daily basis for calculating taxes on all of our goods and service. Recently we migrated our ERP software and had to integrate Avalara with our new ERP software.
  • Tax Exemptions
  • Tracking tax on all transactions
  • customer service
  • transitioning accounts to new account managers
Avalara has done a great job of helping us understand how AvaTax works and integrates with our new software
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara to collect and remit sales tax on applicable sales. We also use the CertCapture feature in our Wholesale side of the business to properly exclude sales tax on those applicable sales. Without Avalara, we would not be able to be as effective and efficient as we are. They save us time, money, and headaches when it comes to the Sales Tax arena.
  • Accuracy
  • Timeliness
  • Completeness
  • Account rep communications
  • deeper assistance in registering in nexus areas
Avalara is very much needed in a high transaction count company. The Avalara system speaks with our Point of Sale system and quickly calculates the required sales tax to collect based on the purchaser's location/shipping address. The fact that they stay up to date on the ever-changing sales tax percentages, is massive. If you are in a majority of the states that require you to collect sales tax once you have economic nexus, then Avalara is a must-have.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara Consumer Use to manage our use tax obligations. Within the construction world, we do not have a lot of sales tax, but we have large consumer use obligations, and our ERP system was not adept at identifying the issues. We implemented ACU to save us time on researching every invoice that was hitting our system. We were able to reduce the time in half, thanks to the software. We use Avalara business licenses to manage our growing number of license renewals. Along with around 200 licenses for our base business, we have 7 subsidiaries that we are having to manage licenses for. Between business licenses and contractor licenses, this was becoming an overwhelming task for my small department. We had tried a competitor for about a year and they did a horrible job, so when the opportunity came to work with a company that I have been working with for years, I jumped at it. We were fans of TTR before Avalara purchased them. Their vast construction library was what really drew us in and we were working with them after having a really bad experience with another research product. Once Avalara purchased them, though the only thing I can say is that the service and product have gotten better! It is awesome to have a single company managing all of our tax needs.
  • Service
  • Knowledge
  • Integrity
  • There is a need for a centralized account manager across all products. We struggle with knowing who to speak to depending on which product we need help with.
In my previous job, we used Avalara for sales tax, and we struggled a little because of the type of customers we had. We manufactured large culverts, bridges, and other items that were used in construction, but were typically not delivered to addresses. This caused some issues when trying to track down the right taxing jurisdiction. If your company though, is a more typical business-to-business company, Avalara is definitely the right choice. The sheer number of taxing codes that they have the research behind is amazing and would definitely help you to ensure that you are in compliance. I would also recommend them if you are typically seeing high-dollar audits. Despite some of the issues with calculating with no address, at my prior company we went from regularly seeing 5-6 figure sales tax audits to zero dollar sales tax audits. Having them to help with the decisions and ensuring the rates were up to date really saved us money.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use AvaTax as a main Sales Tax Calculation, and also have Return services. I am extremely happy with AvaTax as I have used it before and used it at my current company, but I wish I can say the same for Returns. Standard Return Service makes it extremely difficult to obtain answers when it comes to returning filing. It also is difficult to reconcile the sales tax account for accounting. Due to the high growth of my company, we require an upgrade to our current AvaTax and are unable to do so because it is tied with the Intact contract. I seem to have no help from anyone whom I reached out to at Avalara.
  • Nexus creation
  • tax calculation
  • product codes
  • Adding more returns to standard service, may help other companies as well
  • 1:1 Service rather than going to Customer Service every time with any issues
  • Every account should have a TM assigned so we can reach out when needed.
Avalara is the well-known company now for its tax calculation and appears to have the BEST PRODUCTs in the market. Overall, I am happy using the product, but need to figure out how I can upgrade my product and services.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We ship products to all 50 states and Avalara products have been game-changers for keeping track of sales tax, filing returns on our behalf, storing exemption certificates, and determining nexus.
  • Track nexus status.
  • File SST returns.
  • Store exemption certificates.
  • Implementation - did not have much help in setting up.
  • Flow of website - format changes often.
Avalara is great once it's set up and functioning. It's very helpful in tracking sales and tax, as well as nexus status. Getting set up was a huge task that could have been guided a little better to make the process less frustrating.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Avalara to calculate our sales and seller's taxes on customer invoices and to file our sales tax returns in 15 states. This helps us to focus on our core business functions and leave the administration of tax rules and calculations to the professionals. We don't have to worry about not being compliant or having the wrong tax rate.
  • Portal is very helpful, detailed, and user friendly.
  • I love how I can generate a lot of different reports on sales and sales tax by state, etc.
  • Can reach assistance by phone whenever you have a question.
  • Better trained phone assistants - often I figure out a problem I've called after a while of waiting on hold while they check on it.
  • Need to be able to mark invoices to Canada as "customer's broker used" so they don't assess GST or HST on these ones. The broker has to collect it by law so it makes the customer get charged twice, which they don't like and refuse to pay us as well as their broker. So we have to process these ones without going through Avalara - kind of a pain.
  • Need to show the accrued amount on "tax details and adjustments" for any states where you have filing periods larger than one month. I have to go back in my records to see what the accrued taxes are for previous months to make sure that the tax amount listed is correct before I approve each month.
I haven't used other sales tax service providers, so I can't compare it to others. However, I have found it to be extremely necessary as we grow and expand into other states so that we aren't spending all our time figuring out the complex tax laws, jurisdictions, rates, etc. for our customer sales. It gives us peace of mind that the correct taxes are being filed and we are compliant. There are definitely areas for improvement, but it's a great service.
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