Our experience with CCH SureTax since 2021.
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We currently have SureTax built into our ERP system to maintain sales tax rates, taxability, and reporting. Nexus is very easy to maintain plus SureTax even notifies us if we are approaching a threshold in a different state that we do not have Nexus in so we can get registered there to also collect sales tax. We currently collect taxes in 26 states. I could not imagine keeping track of all of the tax codes, rates, etc.
Pros
- Maintains Nexus nationwide.
- Implements all of the various sales tax rates nationwide automatically.
- Clean website that is very user friendly.
- Support is very quick to respond and always fixes any issues you may be having.
- We have had this since 2013, and not one time has a sales tax rate been wrong. We used to have Avalara, where we had 12 different overrides in their system just to calculate the correct tax. It is nice not having to maintain those.
Cons
- We have returns enabled. For the most part, it is a terrific service. I couldn't imagine having to file 26 returns monthly. There are some hiccups we have encountered with additional Schedules and tax forms that are not populating for certain states, but those are being fixed as we go. Any errors I have come across, they directly looked at and have either corrected or educated me on what I should be seeing.
- SureTax does not "see" miscellaneous credit and debit memos, even if tax is credited or debited. There is not a calculation there, so I do understand why it does not include it in reporting, however it would be nice if an amount is filled into the tax field for SureTax to break it down by the customer address on the memo just as it would an invoice so I wouldn't have to manually put in a Transaction Adjustment in SureTax
- When having to add Nexus to a state, it would be nice if SureTax "knew" if it was a Vendor Use or Sales Tax for a Remote Seller automatically. Clearly, the laws and thresholds are already built into the system, so the answer must be there. This causes confusion for the first couple of returns to file when we have a new state.
Return on Investment
- We would have to hire multiple people to maintain everything SureTax handles for us.
- Returns could easily be a full-time job if someone had to manually file them for all of our Nexus states. The yearly cost is a fraction of what a salary would be.
- Breaking down our tax numbers by state, county, jurisdiction, city, etc, would be impossible to do manually.
Alternatives Considered
Avalara
Other Software Used
Microsoft Dynamics GP
