Item: Avalara
Rating: 7
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Avalara to file our Sales & Use Tax for our US entity. With a growing number of stores and an online presence, Avalara helps us file our returns and manage our notices.

Pros and Cons

Streamline the filing process
Monitor and respond to Notices

Little to no tax advice (you will need to know what you want to do)
Inconsistent support (if you do not have premium service)
Toll-Free General Support line does not work when calling from Canada (or outside of US)

Return on Investment

Our head off is located in Canada but, being required to file US returns, we aren't always able to hire the expertise locally. So having Avalara file for us gives us peace of mind.
We save on headcount - filing over 100 returns monthly is a very manual process!

Implementation Rating

I was not part of the implementation process.

Systems Integrated With

Digital Business
POS System (considering this for the future)

I was not part of the integration process.

Usability

The interface is fairly user-friendly. It would be nice to understand why or how the flow of things work which I feel we still do not understand today.

We have upgraded to Premium Services in which all filings and notices are handled by a specific team. What we are finding by having a dedicated team handle our returns monthly, they are beginning to understand our business model and they are better at flagging anything that is out of the ordinary.

Alternatives Considered

I was not part of the decision process.

Likelihood to Recommend

Our digital sales are fully integrated with Avalara which makes reporting for this entity (almost) seamless. There are lots of reports available which helps with the monthly reconciliation process. I feel that there are a lot of services and business solutions that Avalara offers, but there is no one source where we can gather all this information so I feel that our system could be better than where we are now.

Admin User Review

Modules Used

Overall Satisfaction with Avalara