Item: Avalara
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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.

Pros and Cons

Keeps up with tax changes at state level.
Exemption certificate management.
Easy to use.

Anything outside the subscription is expensive (amended returns, resolution to tax issues).
When calling support you will be on hold for a long time.
Implementation was not as seamless as we had hoped.

Key Insights

Do you think Avalara delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Avalara's feature set?

Yes

Did Avalara live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Avalara go as expected?

Would you buy Avalara again?

Yes

Return on Investment

Prior to Avalara, we had two full-time people doing nothing but tax returns. Now, we only review data via reports within Avalara and it takes one person about 2 hours a month.
Certificate exemption was a manual process we tracked on an excel spreadsheet. It was not always easy to read and wrought with human error. CertCapture has made this process digital and saved us countless amounts of time.
With Avalara managing the taxation through our ERP, we rarely have to worry about the taxation not being correct on our invoices to our customers. This saves time in having to investigate tax rates by state, county, and jurisdiction.

Systems Integrated With

Microsoft Dynamics Navision

The initial implementation was bumpy, as things were not set up as we expected. It took several months for everything to get coordinated and settled, but Avalara worked with us and got it straightened out.

Usability

I find Avalara easy to navigate and it is user-friendly. You don't need to be a tax expert to feel confident in the product.

Additional Capabilities

Avalara Returns
CertCapture

We have benefited from less time spent on return filing, tax rate research, and certificate management. Overall, it has helped us focus our time on other tasks.

Alternatives Considered

Avalara was the first solution we tried and have been happy with it.

Likelihood to Recommend

I would recommend Avalara to anyone who files tax returns in multiple states. We file in 45 states, so them doing the returns is quite a time saver. If you only file in a few states, this may not be a cost-benefit to you. With so many customers in our database, CertCapture is great in helping us keep track of the exemption certificates we have on file for each customer. If you don't have to manage many customers/certificates, this may not be a good solution for your particular needs.

Do you have taxation nightmares? Choose Avalara for a nightmare- free taxation solution.

Modules Used

Overall Satisfaction with Avalara