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Puts Your Mind at Ease
February 11, 2023

Puts Your Mind at Ease

sujen Brandenburg | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Modules Used

  • AvaTax
  • Returns
  • CertCapture

Overall Satisfaction with Avalara

They track all sales and capture sales tax file returns and keep an eye on our exemption certificates. Our business uses Avalara since the government said we needed to pay sales tax in all states. That was way more than our accounting dept was able to handle.
  • They are very quick to help with any questions I have.
  • They have always kept me updates on any changes with tax in all states.
  • They always include our company with any new webinars and the Avalara Crush this year.
  • Training on the how the program works for brand new people.
  • Sometimes, it is very hard to understand the customer service people.
  • Sometimes, I would like to talk to someone on the phone rather than opening a support case.

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?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Avalara go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Avalara again?

Yes

  • I am not involved in the area.
  • CV3
I wasn't involved in this integration part of it.
Once you figure everything out, it's very easy to go in fix things, find things, and get your work done.
  • Avalara Returns
  • CertCapture
Yes, we have now that we have to pay sales tax in each state instead of just Wisconsin, it would be too difficult for one person to file all those returns.
I was having trouble getting our discounts to show up from CV3 and I opened a case and we had it solved within a day. There was a time I was going to have a zoom call and the customer service person had the wrong time zone - it took a month for it to happen, but by then I had figured it out. Sometimes, customer service isn't efficient enough.

Avalara Feature Ratings

Type of tax
10.0
Sales and Use Taxes
10
Cross-border Taxes
Not Rated
VAT / GST Taxes
Not Rated
Energy and Fuel Taxes
Not Rated
Tax Reporting & Compliance
9.0
Geolocation for Tax Assessment
9
3rd-Party Software Integrations
9
Tax Data Reporting
9
Compliance Administration Management
9
Tax Exemption Processing
9
Tax Document Management
9
Complex Tax Scenario Management
9

Cross-Border Tax Compliance with Avalara

They have filed all returns and have held webinars for any new information.
I am not involved in those decisions.
I'm not sure
We do not sell on any of those as we have our own sites.

Using Avalara

4 - Accounting, Refunds. Our company had some setbacks with our old controller, so at this point, we only have a few people figuring everything out then we will share it with others. We have Garden Center Stores, Call Center phone orders, and mail orders all selling seeds, sidelines, and plants. Avalara has been very helpful in keeping track of everything.
2 - We have our accounting dept and our customer service financial dept using the program. The CSF dept used it more because we do refunds, take care of discounts, tax-exempt customers, and many other things. The skills need to learn Avalara is patience and a knowledge of computers. We all have a college degree which helps, but it isn't necessary, if you are willing to take the time to learn the program, it's very easy to support it after the fact.
  • Sales tax filing
  • Tax exempt Certificates
  • Makes sure I know when we reach the threshold in states we need to then pay sales tax
  • We are able to upload sales from our garden centers.
  • We use a Dos program for some things and with Avalara, we are able to know the correct sales tax that should be charged or refunded.
  • We have many tax-exempt customers and it makes it much easier to keep a handle on them. They notify us of any which are expiring and need to be alerted.
  • Since I am just getting into it, I am not sure, but I figure there will be something.
  • When we upgrade our ERP, which talks with Avalara, it will be a big help in tracking things better.
  • Every time I start digging deeper into the program, I find things that make our jobs easier it will just take time to learn it all.
We need their help with filing and keeping track of things. It is very likely we are in the process of renewing right now. Autumn is our case manager and she has been a great help in keeping us updated on our usage and renewal. I feel we will be using this for a very long time.

Evaluating Avalara and Competitors

  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
I wasn't involved in the decision.

Avalara Support

I sometimes try to have a zoom call and it fails. I have also gotten calls from people I can barely understand.
ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
Kept well informed
No escalation required
Immediate help available
Support cares about my success
Quick Initial Response
None
I was trying to figure out how to take the tax out of an order I emailed my case manager and she replied right away with a phone call to explain it to me.

Using Avalara

ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Requires technical support
Lots to learn
  • After some pointers, I was able to take the tax out from tax-exempt customers
  • With some pointers from tech help, I find most of it is very easy to use.
  • When you first look at the program, it is very intimidating.
  • They all were when I first sat down to it. Now that I have figured it out, it's very easy to get around.