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Customer Sales Tax Exemptions and Avalara

  • 1.  Customer Sales Tax Exemptions and Avalara

    Posted 12-17-2021 09:50
    So I feel like I should know this already but I have asked around and I cannot find an answer.  A customer on Sage 100 uses Avalara.  They have a customer where the sales tax schedule is AVATAX.  They have entered sales tax exemption numbers against each of the tax codes used by Avatax schedule in Customer Maintenance and Ship to Code Maintenance.  They entered a sales order and Avalara returned that this order was taxable.  My expectation is that Avalara would read the exemption numbers on the transaction and return that this order was non-taxable.  This did not happen.  My question is:  Does the customer have to set up the exemptions in the Avalara portal or does Avalara read the exemptions entered into Sage only?

    Surprisingly, 3 days of asking the same question to Avalara has not returned a reasonable answer.  

    Thanks

    Cooper

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    Cooper Black
    Accounting Systems, Inc. (ASI)
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  • 2.  RE: Customer Sales Tax Exemptions and Avalara

    Posted 12-17-2021 09:58
    Edited by Wayne Schulz 12-17-2021 10:03
    My experience is that if I set up ANY exemption number in the ship-to exemption field that Avalara does not charge tax. 
    I presume you are looking at the exemption page for the customer and seeing several fields ( on the same page ) for tax exempt number. I have filled them all with the same thing ( typically "EXEMPT" unless the customer has the exemption number which of course they should ).

    I do not know if subscribing to Certcapture might change my above observation. My customer subscribed to Certcapture initially but stopped using it when they saw that it was completely un-integrated to Sage 100 for initial maintenance of certificates.

    Also, Avalara has little to no process for capturing marketplace transactions which is a super simple and ( to my customers ) very common thing these days. The hidden gotchas for Avalar and Marketplaces = (a) nobody at Avalara knows how to set Sage 100 up for them , (b) Once setup the Sage 100 side of things continues to accrue sales tax even though most marketplaces are mandated to charge and remit on your behalf and (c) The Avalara help files for how to setup Marketplaces doesn't work with Sage 100 and the only way I have found to set these up is via use of the default ( header ) warehouse code which gets set to the marketplace/location code in Avalara.

    I could very candidly give a 60 to 120 minute session on the pros and cons of Avalara without stopping..... 

    Never Under Any Circumstances Allow The Customer To Rely on Avalara Professional Resources for Implementation.


    You will probably have to pay Avalara for these services but if you wait for Avalara to provide the service and guidance on just about anything you will be waiting a long long long time.  ( Been there, done that, got the t-shirt )

    IMO, nobody really cares about how bad the experience here is until they spend a week or two on calls from a good customer.

    I provided very candid feedback to Avalara and now they essentially have run and hidden from me.

    Lurkers - you've been warned

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    Wayne Schulz
    Schulz Consulting
    860-516-8990
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  • 3.  RE: Customer Sales Tax Exemptions and Avalara

    Posted 12-17-2021 10:03

    Thanks Wayne.  I will put you in the "Not a fan" category......

     






  • 4.  RE: Customer Sales Tax Exemptions and Avalara

    Posted 12-17-2021 10:05
    I'm sure I'll get a call from Jeff Roth - but what is this community for other than to warn people from bad experiences. My customer is still using Avalara because it seems to be the only game in town and I'm somewhat thankful the more I see the lack of support from Avalara, Sage, etc because it makes our services that much more valuable.

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    Wayne Schulz
    Schulz Consulting
    860-516-8990
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  • 5.  RE: Customer Sales Tax Exemptions and Avalara

    Posted 12-17-2021 10:08
    Are they set up Ava Certs?? If so, the exemption numbers in Sage 100 don't mean a thing. The customer has to have an exemption cert on file with Avalara.

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    Therese Logeais, Technology Integrators
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  • 6.  RE: Customer Sales Tax Exemptions and Avalara

    Posted 12-17-2021 10:11

    Thanks for reply Therese.  No Ava Certs. 

     






  • 7.  RE: Customer Sales Tax Exemptions and Avalara

    Posted 12-17-2021 10:31
    If you don't use Certs in Avatax, then Avatax won't be able to calculate and record tax exempt sales.  If you don't want to use Ava Certs for exempt customers, then assign a non-Avalara tax schedule to the customer (such as "EXEMPT") .  Then in SO entry when the tax schedule is not one of Avalara's, Avalara will be ignored and Sage will process the order as exempt sales.  Keep in mind that any invoices that you process that don't have an Avalara tax schedule, the invoice won't write out to Avalara. So if you need to report on Exempt sales you will need to rely on the Sage sales tax reports for those.

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    Jane Scanlan
    Partner
    Next Level Manufacturing Consulting Group
    Chanhassen MN
    952-210-7758
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  • 8.  RE: Customer Sales Tax Exemptions and Avalara

    Posted 12-17-2021 10:34
    We use Avalara internally and yes, it does recognize tax-exempt numbers as expected. We do NOT use AvaCerts.

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    Therese Logeais, Technology Integrators
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  • 9.  RE: Customer Sales Tax Exemptions and Avalara

    Posted 12-17-2021 10:45
    I don't believe it's accurate that Avalara won't recognize Sage tax exempt numbers without Certcapture.

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    Wayne Schulz
    Schulz Consulting
    860-516-8990
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  • 10.  RE: Customer Sales Tax Exemptions and Avalara

    Posted 12-17-2021 12:08
    I agree 100% with Wayne!!!  Avalara is a necessary evil and if you don't have any other necessary evil options to pick from, the sole solution provider lacks any incentive to improve their offerings or keep pricing at a reasonable level.  Of the several clients that started with Avalara, the majority have pulled back or dropped completely.  One client who relied on Avalara Professional services, is still spitting bullets at the mere thought of Avalara.  Professional Services does not understand Sage, client is simply directed to the web site for self help documents.  They just can't get the bad taste out, no matter how much they try.  Communication is miserable across the Avalara spectrum.    Tax certs are a sore spot (both in set up and pricing).

    Having said the above, if you successfully get past the set up, sales tax reporting much easier to do.

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    Jeff Schwenk
    FORMER 90M Board Member -140,000,000 is a TERRIBLE thing to waste!!!
    Bottomline Software, Inc.
    Waynesboro VA
    540-221-4444
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  • 11.  RE: Customer Sales Tax Exemptions and Avalara

    Posted 12-17-2021 12:03
    I would check if they have paid for Cert Capture, but have not properly set it up.  If they don't own Cert Capture, then anything written into the exempt field on the sales order; should mark the sale as exempt.  If they own it and don't have it set up correctly, you may see what you are seeing.

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    Madeline Stefanou
    RKL eSolutions, LLC
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  • 12.  RE: Customer Sales Tax Exemptions and Avalara

    Posted 12-17-2021 15:24
    You do NOT need CertCapture in order to maintain exemptions. You can maintain exemptions directly in Avatax. You can enter them in manually or import them in from a spreadsheet. I have done this and it works correctly. If you do maintain exemptions in Avatax you will need to delete your exemption information in Sage as it will mess with the calculation (or lack thereof).



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    Billy Balser
    Sage 100 Consultant
    Blytheco LLC
    Atlanta GA
    9495839500
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  • 13.  RE: Customer Sales Tax Exemptions and Avalara

    Posted 12-18-2021 11:31
    Is this a new implementation?
    Click on the Tax Detail box in the Order.  Do the exemption numbers from Customer Maintenance or Ship-to Address Maintenance appear?  Enter or remove to see changes.  Change the Tax Schedule to something other than AVATAX and test the same behavior.  Is standard Sage working as expected.  Check the portal - is this jurisdiction configured?
    CertCapture is not in play here.


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    Bob Pfahnl
    Manager - Silicon Valley
    DSD Business Systems
    San Diego CA
    408-641-0922
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  • 14.  RE: Customer Sales Tax Exemptions and Avalara

    Posted 12-20-2021 07:57

    Thanks for the detailed info Bob.  This is an existing installation and just this one is causing problems.  I have changed the tax schedule and it did as I expected.  I changed another customer's order to ship to Hawaii and that order charged tax.  It appears that the state of Hawaii is not setup to charge taxes in the way that the customer expects.  That is our next focus.

     






  • 15.  RE: Customer Sales Tax Exemptions and Avalara

    Posted 12-20-2021 10:09
    Is there a AVATAX Tax Code in Item Maintenance?  There might be a Tax Rule set up in the portal. 

    Bob Pfahnl
    Sent from my iPhone