Reviewed By: Susan Gaswirth, for Intuit
Date Reviewed: October 30, 2005
Final Rating: 8.48 - "Excellent"

Summary: 

Sales tax compliance - research, calculation, reporting and remittance -  is time-consuming and prone to error because the jurisdictional laws change frequently and vary by state, county, and locality.  AvaTax ST is a sales and use tax service that handles all of these requirements and delivers the service over the Internet. 

AvaTax ST acts as an additional file option within QuickBooks while working in the background.  AvaTax ST provides address validation to ensure proper identification of tax jurisdiction, creates sales & use tax calculation, and provides secure data storage for tax filing and reporting.  AvaTax determines a correct rate, considering all taxing jurisdictions that apply to the verified address, as well as any pre-configured sourcing rules, taxability and nexus settings unique to the business, with the effect of eliminating the need to have to research and assign the correct tax schedule, rates and tables for the jurisdictions the end-user may conduct their business activities in.

Strengths: 

AvaTax ST is a hosted Internet Service that can be up and running within an end-users environment within a few hours.  The end-User needs to only go into the AvaTax console to perform some minor configuration and select the appropriate tax jurisdictions.  QuickBooks configuration is minimal. AvaTax ST databases are updated continually and are invisible to the end user ensuring that the user is utilizing the most current information available.  There are no monthly CD or downloads to install in order to keep information current.

Avalara establishes a bridge between AvaTax ST and QuickBooks that ties the tax calculation and reporting functions directly to the invoice processing and order entry within QuickBooks, eliminates the need for set up and continual monitoring and maintenance of various tax rates particularly complex rate structures which may include multiple tax components such as state, county and/or city level taxes.

AvaTax ST calculates sales tax due on a line item basis as varying items being sold to a customer may or may not be taxable. In QuickBooks the end-user needs to only set the tax rate to AvaTax ST and the taxes will be automatically calculated.  AvaTax ST tracks the total value of the invoice and any cumulative tax changes that result from accumulated sales on the invoice.  AvaTax ST utilizes the point of sale to determine the applicable address in order to calculate the associated tax rates.

Limitations: 

Functionality was very good. Tax calculations are instantaneous.

Limitations were centered on the following two areas:

1) QuickBooks has the capability to handle more than one company database.  The AvaTax Nexus tab once set up will drive all the calculations for transactions within all company databases.  In order to have a separate AvaTax application for a separate QuickBooks entity, you must have a separate AvaTax Admin Console key code and account for each separate company that you may wish to link the AvaTax ST service to. The company has advised that this had been a top feature request from their beta customers and is currently under development. They expect this feature will be available to their users in early 2006.

2) Availability of system in the event your Internet connection was interrupted.  In the event there is a loss of Internet connectivity, AvaTax ST will alert the end user to a connection failure eliminating you from accidentally posting, printing and mailing an invoice that does not have the correct sales tax figures.  Once the Internet connection is restored, AvaTax ST will calculate the tax due before the end user prints order confirmations or posts and prints invoices. 

To avoid the disruption that may occur if the end-users network goes down, the end user should consider implementing a dial-up connection as a back up. 

Wish List: 

None other than #1 in Limitations

1) Setup and Installation:
Installation was simple.  The documentation for set up was clearly written and was not subject to interpretation.  Implementation is available and is part of the pricing, and assistance in this area is available by WebEx.

Rating for Setup and Installation:  8.5
    
2) Interface:
The interface is easy to utilize.  After installation, functionality is accessed for all other tasks not related to invoicing and order entry utilizing the new file menu command that resides within QuickBooks.

Rating for Interface: 8.2

3) Features:
The features were not remarkable.  This is not a bells and whistle application, but rather is a system that performs a critical business function that can save a lot of money on the research, maintenance, and potential errors that are caused due to internal management of sales and use tax.  The system provides an audit trail of activities and virtually eliminates the errors and penalties associated with the management of these taxes.

Rating for Features: 8.5

4) Follow-through on Claims

Avalara makes the following claims on the QuickBooks Solutions Marketplace:

Return on investment - Ensure compliance, eliminate audit exposure, and remove the burden and costs of research and tax maintenance.

• Comprehensive calculation - Quickly factor tax jurisdictional issues, exception processing, product processing, split rates and maximum tax. Updates accurately reflecting the most current taxation statutes and tax rates for North America are provided automatically.
• Taxability Matrix - Covers thousands of industry-specific product, service, entity and use-based.
• Industry-leading Remittance form and report platform - Easily accessible user interface and reporting tool provides detailed, summary and exception reports to satisfy statutory tax return requirements.
• International rate and Value-Added Tax (VAT) content, which enables calculation of international and VAT rates for more than 150 countries.
• Address validation - CASS-certified for address and deliverability verification. Advanced algorithms parse and re-assemble addresses based on street, city, state, and full zip+4 codes.
• Transaction detail and audit trail - AvaTax ST" provides detailed data for each transaction, including customer/invoice, product, exemptions and data by jurisdiction.
• Automated Tax Returns - Sophisticated selection of required forma, pre-population of tax data for a specified filing period and intelligent calculations within the form.

This evaluation was not performed in a "REAL WORLD" setting.  However, testing of the application and a review of the claims makes this reviewer believe that the above claims would be true in a "REAL WORLD" setting.

Rating for Follow-through on Claims: 8.1

5) Ease of Use/Service and Support
The product was easy to use. End-User training is required and is part of the implementation cost.  There is a one-time set up charge, and support is included in the pricing plan.  

Rating for Ease of Use/Service and Support:  7.5

6) Data Security
Security is maintained by using Secure Socket Layer encryption, the WS-Security XML specification, and best practice standards in username/password combinations.

Rating for Data Security:  8.5

7) Privacy
The company has a well documented privacy policy which is available on their website.  Access to the privacy policy is available as a hyperlink at the bottom of their home page.

Rating for Privacy: 9.0
 
8) Integration with QuickBooks
AvaTax integrates seamlessly with QuickBooks.

Rating for Integration with QuickBooks: 9.5

Ratings Definitions

10.0 (Perfect): This exceedingly rare score is reserved for a product that is as perfect as it could be.

9.0 to 9.9 (Spectacular): A product that receives a rating in this range succeeds at meeting all of its intended users' needs and has no meaningful drawbacks.

8.0 to 8.9 (Excellent): A product that receives a rating in this range is superior in so many ways that its relatively few drawbacks are not very important.

7.0 to 7.9 (Very good): While the strengths of a product scoring in this range certainly outweigh its weaknesses, it has some minor faults that certain users should be aware of.

6.0 to 6.9 (Good): This range represents a product that is above average. Its strengths slightly outweigh its weaknesses, making it good for most uses but not a standout.

5.0 to 5.9 (Average): A product that scores in this range is functional but unremarkable.

4.0 to 4.9 (Mediocre): Products in this range are below average. They fall in the middle of the pack for most features, but suffer from a few additional major flaws.

3.0 to 3.9 (Poor): A customer should probably not consider purchasing a product in this range or lower. There may be one or two specialized circumstances, however, that could justify the purchase of this product for a very low price for a specific demand.

2.0 to 2.9 (Terrible): A product that receives a rating in this range does not satisfy any of its intended users' needs and has no meaningful strengths.

1.0 to 1.9 (Abysmal): A product in this range should never have been produced. This product has no redeeming qualities and worse, may actually harm the user or the users productivity.

AvaTax ST" by Avalara:

Rating for Setup and Installation: 8.5 - "Excellent"
Rating for Interface: 8.2 - "Excellent"
Rating for Features: 8.5 - "Excellent"
Rating for Follow-through on Claims: 8.1 - "Excellent"
Rating for Ease of Use/Service and Support: 7.5 - "Very Good"
Rating for Data Security:  8.5 - "Excellent"
Rating for Privacy: 9.0 - "Spectacular"
Rating for Integration with QuickBooks: 9.5 - "Spectacular"

Reprinted by permission. Intuit.