The CPA Technology Advisor
Updated: October 30th, 2006 02:38 PM EDT

(Original Article Link)

Awesome QuickBooks Add-Ons For 2007
Column: The QuickBooks Advisor
Doug Sleeter
By Doug Sleeter

From the Nov. 2006 Issue

Each year, I survey tens if not hundreds of products from independent developers who add value to the QuickBooks community by solving hard problems faced by QuickBooks users and consultants. Before awarding the “awesome” label, I dig deep into each product and ask all the hard questions I think consultants and business owners will eventually ask. I usually find that the developers of these products know much more about their target customer set than I do, so I try to first satisfy myself that they understand enough about how QuickBooks works, and then I move to their solution and see if they’ve developed an easy-to-use, quality product that I would recommend to my clients.

I survey products in several vertical markets where QuickBooks may not have all the needed features, or where clients want customized solutions. Most of the winners are software products, but several are hardware and software combinations. The result is my list of “Awesome Add-ons” for 2007. I hope you’ll look at each of these solutions as you help your clients improve their financial management systems.

AvaTax ST — Web-based Sales Tax Solution Linked to QuickBooks
Avalara
www.avalara.com
Pricing: $10 to $500 per month based on transaction volume, $50 to $2,000 activation fee

AvaTax ST is a hosted Web service that works behind the scenes of QuickBooks to validate customer addresses, provide a correct sales tax calculation for each transaction, automatically generate sales tax returns, and provide detailed sales tax reports. For businesses selling into multiple jurisdictions, this product provides enterprise-level sales tax automation using TaxWare sales tax data services.