A Press Release From - Barnett Marketing Communications

For Immediate Release              For More Information, Contact: Ned Barnett 

Avalara Names Rory Rawlings Chief Tax Automation Officer

Bainbridge Island, Washington – March 16, 2005: Avalara, the on-demand sales and use tax service provider for small and medium businesses, has named company founder, Rory Rawlings, Chief Tax Automation Officer.   “We are delighted to make this announcement,” remarked Jared Vogt, Avalara’s CEO.  “Rory innovated and brought the Avalara product line to what it is today, and to be sure, his influence in matters of product strategy will continue.  In his new role, as our product development focus turns to an aggressive roll-out schedule of new ERP integrations, Rory’s expertise in tax accounting, technology and government affairs will now also be focused specifically on opportunities in the evolving policy sector.” 

“2005-2006 will be a crucial, progressive time for sales and use tax legislation,” continued Vogt.  “In states across the U.S., legislation is being passed in coordination with the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement.  As businesses become increasingly interested in how this venture will affect their processes and expenses, broader awareness of technology’s role in making the new model simple and affordable is also needed.  With Rory engaged in the debates and events driving progress, Avalara will be optimally equipped to participate in the dialogue among private businesses, governmental bodies, and third-party players around these developments.”

“Small and medium businesses already have their work cut out for them in addressing sales and use tax compliance,” commented Rawlings.  “They have to research tax rates in any number of the 8,016 U.S. taxing jurisdictions depending on where they do business, assign those to each customer order, create detailed reports, generate returns, and remit as frequently as twelve times per year, sometimes more.  That’s not even to mention product taxability, which can vary wildly from state to state.  With constraints on budget and IT, it’s been very difficult for small and medium businesses to find ways to automate these compliance processes, but as you can imagine, not automating can result in human error and intolerable audit risk.  Just as this problem drove me to develop this business to begin with, it’s what motivates me now to turn my attention to the simplification initiative underway with SSTP.”

About AvaTax ST
AvaTax ST is an “on-demand” sales and use tax web service that, for each customer order, performs address validation, jurisdiction research and rate calculation, and generates reporting and returns for remittance time.  Designed to work behind the scenes within commonly-used financial packages, AvaTax ST currently integrates with more ERPs than any other sales and use tax solution on the market.  The growing list includes Microsoft’s Great Plains, Navision and Small Business Financials, Best Software’s ACCPAC Advantage Series™, MAS 90® and MAS 200®, and Scala.  Additional significant integrations – with commonly-used ERPs – will be released in Q2 and Q3.  The AvaTax service can also be integrated easily into any third-party or e-commerce system. 

Available through resellers internationally, AvaTax ST is priced on a scalable fee structure to accommodate any size business.  AvaTax ST monthly subscription prices start at $99.95 per month.  Products, pricing and partner program details can be found at www.avalara.com.

About Avalara
Headquartered on Bainbridge Island near Seattle, Washington, Avalara is changing the sales and use tax landscape by delivering innovative and affordable solutions. Led by a team of industry experts in sales and use tax, as well as security and information technology, Avalara's goal is to provide the easiest, most accurate and affordable way for any sized company to address all statutory sales and use tax requirements.

For more information about Avalara, or to interview Mr. Rawlings, please contact Ned Barnett, Barnett Marketing Communications – 702-696-1200 or ned@barnettmarcom.com

Avalara contact: Christina Opalka – 206-780-7035 christinao@avalara.com