Tax changes in 2026: What you need to know

2025 product and tech enhancement review

In 2025, Avalara advanced the way compliance gets done. As regulatory demands grew more complex, we focused on delivering product innovations that reduce friction and increase confidence across tax workflows. We introduced intelligent automation, expanded global coverage, and embedded compliance capabilities directly into the systems where businesses work.

Every update was designed to help businesses respond faster, act with greater accuracy, and scale with less risk. This recap highlights key product enhancements from 2025 and how they help customers and partners adapt to a changing compliance landscape.

Intelligent automation with agentic AI

Avalara introduced a new model for compliance automation: Agentic Tax and Compliance™, designed to automate complicated tasks through action-oriented AI agents. At the center of this system is Avi, our embedded compliance agent. Avi helps businesses determine tax, validate exemptions, calculate duties, and verify e-invoices, all from within the applications they already use.

Avi now powers context-aware automation across third-party platforms, including partner single-page applications. This allows users to complete compliance steps in real time, with less manual effort.

To simplify configuration, Avalara released Advanced Rules with AI Visualization, which uses a visual interface to help users create and manage complex tax rules with greater clarity.

When it comes to property tax, we expanded our managed services offering by combining intelligent automation with expert support. Customers can now automate filing, assessment reviews, and bill payment while gaining visibility into key deadlines and obligations.

Ecosystem-ready APIs for faster integration

We introduced model context protocol (MCP) servers to make it easier for external AI agents and applications to connect with our compliance solutions. MCP servers support automated API discovery and invocation through cloud registries, helping streamline integration for businesses, developers, and technology partners working across diverse systems.

This update reduces the effort required to build and maintain connections to Avalara, especially in complex or distributed environments.

Embedded insights in everyday workflows

To bring compliance closer to where work happens, Avalara introduced Avi as a Chrome browser extension. This gives users real-time access to tax guidance and compliance content directly within their web-based workflows.

Support for Outlook and NetSuite is expected in early 2026, further extending Avi’s reach into tools businesses use every day.

Avalara also launched U.S. e-invoicing — at no cost — for domestic transactions, available through the Digital Business Networks Alliance (DBNAlliance), where Avalara is a certified access point. This offering helps businesses meet new requirements while keeping invoice processes efficient and consistent.

Smarter tools for returns, research, and reporting

New enhancements across the Avalara platform help streamline tax setup, filing, and reporting, giving teams more flexibility and visibility at each step. New features include:

  • AI-assisted self-service returns setup
  • Returns approval reversal
  • AI-guided Avalara AvaTax onboarding
  • New dashboards with AI-powered reporting
  • API enhancements for Avalara 1099 & W-9 for integration with ERP or accounting software

For tax research, Avi is now embedded in the Avalara Portal, delivering instant, citation-backed answers to common questions. This update helps users find the information they need faster and with more confidence.

Expanded global coverage and deeper localization

Avalara AvaTax for VAT now matches the coverage of Avalara VAT reporting, with support expanded to include Iceland, Indonesia, Oman, and Taiwan.

Avalara E-Invoicing and Live Reporting capabilities have been added for Brazil, France, Germany, India, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Spain, and the UAE, enabling real-time invoice validation and reporting in more jurisdictions.

To support broader adoption, eight new languages were also added across the platform, including Arabic, Hebrew, and Japanese.

Platform enhancements that improve connectivity

Several key updates across the Avalara platform help businesses work more effectively within their existing systems.

  • Embedded tax registration is now supported in Salesforce, Shopify, Stripe, and WooCommerce, simplifying onboarding for sellers on those platforms.
  • A new TikTok Shop extractor helps users bring sales data into Avalara for accurate tax calculation and reporting.
  • Setup for Salesforce and Workday connectors has been streamlined to reduce implementation time.
  • Avalara 1099 & W-9 is now integrated with major platforms, including Dynamics 365, NetSuite, QuickBooks, and SAP.
  • These enhancements support faster onboarding and more flexible workflows, especially for teams managing complex or multichannel operations.

Built for peak performance

During high-traffic periods like Cyber Week, reliability and speed matter. With multicloud, active-active architecture, Avalara delivers consistent performance even at peak load, helping businesses process transactions without delay or disruption.

In 2025, Cyber Week activity included:

  • 1.14 billion API calls processed
  • 9,124 transactions per second at peak times

These results reflect the platform’s ability to scale under pressure and support seamless compliance, even during the busiest times of the year.

Looking ahead to 2026

With compliance evolving and new requirements emerging across markets, we’re continuing to focus on solutions that help businesses stay ready. A full product road map will be released in January, outlining upcoming enhancements in automation, global coverage, and embedded workflows.

To help both our customers and partners stay up to date:

  • Product updates will be published on the Avalara Partner Portal.
  • A new quarterly webcast series will feature Avalara product leaders, available live and on demand.

As we move into 2026, our focus remains on helping businesses manage compliance with greater consistency and control. Explore avalara.com to learn more about our solutions and platform updates

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