Guided Implementation: Go live with an Avalara expert on the call

Sales tax is complicated. Nexus rules. Product taxability. Rates that change by jurisdiction, and sometimes by street address. For 20 years, we’ve been building a platform powerful enough to handle all of it automatically.

We’ve spent those same 20 years building something else: a team of tax experts who solve these problems for a living.

Guided Implementation is what happens when you put those two things together.

You set up on our platform, at your pace, with an Avalara expert alongside you. Many customers go live on both Avalara AvaTax and Avalara Returns in a single 45-minute call.

Expert-led configuration: Guided Implementation pairs you with an Avalara expert on a live screen-share to verify your AvaTax setup and resolve any business-specific rules.

Go-live timeline of 45 minutes: Many customers successfully configure their setups and go live on both AvaTax and Returns in a single 45-minute call.

Flat one-time fee with unlimited sessions: The service costs a flat one-time fee (not hourly or subscription-based) and includes unlimited scheduled sessions until every connector and product on your order is live.

Implementation is fast because the technology underneath it is doing the hard part.

Built into your systems: More than 1,400 integrations across ERPs, ecommerce platforms, and marketplaces.

One-click connectivity: 22 of those connectors set up in a single click.

Rooftop-level accuracy: Real-time calculation across 12,000+ U.S. sales and use tax jurisdictions.

End-to-end compliance: Calculation, filing, and remittance in one workflow.

You don’t have to become a tax expert to run any of it.

AvaTax and our prebuilt connectors have already solved the hardest technical parts of getting compliant. Setup shouldn’t be the thing that slows you down.

If you’re on Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, NetSuite, QuickBooks Online, or Salesforce, connecting is close to one click. Plenty of customers configure everything themselves and go live without ever talking to us.

If you want to drive, AvaTax lets you move fast and set it up exactly the way your business needs.

Some businesses want a second set of eyes. Maybe it’s your first time navigating nexus in a new state. Maybe your product catalog doesn’t map cleanly to a single tax code. That’s not a sign you’re doing it wrong.

This is where Guided Implementation comes in. The same AvaTax setup, at your pace, but with a dedicated Avalara expert on call, ready to hop on a screen-share, confirm your configuration, and work through anything specific to setting up your business.

Think of it as the difference between filing your own taxes and having someone check your work before you submit. One more layer of confidence, exactly when you want it.

That confidence shows up consistently in recent customer feedback. As one customer shared, “Onboarding was amazing. Our implementation consultant was very professional, efficient, and knowledgeable!” Another added, “Everything was clearly explained and easily walked through. I am grateful for the follow-up call to ensure accuracy.”

Avalara is powerful enough that you can absolutely do this yourself. If you’d rather have an expert in the loop, Guided Implementation gives you that, without slowing you down.

Either way, you’re working with industry-leading technology, backed by the people who built it. The only question is how much company you want on the way to go-live.

What is Guided Implementation?

Guided Implementation pairs Avalara automated tax technology with an implementation expert. You configure your setup in AvaTax; our expert verifies it and helps resolve anything specific to your business, in live, scheduled sessions.

How is it different from setting up on my own?

Self-serve setup runs on the same Avalara technology with no Avalara staff involved. Guided Implementation adds expert support on top of it. The calculation, address validation, and connector technology are identical.

How is it different from Managed Implementation?

Managed Implementation is a project-managed engagement for complex, multi-entity, or custom ERP environments where we do the work for you. Guided Implementation is lighter weight and a flat fee, built for standard ecommerce, billing, and accounting setups.

What is Avalara Select?

Avalara Select is Avalara’s published-pricing compliance bundle for growing businesses under $50M in revenue selling in the U.S. and Canada. It combines AvaTax calculation, Managed Returns filing, and, for qualifying sellers, state-funded SST services in up to 25 states, with Guided Implementation to get you live quickly.

Is Guided Implementation included with Avalara Select?

Guided Implementation is available for a flat fee. When you add Guided Implementation to your Avalara Select plan (Core Compliance at $79/state/month or Core Compliance + SST Services at $69/state/month), a dedicated Avalara expert helps you connect your platform and go live, often on both AvaTax and Returns in a single 45-minute call. 

How fast can I go live?

Many customers go live on both AvaTax and Returns in a single 45-minute call with help from our expert. Streamlined Sales Tax (SST) setups carry additional filing obligations and have gone live in under an hour. Most customers are live within a day, with our expert guiding them the whole way.

What does it cost?

An affordable, flat one-time fee to set up all of your products. Not hourly, not a subscription.

How many sessions do I get?

Unlimited scheduled sessions with an expert until every product and connector on your order is live, plus a defined post-launch validation period.

Which systems offer one-click connectivity?

Avalara integrates with more than 1,400 systems of record. Twenty-two of those offer simplified, one-click setup:

Ecommerce and billing/payments

• Shopify (Avalara for Shopify)
• WooCommerce
• BigCommerce
• Adobe Commerce (Magento 2)
• Stripe

Accounting and small/mid ERP

• QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop
• NetSuite (Basic, OneWorld, SuiteTax)
• Microsoft Dynamics
• Dynamics 365 Business Central
• Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations
• Dynamics GP
• Dynamics 365 Commerce & Project Operations
• Salesforce
• Sales Cloud and CPQ
• B2C Commerce, Billing, OMS, and Revenue Cloud

Who is it for?

Growing businesses, multistate ecommerce sellers, and companies hitting economic nexus for the first time. Anyone who wants expert verification without the cost or timeline of a fully managed implementation.

Bundle this with Avalara Select for the fastest, easiest, most accurate way to comply with complex sales and use tax regulations.

Sales tax rates, rules, and regulations change frequently. Although we hope you’ll find this information helpful, this blog is for informational purposes only and does not provide legal or tax advice.?