Ag Solutions Group is reaping the benefits of sales tax automation

As one of the largest dealers of its kind in the Midwest, Ag Solutions Group specializes in agricultural equipment for planting, spraying, fertilizing, and more.

Formed in 2015 by the merger of two family-owned businesses, the Minnesota-based company launched its online store in 2019, creating both growth opportunity and compliance risk.

The company’s entry into online sales came on the heels of the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., which expanded the ability of states to collect sales tax from ecommerce and other remote transactions. The resulting concept of “economic nexus” introduced both risk and complexity for companies selling into states where they have no physical presence.

“We previously managed our sales tax and filing manually in the four states where we have physical locations,” says Stefanie Hemeyer, the company’s controller. “It honestly was not too bad. However, once we established nexus in other states due to online sales, managing our taxes and filing became more complicated. The Wayfair decision brought on more liability because of the additional states we had to file in.”

Before the move into ecommerce, Ag Solutions Group was already running its business on CDK IntelliDealerTM, an integrated dealer management system. “It’s our everything,” Stefanie says. “It’s the brain of the business. Every other program that runs, from inventory to financials, integrates in some way with CDK.”

When AG Solutions Group began selling goods online, Stefanie brought in the ecommerce platform BigCommerce. When Stefanie later decided to automate sales tax for online transactions, BigCommerce recommended a few companies to consider. “Integration was important to us,” she explains. “We didn’t talk to anybody who didn’t integrate. We looked into two or three options and chose Avalara.”

“That initial integration was pretty easy,” Stefanie remembers. “BigCommerce works with Avalara, so there wasn’t a whole lot to do other than log in and enter an account number and key code. We need that integration with BigCommerce for the system to charge our customers appropriately.” 

The company subsequently integrated Avalara with CDK IntelliDealer to automate sales tax calculations on transactions occurring at their physical locations. “So now our transactions come directly from CDK and BigCommerce,” adds Stefanie. 

“The integration of Avalara with both IntelliDealer and BigCommerce creates more confidence that sales tax is being calculated correctly,” says Stefanie. “Just knowing that we are being compliant has been the biggest benefit. Overall, it’s definitely mitigating our risk.”

Automating sales tax calculation and filing is also about saving Ag Solutions Group time and money, according to Stefanie. “It’s a lot easier and cleaner,” she adds. “Honestly, if we didn’t have Avalara, it would be a full-time manual job.”

The company also uses Streamlined Sales Tax, taking advantage of a program adopted by several states to make sales tax compliance easier and more affordable by offsetting the cost of tax technology from a certified service tax technology provider like Avalara.