Boy Scouts of America

Results

Increased compliance

Managed exemptions

Improved processes

Cost savings

Company Overview

Founded in 1910, Scouting America, previously called the Boy Scouts, continues to educate and develop leadership qualities in youth with an emphasis on outdoor skills and character. Its staff of about 250 people design and create programs that are rolled out by councils and volunteers nationwide.

Everything the councils and their scouts need — books, badges, uniforms, and gear — are available for sale online at www.scouting.org.

Tax challenges

Scouting America used two different tax compliance systems, one tied to a point-of-sale system for external sales, and the other tied to a point-of-sale system for internal sales.

The compliance system tied to external sales was particularly problematic. “I was really unhappy with how it worked,” says Marnie Harris, who has led the organization’s tax team for nearly 40 years. I spent lots of time every month reconciling issues.”

“I’d have to pull out boxes, download reports, and collect data from disparate systems,” she says.

“In 2011, I started looking for a better system. When I found Avalara, I fell in love with the product.”

Why Avalara?

Marnie was impressed by AvaTax’s reliable calculations, and its ability to accommodate special exceptions, like GSC codes, for nonprofits. At the same time, Scouting America was in the process of migrating to a new point-of-sale system - Mi9 Retail. They were also able to utilize AvaTax for their ecommerce sales using Magento 2 and for the national camps using Big Commerce software.

“Reports that used to run for four days now take less than a day, so there’s a minimum savings of three days every month.”

— Marnie Harris
Tax Team Lead

Results

Since implementing AvaTax and CertCapture, Marnie reports that participating in audits has become much easier. “The reports I need are saved, so I just pull the periods needed,” she explains. “All of our certificates are online. Everything is in one place.”

Along with the increased ease, Marnie says that in a recent audit, Scouting America did not owe a penny.

“Month in and month out, I’m saving tons of time,” she adds. “Reports that used to run for four days now take less than a day, so there’s a minimum savings of three days every month. My deadline is the fourth day of every month, and I used to push that to the last hour. Now I’m done on the second day.”

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