Colortone Audio Visual has tax compliance figured out

Colortone Audio Visual is based in Port Chester, New York, and has been installing high-end equipment for over 70 years. They provide audiovisual as a service to businesses, schools, government agencies, and more. As experts, they work with their clients to design, implement, and maintain flexible audiovisual environments using the latest technology.

Colortone does business primarily in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey. But even within that limited geography, sales tax requirements are complex and Colortone’s clients often have multiple business locations across the tri-state area.

“In the state of New York alone, there are approximately 30 locations and the landscape seems to shift every other day,” explains Olivier Peardon, president and CEO. “I can’t keep up with it. There aren’t enough hours in the day.” 

From the moment he acquired Colortone, Olivier knew he wanted to focus the company’s expertise on audiovisual systems, not on sales tax compliance. “If you’re not an expert, outsource it,” he says. “We don’t have an accounting department and I’m no expert on sales tax. I would much rather hand that over to someone at Avalara, who will do it much better than I could.” 

Olivier had used Avalara AvaTax and Oracle NetSuite together at two previous companies and didn’t hesitate to bring the same integrated solution to Colortone. “I didn’t see any reason to switch,” he says. “They work well together, and you don’t change the team if it’s winning.”

Olivier expected the implementation and integration at Colortone to be easy, and it was. “It took all of five minutes to be honest, probably because I was already so familiar with it,” he laughs.