Equipment Corporation of America saves time, money with Avalara

Equipment Corporation of America (ECA) provides heavy equipment for drilling, pile driving, hoisting, rigging, slurry cutting, soil mixing, and soil stabilization projects. The equipment can be bought or rented, and the company provides parts and service along with consulting support. ECA’s seemingly never-ending list of projects include foundation equipment for the World Trade Center, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Hoover Dam, Washington Metro, Big Dig, Toronto subway, and nearly every stadium east of the Mississippi. Founded in 1918, the company now has nine branches from Toronto to Jacksonville, Florida, and from Washington, D.C. to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

“When I started here 15 years ago, we only had 3 branches and we collected sales tax in 7 to 10 states,” says Becky Wade, an accountant at ECA. “It was already confusing. There were only 4 of us in the department and we were constantly slammed. None of the other departments could do their own billing because we kept a huge binder full of codes — for labor, freight, part sales, and equipment sales — that had to be changed or updated every day, it seemed like.” “The stress level of sales tax was huge,” Becky continues. “You’re always worried about whether you’re doing it right, and time is a factor. If you didn’t do it right and you have to amend a return, you can be on the phone with the state for … well, it was painful.” To add to the frustration, Becky says that ECA’s sales quotes were never accurate. “We had a disclaimer at the bottom that indicated ‘does not include sales tax.’” Worst of all, when the state of New York audited the company, Becky reports, both the process and the outcome were excruciating. “We all had to pitch in,” Becky recalls, “digging out invoices from boxes and chasing down numbers, and the company ended up paying a significant amount.”

Shortly after the New York audit, Becky and vice president of finance, Jamie Govey, attended a user-group meeting featuring Equipment Business Software (eBS) Next, which included an Avalara representative on the agenda. After the meeting, they met with the Avalara representative. “We wanted to learn more, and then we started to realize how much easier life would be,” says Becky, “and how much easier that audit would have been.”