Ignite Spot Accounting forms deeper connection with clients
Results
Customer satisfaction
Employee satisfaction
Improved processes
Increased compliance
Summary
Results
- Customer satisfaction
- Employee satisfaction
- Improved processes
- Increased compliance
Tax challenges
- Compliance risk
- Company growth
- Process inefficiency
Products used
Avalara Managed Returns for Accountants
Give your clients the benefits of a fully managed returns service while you offload the time and manual effort of providing it.
Benefits
- Improved expertise in managing client sales tax compliance
- Deeper engagement with clients while scaling the business
- Increased accuracy when determining client obligations
Industry type
Accounting
Create efficiencies for your team while expanding sales tax services for your clients.
Company overview
Customer
Ignite Spot Accounting
Industry
Accounting
Tax type
Sales and use
Ignite Spot Accounting offers a range of business management services, such as bookkeeping, payroll, strategic planning, tax compliance, federal and state income reporting, full sales tax management, and more.
Dan Luthi, chief operating officer, helped build the firm from a handful of accountants to a staff of more than 30 serving hundreds of clients across the country.
Tax challenges
In the increasingly complex landscape that followed the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., Dan looked for an automation solution to relieve the firm of some of the risk and the labor-intensive tasks involved in compliance.
To start, Ignite Spot looked at how their clients were currently processing taxes, and how a new workflow would be beneficial to the firm and clients. “Minimizing the risks involved with sales tax requires a proactive approach to ensure that the business is addressing challenges strategically,” Dan says.
They discovered clients were underreporting and stressed about the complex processes. Dan knew they needed a system that would not only increase compliance, but also help clients better understand their liabilities and requirements.
“One of the biggest challenges clients have is determining which questions they need answers to,” says Dan. “The more they understand, the better questions they ask — which ultimately helps us make them more successful.”
Why Avalara?
The search for an automated system led Ignite Spot to Avalara Managed Returns for Accountants. The cloud-based solution reduces the risk out of managing client sales and use tax returns by automating the process.
The system imports sales tax data from virtually all accounting and ecommerce platforms, reducing countless hours of manual labor — and the risk of human error that goes with it.
Tax challenges
- Compliance risk
- Company growth
- Process inefficiency
Products used
Avalara Managed Returns for Accountants
Give your clients the benefits of a fully managed returns service while you offload the time and manual effort of providing it.
Benefits
- Improved expertise in managing client sales tax compliance
- Deeper engagement with clients while scaling the business
- Increased accuracy when determining client obligations
Industry type
Accounting
Create efficiencies for your team while expanding sales tax services for your clients.
“Once we’ve automated sales tax filings for clients and are able to provide them with strategic direction for their sales channels, our relationships with them become more exciting and dynamic”
—Dan Luthi
Chief Operating Officer
“Once we’ve automated sales tax filings for clients and are able to provide them with strategic direction for their sales channels, our relationships with them become more exciting and dynamic”
—Dan Luthi
Chief Operating Officer
Results
Dan says clients now feel more in control and have greater peace of mind in their sales tax compliance. Plus, they’re more confident with the workflow, including statements and reviews.
As a result of this confidence, Dan notes that their clients more actively discuss what new things are happening or are on the horizon, which creates new advisory opportunities. “Our clients see we are deeply connected, not just moving numbers,” he says. “They know that we see the business the way they see it and are taking care of them as a whole.”
The automated tools also make the work at Ignite Spot more efficient, allowing a single staff person to manage the sales tax processes for dozens of clients, as well as looking back at prior filings the client did manually. In one example, Dan’s team found that California owed their client $25,000.
Avalara Managed Returns for Accountants has helped Ignite Spot grow its client base, while also expanding the services they can provide. The firm now offers proactive sales tax services to more than 60 of their clients. Dan notes that his firm’s service has become “sticky” by enhancing the value they deliver.
“Once we’ve automated sales tax filings for clients and are able to provide them with strategic direction for their sales channels, our relationships with them become more exciting and dynamic,” says Dan. “Clients become eager to have more conversations and explore new ways that we can help them grow to the next level.”