British company grows in the U.S. with confidence in tax compliance

Limbs & Things designs and manufactures anatomically accurate models that enhance clinical training for everything from diagnostic procedures to surgical techniques. Founded in 1990 by a British medical illustrator, the company’s U.S. headquarters is based in Savannah, Georgia.

Limbs & Things has a high-touch sales model, with customers who expect demonstrations, trials, and on-site support. “When you hire salespeople in other states, you achieve nexus in those states through the expanded sales pipeline,” says Colleen Bremer, who heads customer service and logistics in the U.S. “We knew that if we were going to expand into more states, we would need to have a compliance solution that would be adaptable and scalable.”

“Before the Supreme Court’s South Dakota v. Wayfair decision, we really were only collecting and remitting in Georgia,” Colleen continues. “We used to calculate sales tax for every single transaction as it happened in Georgia, and obviously we couldn’t do that for multiple states.”

Most of the company’s customers are medical schools and nonprofit hospitals, and they are tax exempt. The problem of managing exemption certificates grew in step with the company’s nexus footprint. “We had physical records that we’d go and check for expiration dates — it was very rudimentary, and we really could not continue to apply this practice as we grew,” says Colleen. “Once you go into Texas and California, you’re talking hundreds of customers.”

“An outside consultant recommended that we get involved with Avalara,” Colleen remembers. “Our accounting firm also recommended Avalara, having worked with other Avalara customers. Every resource that we relied on was pointing in the same direction.”