MCJ Supply Chain Solutions chooses AvaTax from the start

Results

Increased compliance

Enabled growth

Integrated systems

Company overview

MCJ Supply Chain Solutions was formed in January 2019 and is based in Houston, Texas. The company's primary focus is the distribution of automated guided vehicles used primarily in warehouses. They also offer electric forklift truck rentals.

MCJ is in the early stages of growth; it's currently registered to collect and remit sales tax in about 10 states and expects to add more, quickly.

Tax challenges

MCJ Supply Chain Solutions hasn't run into any tax challenges yet, and Finance Controller Necia Rebello aims to keep it that way. Before joining MCJ, Necia worked for Mitsubishi Caterpillar for 10 years with two different sales tax compliance systems — one that was integrated with the ERP system and one that wasn't.

“When your ERP system is not tied to an automated tax system, it becomes very challenging to manage ever-changing tax rates,” Necia explains. “All 50 states are continuously changing laws and thresholds. Just keeping up with that was very challenging. At MCJ Supply Chain Solutions, I wanted to avoid tax challenges, not respond to them after they happened.”

As a startup, MCJ was running on limited resources. “We could not really afford to have one person trying to figure out the latest tax rate to put on every customer invoice,” says Necia. “From my experience at Mitsubishi Caterpillar, I knew that we needed an automated tax system that would tie into our ERP, and we decided that from the beginning.”

Why Avalara?

During her time at Mitsubishi Caterpillar, Necia worked with a subsidiary that used both Avalara (integrated with their ERP system) and another company's application that loaded a tax rate table into an ERP system.

“Given all the challenges I saw with the latter approach,” she says, “I knew Avalara was our best bet,” she recalls. “I investigated one other company, and they were cheaper than Avalara, but there were a lot of shortcomings with their solution. I found AvaTax's reporting to be comprehensive and its response time to the ERP system to be quick. Our external tax consultant is also very familiar with Avalara, which just reinforced the decision.”

Customer

MCJ Supply Chain Solutions

Industry

Distribution

Tax Type

Sales and use

Integration

SAP Business One

Tax Challenges

Compliance risk
Tax complexity
Process inefficiency

Products Used

Avalara AvaTax
Dynamically delivers sales and use tax calculations, based on the latest rules and rates in our tax engine, to a shopping cart or invoicing system at the time of purchase.

Benefits

Gained peace of mind through improved compliance
Created more accurate, efficient processes through ERP integration
Established customer support practices and internal processes that scale with the business

Industry Type

Distribution
Meet customer needs and improve compliance when you're collecting sales tax or exemption certificates.

"I wanted to avoid tax challenges, not respond to them after they happened. From my experience, I knew Avalara was our best bet."

— Necia Rebello
Finance Controller

Integration

Necia reports that implementing AvaTax and its integration with SAP Business One went smoothly.

“We had several conversations with SAP and Avalara,” Necia explains. “They really helped me understand how the two systems connect with each other. And Avalara was able to provide a matrix showing which of our products are taxable in which jurisdictions, which was very helpful for us.”

Results

Necia's primary goal was to improve compliance. “I really don't worry about incorrect rates,” she says. “I have peace of mind with the system.”

She also cites Avalara's customer support team as a great source of knowledge. “Whenever we have questions, we get fast and thorough responses.”

Perhaps more importantly for a young company, “Avalara is ready to scale with us as we grow,” Necia adds.

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