Micro Matic files about 350 returns every month in 31 states. Nick says his chief financial officer used to spend four to five days every month putting together returns for each state. By using Avalara Returns, his chief financial officer accomplished this same task in 15–20 minutes.
The software also reduced the amount of time required to add a new state. “Before, my CFO might spend days adding a state,” Nick recalls, “getting our system to spit out the data we’d need to complete a form, submitting it, then cutting a check when necessary. All that time has been erased by using Avalara. Now it takes minutes to add a state.”
Texas audited Micro Matic again in early 2021, this time for a three-year period following the implementation of Avalara AvaTax, Avalara Returns, and Avalara CertCapture. This audit required much less work. “We were able to respond to this audit about 90% faster because we implemented Avalara,” Nick says. “With CertCapture, I can easily download a file of exemption certificates based on any search parameters I want. If I want all the certificates for Texas, for example, it takes a few minutes.”
Nick learned he could be confident in Micro Matic’s compliance. “We owed Texas zero dollars this time,” he says. “That’s a great measure of how well Avalara is helping us protect the company. The human-error factor is almost completely eliminated.”
Nick also uses the campaign function in CertCapture to manage exemption certificates that will expire soon. “For example, I’m based in Florida, where certificates expire yearly,” he says. “We start sending out messages in October or November, and it’s nice to get those handled early in the year. Especially compared to crediting a ton of invoices later when the customer realizes that they have been charged sales tax. It has saved us time that way as well. Plus, our customers feel like we’re proactively helping them avoid the irritation. We also utilize this function monthly to actively target future expiring certificates.”
