Zillow Group moves fast and thinks big on tax compliance

Zillow Group is a Seattle-based power player in real estate. The company serves consumers in renting, buying, selling, and financing homes, and operates one of the most popular suites of real estate mobile apps. Its experts are regularly called upon by major news outlets to comment on the housing market.

Zillow Group’s rise from Seattle startup to national juggernaut is no accident. “One of our core values is ‘move fast and think big,’” says Jason Heckel, (former) senior director of tax. “We try to operate quickly and be very efficient in everything we do.”

Despite its bold, forward-thinking ways, the company got by for many years using old-fashioned, manual processes to manage its sales tax obligations. But when Zillow Group acquired Trulia in 2015, its tax dynamic shifted dramatically, increasing the company’s potential exposure. This spurred Jason’s team to reevaluate its compliance situation.

“I try to stay in front of anything that might pose a tax risk to the company,” Jason explains. “Your exposure only grows as time goes on. Our business was expanding, and we could see that it was just going to increase. We knew we needed a better solution.”

Zillow Group’s search for a comprehensive solution was driven primarily by the desire for easy integration with its existing business systems. Jason also wanted an all-in-one solution, rather than piecing together individual tools from multiple vendors.

“I contacted several vendors,” remembers Jason. “Some had a software solution, but not a compliance team that could produce the returns. Some were vice versa. I knew we needed a software solution that was easy to use, easy to plug in, and had the back-end side of tax compliance Zillow Group needed.” In the end, Jason asserts, the choice was easy.

Avalara’s team walked Jason’s team through the solution, making sure everyone understood it fully and clearly. “The implementation was really smooth,” says Jason.