Avalara Tax

Avalara provides our mutual clients with sales tax automation software, helping businesses manage the complex rules and regulations related to transactional and indirect taxes. Visit www.avalara.com for more information.

Admin Setup

The fields below are what will integrate your Avalara account with your site. Once integrated, taxes will automatically be pulled into your site.

To access this page, go to Config > Plug-Ins > Tax Integrations > Avalara Tax in the admin

  1. Enable Avalara: This option enables Avalara.
  2. Account: This is the account number provided to you by Avalara.
  3. License Key: Here is where you would enter your license key (provided to you by Avalara).
  4. Company Code (leave Blank if you have one default company): Your company code.
  5. Commit On Order Placed: Calculate taxes when the order is placed rather than when it is paid for.
  6. Sandbox Mode: This option allows you to connect to a different server for testing purposes.
  7. Debug Logs: This option adds many extra diagnostics in our logs for troubleshooting purposes.
  8. Address Verification: Avalara will check addresses against the USPS database.
  9. Use UPC for ItemCode: Uses the UPC in place of the SKU.
  10. Enable Country Specific Address Verification: Avalara will check addresses for the specified countries.
Admin Setup

Testing the License Key

Once you have entered your credentials, you will click on the Test License Key option. What this does is it sends a basic "ping" to Avalara and they verify that the account is set up correctly.

1.) If everything checks out with Avalara, you will receive notification that the key is valid.

2.) If it doesn't work, or there is an issue with the key, you will receive an error message.

NOTE: You do not need to save your entries prior to testing your key.

Product Level Tax Info

Typically if a product is marked as being tax exempt we do not send the item for tax calculation. If a product has a Tax Class, we send the item and put in the Tax Class Name; Avalara will exempt the item from being taxed.

Product Level Tax Info

User Level Tax Info

When it comes to marking users as being tax exempt, what you will want to do is "Edit" the user and go into the Account Management section. You will then click on the check box beside Tax Exempt.  

The Avalara Certificate ID is a tax exempt ID that you may enter for your tax exempt users and that will show up in the Avalara UI.

User Level Tax Info

Tax Exempt Orders

When an order is set to be Tax-Exempt, the order will not get passed to Avalara.

Canceled Orders

By setting the Order Status of an order to canceled, it voids/cancels the order in Avalara.

Troubleshooting

  1. Process for Re-sending Missing Transactions:
    • Use the "Save and Recalculate Taxes" button at the bottom of the edit order page to push missing transactions into Avalara after correcting the tax certificate or order details.
  2. Tax Certificate Management:
    • Ensure all tax-exempt users have valid tax certificates uploaded in Logicblock.
    • Certificates must be configured properly:
      • State-Specific Certificates: Limit the certificate to a specific state where it’s valid.
      • Streamline State Certificates: Applicable to a group of states using shared certificates; do not select both streamline and state-specific options as state-specific is more restrictive.
      • Expiration Date: If left blank, certificates will not expire.
  3. Understanding Transaction Flow:  
    • Confirm when taxes will be calculated by looking at the "Commit On" field in the Avalara settings page.
    • Saving and recalculating tax can also trigger transactions to flow into Avalara.
  4. Handling Canceled Transactions:
    • Canceling an order in Logicblock will notify Avalara, but the tax total in Logicblock does not update automatically.
  5. Resolving Tax Issues:  
    • For tax-exempt orders missing in Avalara, ensure:
      • Tax-exempt box is checked in Logicblock.
      • Relevant customer information and certificates are properly entered into Avalara.
    • After updating certificates, hit "Save and Recalculate Taxes" to push corrections to Avalara.
  6. Addressing Specific Transaction Issues:  
    • Orders marked as tax-exempt without valid certificates will not flow to Avalara.
    • Example issues include:
      • Orders not committed to Avalara due to shipping state mismatches or missing certificates.
      • Manually marked tax exemptions overriding calculated taxes and preventing transactions from being sent.
    • Resolve these by fixing the customer tax details and recalculating taxes.
  7. Streamline State Box:
    • Only use the Streamline State option for applicable states and customers. Selecting both streamline and state-specific options can cause unnecessary restrictions.