Avalara is one of the most popular sales tax software solutions, but they’re not the best.
Pricing
Avalara costs more than Sales Tax DataLINK. You might not be able to tell right away that this is the case, because Avalara comes with a lot of hidden costs. Every calculation has a separate fee, for example, even when it’s multiple calculations of the same invoice. Changing your ERP involves a fee. There are activation fees. And even though the Avalara product you use with QuickBooks is the same as the one used with pricier accounting software, the price is different. You may end up paying a lot more than you expect.
Sales Tax DataLINK has honest, transparent pricing. We offer flat pricing, and you know what it will cost you. It doesn’t change from month to month. We don’t slip in mysterious extra fees.
Customer Service
Tech support can be very frustrating. We’ve probably all had the experience of trying to get a helpful answer from offshore call centers. That’s what Avalara offers you. You have to put in a ticket for your issue. As their sale people are quick to explain, they’re not your CPA, so they can’t give you simple answers. If the answer to your question isn’t on their script, they can’t give you an answer at all. They’ll send you to a forum discussion.
You may wait a long time for a response, and when it arrives, it will probably be a scanned report. Often the screenshots of the software are out of date. You are expected to use this limited information to solve your own problem.
Sales Tax DataLINK has a team of sales tax experts. We offer concierge service — our experts will talk with you and give you the correct answer to your question.
We’ll even take on the entire sales tax compliance process for you.
Set Up
Sometimes when we talk with people who use Avalara sales tax software, they say that it took weeks or even months to get the software installed and configured for use. Once it was in place, they were fine with it, as long as they didn’t need any customer service (but read on for a caveat on that point). But getting set up was, in a phrase we often hear, “a nightmare.”
With Sales Tax DataLINK, most customers are testing the solution within an hour.
That’s a big difference.
Tax Filing
Are your sales tax filings accurate? With Avalara, you don’t know. You can’t even correct your filing without deleting your work and starting over (with an additional fee).
Sales Tax DataLINK’s patented process validates calculations before you file.
Other Services
You know how Avalara reminds you that they’re not CPAs? Well, we are.
We work not only with retailers but also with manufacturers and contractors. We know the ins and outs of sales tax — and other taxes, too. We can take care of most of your needs.
Call 479-715-4275 to learn more..
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