Monday, April 24, 2006
Selling Online? The challenge of sales tax
I came across a month-old press release from a company called Avalara today. They claim to be giving away sales tax rate information. Individuals can do up to 50 look-ups per month.
This seems like a solid service for small companies that sell mostly in their home geographies, but who occasionally sell to customers in other areas (and that want to stay on the right side of the law, tax-wise). Avalara's hope, obviously, is that sellers will use the service more frequently than 50 times per month and thus be forced upgrade to a paid service. Fair enough. The free service allows for two-plus sales a day, which could fit many companies' needs.
The company points out that sales tax rate information is widely and freely available from state and local governments, but isn't well organized. Organization and searchability (by maps and other criteria) is what Avalara adds. I like this quote in the press release (though I couldn't not fix its punctuation and capitalization): "When it comes to sales tax compliance, rates are a commodity. Cost-effective service, not the cost of rates, is the important issue."
I'd love to hear from people who are trying this service.
This seems like a solid service for small companies that sell mostly in their home geographies, but who occasionally sell to customers in other areas (and that want to stay on the right side of the law, tax-wise). Avalara's hope, obviously, is that sellers will use the service more frequently than 50 times per month and thus be forced upgrade to a paid service. Fair enough. The free service allows for two-plus sales a day, which could fit many companies' needs.
The company points out that sales tax rate information is widely and freely available from state and local governments, but isn't well organized. Organization and searchability (by maps and other criteria) is what Avalara adds. I like this quote in the press release (though I couldn't not fix its punctuation and capitalization): "When it comes to sales tax compliance, rates are a commodity. Cost-effective service, not the cost of rates, is the important issue."
I'd love to hear from people who are trying this service.
