Close only counts in horseshoes, not in sales tax. Close in sales tax means either you aren’t collecting enough from your customer and are remitting too little to the taxing authorities, or you are overcharging your customer and face customer service issues. Either way, close is not good enough.
Underpaying sales tax can prove to be costly. We all know our states are desperate for cash and looking to recoup their losses. States like California and Texas are increasing their audit force and seeking to capture more sales tax revenue. Plus, it is no longer a matter of if you get audited, but when you will get audited and audits are costly. A recent Aberdeen Group Study revealed the average audit penalty costs small to mid-sized businesses $34,000; that’s an unbudgeted blow that can make any CFO cringe.
Manually keeping up to date with the 100,000+ taxability rules in 11,000+ jurisdictions each year can be risky and error prone. Updating and importing sales tax rate tables based on ZIP codes is insufficient. ZIP codes were established for the postal service, and do not always line up with taxing jurisdiction boundaries, sometimes encompassing multiple jurisdictions. This is why roof-top level accuracy in sales tax calculations is important, and Avalara’s AvaTax for Microsoft Dynamics can help.
AvaTax by Avalara is an affordable, cloud based sales tax automation solution that integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Dynamics. AvaTax determines rates based on taxability and sourcing rules and uses geospatial technology to drive accurate calculations. AvaTax also helps businesses manage exemption certificates and file and remit sales tax payments. Accuracy is key when it comes to sales tax, and that’s just one reason why thousands of smart businesses rely on Avalara to make sales tax compliance less taxing.
To learn more about how Avalara’s automated sales tax management solutions can help reduce your risk and save you time, join us for a webinar on September 22nd, 2016 at 10am EST - "How To Manage The Sometimes Taxable."