Shopify Plus and Avalara – a Snapshot
Keeping up with regularly changing tax rates and rules can be difficult, especially if your business ships to various locations and has customers worldwide. For many ecommerce merchants, tax is a stressful and time-consuming part of running an online business, and it’s something that many business owners would rather do without. Of course, the tax process cannot be ignored, but there are ways to streamline and simplify everything.
For many years, retailers on Shopify Plus have been able to use Shopify Plus’ very own tax services. However, Avalara is a platform that goes above what Shopify Plus does, extending opportunities for those who need a tax solution that is capable of slightly more. Avalara is a cloud-based subscription service for tax and VAT, which makes it easier and even more convenient to manage taxes as a retailer. Though Shopify Plus is an undeniably impressive platform, some businesses could benefit from incorporating Avalara into their existing online presence. In this blog, we look at the ins and outs of Avalara and how it works alongside a Shopify store.
What is Avalara?
As a business, you must keep up with your tax compliance, which can be time-consuming and complex. Luckily, Avalara is there to help. Avalara is a company that provides tax compliance services for businesses large and small, and it’s available to those in more than 40 countries worldwide. You can calculate your taxes, organise filing your taxes and manage tax remittance with Avalara. It automates everything, which gives you more time to focus on other aspects of running the business. Plus, it reduces the chances of a mistake being made by human error.
Much of what Avalara does is cloud-based, meaning you can access the software from anywhere. It works on a subscription basis, and the services can be scaled up to meet your business’s growing demands. This is especially important for businesses expecting growth in the next few years, as you can implement Avalara knowing it can grow with you. Everything from VAT and communications tax can be managed by Avalara, and it can be integrated with Shopify Plus.
Though Avalara does a lot, some key services benefit ecommerce businesses on Shopify Plus. It provides accurate tax codes for more than 12,000 jurisdictions, which is much more detailed and specific than what Shopify Plus offers as standard. It can also set tax rules to meet your business’s individual needs, and you can even set tax rules for individual products. Instead of sourcing tax codes and rules and amending them for various orders, Avalara provides the information in real time. Avalara can also create accurate reports of your business taxes, which provide an in-depth overview and allow you to see everything in one place.
How Do Shopify Plus and Avalara Work Together?
Shopify Plus is a hugely popular ecommerce platform, so it makes sense that Avalara can be integrated with everything that Shopify Plus has to offer. If your store is housed on Shopify Plus, you can easily use Avalara’s services without doing too much. With simple integration, you can automatically calculate and file taxes from your Shopify Plus store.
Once you have integrated Avalara with Shopify Plus, you can manage your inventory, pricing and shipping. Regardless of the type of business you have and the industry that you work in, Avalara can simplify a lot of your business’s financial tasks. There are also checkout and payment options on Avalara, which are easy to use and work well with existing Shopify Plus websites. Shopify Plus has some tax capabilities and built-in services as a platform, but most businesses find that Avalara provides more. You can swap from one to another easily; it’s simply a case of changing your tax preferences in your ecommerce store.
The Benefits of Using Avalara with Shopify Plus
There are several benefits that come with choosing Avalara, which is why it’s such a popular choice for Shopify Plus merchants. Not only does Avalara simplify many of your tax obligations as an ecommerce business, but it ensures that the information and rates being used are always up to date. Avalara also integrates well with the Shopify Plus platform, meaning everything linked to your ecommerce store can be managed from one place. There is no need to go back and forth between systems, as both work well together. Avalara can also automatically calculate the tax for every invoice item, changing the rate depending on individual requirements.
It’s likely that using Avalara will free up a lot of time, as various parts of the tax process are automated. There is less complexity surrounding calculating and filing taxes, which can be time-consuming if an ecommerce store offers hundreds of products and services. There’s also no need to worry about recalculating figures depending on whether you are shipping to the US, Canada or Europe, as Avalara does everything for you. This frees up much of your time, allowing you to focus on other aspects of running a successful online business. Instead of worrying about making the right tax decisions, you can relax knowing that every transaction is correct.
Shopify Plus at Quickfire Digital
At Quickfire Digital, we know that setting up an ecommerce store can be complicated, even if you use Shopify Plus and Avalara. Thankfully, our talented team is always on hand to help. We pride ourselves on being ecommerce experts and have worked on many Shopify Plus stores over the years. We tailor our services to you and your business, ensuring everything is bespoke, and all boxes are ticked. By handing everything over to us, you can relax knowing that experience is on your side. To find out more, get in touch with the Quickfire Digital team.
