Tax Cloud Free Service

[ultra1bob]

I have been using Avalara (Ava Tax) with Shopsite, and they are expensive. Here is an alternative that is free to merchants.

In researching the Marketplace Fairness Act, I find a link to Tax Cloud https://taxcloud.net/tour/
It seems that a n umber of shopping carts already integrate the program https://taxcloud.net/partners/

I hope ShopSite will investigate this.

Thanks for the consideration.

PS: Their home pages:
http://www.marketplacefairness.org/
https://taxcloud.net/

[bucolic]

Hi,
As the complexity of taxes increase and with the collecting of sales taxes across many states becoming immanent in the near future, ShopSite and it's customers would benefit immensely from alternate choices in Sales Tax management and collection. Though Avalara appears to be a excellent software their pricing is confusing and not standardized and may be too high for exactly the type of merchant Shopsite advertises to.

I would highly recommend perhaps offering an alternative and the tax cloud.net software mentioned by ultra1bob appears to be a great solution. Though it would definently step on Avalara's toes any funds you receive from them would be dwarfed by the fact that you could advertise the tax collecting feature of Shopsite like this:

Shopsite includes FREE nationwide tax collection and management from tax cloud.net. Simplify your sales tax collection with the following features from Tax Cloud and Shopsite:

Features

Calculates sales tax in real time for every state, county, city, and special jurisdiction in the US
Automatically files sales tax returns*
Prepares monthly state-by-state reports on sales tax collected
Monitors changes to tax rates and tax holidays and updates data accordingly
Manages sales tax exemption certificates
Registers sellers*
Benefits

TaxCloud is the only free certified sales tax management service.
TaxCloud has been tested and certified by state revenue departments and an independent review board.
Because TaxCloud is certified by the states, it has agreements and privileges with these states that help protect you. For instance, these states indemnify all TaxCloud users from liability in the event of an error.
TaxCloud is already integrated with many shopping carts, so activating TaxCloud can be as easy as checking a box.
Pricing
TaxCloud is completely free for retailers. When TaxCloud transfers sales tax funds from a remote retailer to a state, the state pays us a very small commission.

Certification and Patents

TaxCloud has been tested and verified by state departments of revenue. Each of these states has made TaxCloud a Certified Service Provider and granted certain benefits to TaxCloud user.
The Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Governing Board, a nonpartisan group of tax experts who help guide the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, has tested TaxCloud and designated it a Certified Service Provider, one of only six in the nation.
Certain features of TaxCloud are protected by issued U.S. Patent No. 7,730,089, with additional U.S. and Foreign patent applications pending.
Automated Sales Tax Return States*
TaxCloud can automatically register your business and file your sales tax returns for you (at no cost) in the following states:

ArkansasGeorgiaIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyMichiganMinnesotaNebraskaNevadaNew JerseyNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaRhode IslandSouth DakotaTennesseeUtahVermontWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyoming

Note: We are working with the remaining 21 sales tax states to achieve certification so we can expand this list.

****************************
An ecommerce Shopping Cart without a simple and affordable sales tax solution in the very near future is like a ship without a rudder....useless. I honestly cannot see any reason for Shopsite to not look into this further other than being locked into a no compete clause with Avalara. Tax Cloud seems very capable and eager to integrate with carts. I contacted them and they said they had reached out to Shopsite but you showed no interest in them. Avalara would cost us $10,000 for the first year WITHOUT any state filing's included. Tax Cloud could mean a huge savings for Shopsite customers and could be a deciding choice on if a customer chooses Shopsite or a competing cart.

I urge Shopsite to consider this or at least offer an explanation of why you think Tax Cloud would not be a good partner for Shopsite. We have been using Shopsite for many years now with Lexiconn and this is something we desperately need. We may need to end up using Avalara but it will definently be a grudge purchase and gets us looking for other solutions that provide a clearer pricing structure on their sales tax collection fees.

Thank you for considering.

[ultra1bob]

Well said.

I am sorry to hear that ShopSite spurred their earlier request. The arguments are WINWIN for ShopSite to use the Tax Cloud Free service. Please give them serious thought since it will greatly benefit your customers.

[ultra1bob]

I don't want this to slip under the radar. maybe many of you don't have any problems dealing with sales tax,
but for places like New York and California, sales tax gets messy indeed.

[ultra1bob]

Correction and addition: The TaxCloud Service is free if you live in certain states, and minimal for other states like California.

I also note another service that is inexpensive named TaxJar. They also have APIs that can pull the sales tax data into ShopSite. I hope you'll consider them or TaxCloud seriously.
In the meanwhile, Avalara - which you do integrate with - has become quite expensive and we have to leave them, even if it means using the ShopSite zip code method, inaccurate as it is,

[ShopSite David]

Support for TaxJar has been added to ShopSite version 14.

http://help.shopsite.com/help/14.0/en-US/new-features.html

[ultra1bob]

TaxJar isn't a free cloud service, but they are half the price of Avalara.

Effective August, Avalara wants me to pay about $3 per sales tax requested.
Thanks so much for the good news about TaxJar!

[rickchester]

Thanks for sharing your educational article with us! Of course, Avalara appears to be a excellent software but it seems that their pricing is confusing.