Personal experience from using Avalara for six months:
- Returns were processed via a queued batch job. It could take between 1-3 hours after submitting to process a return. Avalara had a countdown clock on their website showing the estimated hours/minutes remaining until the return would get processed. I have seen the countdown clock show 1-3 hours plenty of times (quite frustrating). This was the case 6-12 months ago. Perhaps Avalara has fixed this issue since.
- The 1-3 hour wait made filing quite difficult when the original return had an error. Submitting a second return to cancel the first required another 1-3 hour wait. Then submitting the final (third) return required another 1-3 hour wait. Filing one state easily turned into a whole day ordeal if there was an error.
- Support from level one/two staff for difficult tax questions did not help. Level one/two staff gave a vocal repeat from the online help guide. Level three support was acceptable however.
- Tax returns filed with Avalara are done via a rather cumbersome spreadsheet. Don't expect someone to hold your hand. Rather, it requires many trial and error submissions to figure out how to make the Avalara engine work.
Note: A basic "shipping product" business like Amazon/Walmart would do fairly well with Avalara. However, a company that does complex construction projects will have challenges. We ended up reverting to filing taxes manually.
- The 1-3 hour wait made filing quite difficult when the original return had an error. Submitting a second return to cancel the first required another 1-3 hour wait. Then submitting the final (third) return required another 1-3 hour wait. Filing one state easily turned into a whole day ordeal if there was an error.
- Support from level one/two staff for difficult tax questions did not help. Level one/two staff gave a vocal repeat from the online help guide. Level three support was acceptable however.
- Tax returns filed with Avalara are done via a rather cumbersome spreadsheet. Don't expect someone to hold your hand. Rather, it requires many trial and error submissions to figure out how to make the Avalara engine work.
Note: A basic "shipping product" business like Amazon/Walmart would do fairly well with Avalara. However, a company that does complex construction projects will have challenges. We ended up reverting to filing taxes manually.