When it comes to managing sales tax, there are a variety of software solutions available to choose from. Three of the most popular options are Avalara, Taxjar, and TaxCloud. While each of these tools provides similar functionality, they differ in their features, pricing, and ease of use.
In this article, we’ll compare Avalara, Taxjar, and TaxCloud side by side, providing an in-depth analysis of each solution’s strengths and weaknesses. By the end of this article, you’ll have a better understanding of which sales tax software is the best fit for your business needs. Whether you’re a small business owner, an accountant, or an eCommerce seller, this comparison will help you make an informed decision about which tool to use to manage your sales tax obligations.
For those of you who prefer a more visual experience, here is a video review from Marcus Stonelius’ YouTube channel. Do check out our article below, however, because it has a comprehensive overview of TaxJar.
What does TaxJar do? Avalara Vs Taxjar Vs Taxcloud
Since its inception in 2013, TaxJar serves business enterprises and online sellers, intending to ease the already complicated process of sales tax compliance. The United States has over 11,000 tax jurisdictions, each of which has different rules depending on the district or state. Businesses had to adhere to sales tax regulations back then. Rates were determined by where transactions were made, inventory stock locations, and the number of employees they employed.
This process may appear simple on a surface level, but in reality, it’s quite complicated. Businesses were tasked with handling varying degrees of tax burdens, and these may vary based on varying factors. The US Supreme Court in 2018 ruled that all businesses have to pay sales tax regardless of where the product was purchased. Business owners were forced to learn and remember tax codes after tax codes, adding more complexity.
It’s a lot to take, right? Well, TaxJar takes most of the complications in sales tax compliances and turns them into simple, less daunting tasks. That way, you can prioritize what matters the most with your business, without the added hassles of hefty tax computation.
What are its Pros and Cons
We’ve compiled a list of pros & cons to help you make a decision about whether TaxJar is right for you. Avalara Vs Taxjar Vs Taxcloud
Pros
- TaxJar is designed with streamlined, simple, and quick automated features to keep you in compliance with more than 11,000 tax jurisdictions in the U.S.
- With the AutoFile tool, you won’t need to worry much longer about due dates and late submissions of tax returns, etc., as TaxJar takes care of the rest for you – more on that later!
- TaxJar allows you to save time and allow you to concentrate on your business.
- It’s easy to use – you don’t need to be a full-on tax or accounting expert to understand how it works!
- Aside from its less tedious nature, TaxJar also provides businesses with amazing customer support and plenty of helpful resources to guide you through when it comes to sales tax compliance!
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Cons
- Although TaxJar is known to be generally convenient, it may be a bit complicated on the first try, especially for the uninitiated merchant.
- Sometimes, the interface can be frustrating. Some users report having to open more than five tabs just to file a tax return for one state.
- The pricing of lower-tier plans can vary based on factors such as additional AutoFile fees if you’ve used up the free credits allowed in a plan – more on that as we’ll discuss the pricing shortly.
What is the cost of TaxJar?
TaxJar offers three pricing options: Premium, Professional, or Starter. Let’s dive deep into these subscription tiers.
Starter
Starting at $19/month, the Starter plan provides essential sales tax services for small businesses. It usually handles up to 200 total purchase and returns orders per month, but the price may change if the volume goes past the number. This tier provides free tools that will help you greatly with sales tax compliance such as sales tax reporting, AI driven product taxability recommendations and basic CSV imports.
Customers are also given data integrations with up to three e-commerce services and four free AutoFiles per year included within the tier. Starter also allows for support for multiple business accounts and e-mail support.
Professional
If your business has more experience and expanded reach, more challenges may likely come ahead. That’s where the Professional plan comes in. Starting at $99/month, you get all the features from the Starter tier, plus some upgrades like full API access, advanced CSV imports, and economic nexus features.
Professional also includes increased data import and API integration limits from 3 to 10, 10,000 advanced API calls per minute, up to 10 team management users, and 12 free AutoFiles per year. If you use TaxJar Professional and manage to rake up to over 1,000 orders, you’re entitled to phone customer support on top of e-mail support. If you receive more than 200 orders, the price for this tier could change.
Premium
TaxJar Premium includes all the features that you need to ensure sales tax compliance. Premium includes all the Starter and Professional features for enterprises and experienced businesses, as well as unlimited API and data integrations to many e-commerce services and unlimited AutoFiles. There is also unlimited team usage.
You also get 25,000 API calls per hour, and white-glove support through a dedicated account management group. Unlike the two previous plans, Premium does not have a definite price range. It is fully customizable to meet your business’s needs and can be negotiated through TaxJar’s customer support.
Try it Free of Charge
TaxJar is worth a free 30-day trial. You can get full access to all the Professional plan features and tools, including API access and integrations, data imports, and team and user management. You don’t need to pay upfront to access this trial! Avalara Vs Taxjar Vs Taxcloud
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The Features of TaxJar
Automatic Sales Tax Calculations
TaxJar comes with fully optimized functions and services built to ease the tax burden. Its calculation process is one of them. Calculating sales tax with TaxJar will give you instantly accurate results! It will instantly calculate the sales tax for you, and it will always match the correct rates with the customer’s address.
With TaxJar, you won’t need to take long to calculate taxes one-by-one nor go through the added hassle of keeping up with the changes. The platform’s team tracks all changes related to sales tax rates and laws, and integrates them into the platform regularly.
TaxJar Report
TaxJar doesn’t just provide you with top-notch calculations, but also automated reports on all the sales tax data collected by the platform from linked accounts, CSV imports, and even individual state sales tax reports. All this is automatically compiled into reports for different states, complete with breakdowns from their tax jurisdictions.
Organizing reports is simpler and more accessible with TaxJar – everything is centralized, making way for quick collaborations with your finance team. The dashboard allows you to see detailed analysis based upon your activity. TaxJar automatically collects data so you’re always up to date.
AutoFile
AutoFile is what makes the platform stand out from the rest. It is an electronic sales tax filing platform that collects user information from ecommerce providers and then files it into an automated sales tax report and payment to be submitted in any state.
What’s great about AutoFile is that you’re guaranteed to never miss a deadline! There’s no need to even go through the stress of paperwork or extra hands, as it’s designed to be easily manageable. It saves time and money in the long-term.
However, while it looks astoundingly impressive, it’s worth mentioning that it can be quite like a limited luxury to lower-tier subscribers. Starter plan users, for example, get only up to 4 free AutoFile enrollments per year.
Sales Tax Nexus Insights
If you use TaxJar in selling your items online, it’s important to know a thing about economic nexus. This topic has been covered briefly before. However, to sum up, rather than paying sales tax in your home state, customers will be required to pay sales tax in the states where they purchased your products. Avalara Vs Taxjar Vs Taxcloud
Determining the nexus can be confusing. Thankfully, you don’t have to jump through hoops, because TaxJar provides accessible insights to keep you on track. The economic nexus dashboard not only allows you to check the activity between states, but also shows you if you have reached the required threshold for each state. This is especially useful if you have a growing business that wants to expand into more states.
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Integrations with Online Business Services
TaxJar can seamlessly integrate with many online business services. You can connect your account to internet marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy, and eBay to determine sales tax. You can also integrate with e-commerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, and similar services where you may sell your listings, payment gateways like Stripe and PayPal, and operation management systems such as Oracle NetSuite, Intuit QuickBooks, and more.
Square, WooCommerce, Walmart, Salesforce and Magento are just a few of the other services that can be integrated with TaxJar. If you can’t find your preferred online business solution in the list, you can always build your own with the TaxJar API, or by importing all data from third-party services through CSV.
Is TaxJar the right fit for your business?
TaxJar has been a reliable and high-tech solution that addresses most of the issues business owners have in managing sales tax. It is a popular choice because it is easy to use, it saves time, and it can help your business in many other ways.
While it’s highly acclaimed – and rightly so – we can’t fully say it’s perfect in all aspects. Some users reported having problems with customization, while others found issues with TaxJar’s integration with some apps like Shopify. There were also issues with interface misunderstandings and automated calculation. These issues could be addressed.
Issues aside, if we answered the question “Is TaxJar the perfect fit for your business?” it would be a resounding YES! We highly recommend you try this out as part of your business strategy!
Frequently Asked Questions Avalara Vs Taxjar Vs Taxcloud
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Which types of businesses use TaxJar?
Small and medium-sized businesses, large-scale companies, freelancers, and individuals can all use TaxJar. TaxJar served more than 20,000 businesses as of 2022. This includes some well-known companies like Coca-Cola and Land Rover, Microsoft, Shein and many other.
Is TaxJar available in countries other than the U.S.
As of recently most of TaxJar’s features are limited to the United States. They have not yet been extended to other countries outside US jurisdiction. Only the TaxJar API tool is supported in a few non-US territories. TaxJar API is available to businesses in Canada, Australia and the UK.
Can I cancel my TaxJar account? If so, how?
If you are unhappy with TaxJar’s service, you can cancel it by going to your account settings. You can cancel your subscription by clicking the red link once you have accessed Plans & Billings.
TaxJar’s reporting tools, as well as AutoFile, will be removed from your account. If you wish to regain access to those services, you can reactivate your account and subscription anytime.
What other alternatives are there to TaxJar
TaxJar isn’t the only solution for sales tax compliance. There are many other options, some with better features, compatibility with more countries, and some with lower price ranges. The following are alternatives to TaxJar.
- Avalara
- Sovos Taxify
- Vertex
- TaxCloud