In this Topic: Show
Avalara AvaTax OnDemand is a powerful, online sales tax compliance solution whose transaction-based service model and seamless integration into business applications provides rapid access to all jurisdiction assignments and real-time sales tax calculations.
As transactions take place (either via Stone Edge Manual Orders, Process Orders, POS interface (V7.5 only), or possibly at the checkout form of a shopping cart), AvaTax quickly applies sales tax calculations in the background via a secure, encrypted Internet connection. AvaTax OnDemand calculates sales tax in less than a second, without disrupting the existing workflow. Contact the vendor for additional setup and cost information. Visit their Web site, AvaTax OnDemand.
Stone Edge calls Avalara tax services at the following locations:
Import Orders, Manual Orders, Point of Sale, Multi-Order Processor, Process Orders, and Fill Backorders
The integration between Stone Edge and Avalara is completely rewritten in version 7.5 and 8.0.1 to expand the use cases and exploit the capabilities of the external tax application:
Surcharges are no longer included as part of an order-level discount when using an external tax service.
Surcharges are now always listed as line-item detail on the tax document, unlike Discounts and Coupons which are not listed as line-item details.
It is possible to declare a default tax class for surcharges (DefaultSurchargeTaxClass).
Order level ship-from-address is determined by the values entered in the main or cart-based system parameters TaxAddress1-3.
Line Item ship-from-address is determined by the drop-ship supplier address or by the address of the warehouse to which the line item is routed.
Line item ship-from-address overrides the entire order's ship-from-address.
A new system parameter, SalesTaxStatesListUsage, controls how the program uses the SalesTaxStateList.
Taxes from "Locked" tax transactions can be easily reversed by means of a Return Invoice.
If the sales tax system used for a given order is changed, the name of the previous tax system "lights up" on the Process Orders screen.
Reporting capability is added. Tax status and tax document reports by order are available through the Tax System Dashboard, which is only accessible to Admin UserIDs. Every tax request is logged and also displayed through the dashboard.
Be aware when using external sales tax services, you are subject to additional setup requirements and charges from the vendor, as well as limitations as to when sales tax information can be modified. Review the vendor's documentation for more information.
If a tax service is used, the amount of sales tax charged is calculated by that application. The result is stored in each order in Stone Edge as well as stored by the vendor for reporting and tax filing purposes.
If you have multiple store files, you must have a separate tax accounts
for each one. Tax accounts cannot be shared across multiple store files
or you will encounter order number conflicts.
If you are running Version 8, the ship from address sent to Avalara for tax purposes is the address of the warehouse which fulfilled the order/item.
Monsoon Stone Edge cannot approve an order if there are problems creating tax documents through Avalara.
If you have used AvaTax with earlier versions of Stone Edge, or change the sales tax account you use, there is no data conversion process to execute before using the new integration. Simply verify you meet the requirements listed in this topic, upgrade to the newer version of Stone Edge (V7.5 or higher), and make any necessary changes to the tax system parameters.
All new tax transactions are immediately processed through the tax account specified in the system parameters, even for orders processed before you switched to the new integration.
Changes made to the third-party tax parameters require the program to be recycled for them to go into effect because they are only loaded at initialization or when switching stores.
When using a tax service, the Tax link on the Process Orders screen displays a message box stating the order must be unapproved to make changes and you may incur additional charges from the tax service, rather than opening the Tax Options screen as was the case in previous versions.
When existing, approved, orders with tax transactions are unapproved and modified, Stone Edge internally marks those with "committed" tax transactions as "Tax Paid Externally", behind the scenes. The program then reverses the sales tax levied on the original order (using the current tax account), returning that amount to the merchant, who in turn refunds the appropriate amount of sales tax to their customer. The previous sales tax account does not need to be involved. It also does not matter whether the taxes were paid at the shopping cart or through Stone Edge.
For existing, unapproved orders, Stone Edge tries to void the transaction, but if it is not able to do so, it reverses the amount of the sales transaction through the new account. Again, the previous sales tax account never has to be involved in any adjustments.
If you allow cancelled orders to be deleted from the system, the suffix value of the tax documents for the subsequent order (reusing the same order number) is 1 greater than the number of tax documents created for the previously cancelled order(s).
You can no longer mix returns and purchases on the same POS order.
Return invoices cannot be reversed, but they can be voided. The workaround is to simply re-purchase the item.
Regardless of the method you previously used to calculate sales tax, once you switch to the new Avalara integration, there will be a short transitional period in which you need to manually review the sales tax you pay for a given month prior to the cut-over, and account only for any returns received prior to the cut-over, ignoring returns processed after the cut-over. Previously you likely also accounted for returns processed in subsequent months.
Any returns received during the current month or going forward are automatically handled by the new integration in the month that the return is processed. However, here is no automated way with existing Sales Tax Reports to account for sales tax adjustments on returned items which were processed before versus after switching to the new integration.
To determine your actual tax liability for the month before the cut-over, run the Sales Tax report for that month. Determine the taxes paid on returned items purchased before the switch to the new integration that were returned after the switch, and ADD this to the report total.
This is necessary because the new transactional tax system, on processing a return, assumes the tax is paid in the month in which the order was placed, and issues the appropriate tax adjustment in the current month. So if your tax reports left out these items because they were marked as returned, you would be double-adjusting for those returns.
If the tax charged at the shopping cart does not match the tax calculated by Avalara when orders are imported, the orders may show a Balance Due or Credit Due rather than Paid in Full.
You have the choice of whether to 1) resolve the difference by running a secondary transaction to capture the shortage or refund the excess, 2) log a payment or credit to balance the order, or 3) leave the orders are they are.
Check the Knowledge Base Sales Tax Parameter Group, POS Parameter Group, or Orders Parameter Group topics for more details about their purpose.
AllowCancelWithUnvoidableTax
CartTaxTransactionType
DefaultNonTaxableTaxClass
DefaultProductTaxClass
DefaultShippingTaxClass
DefaultSurchargeTaxClass
POSTaxAddress1
POSTaxAddress2
POSTaxAddress3
SalesTaxStatesListUsage
SuppressInLineUnapprovalWarning
TaxRateRefreshLevel
RequireApprovalForChanges – this parameter is forced to TRUE when using a third-party tax system
CalcTaxRateIncludeShipping – this parameter is ignored when using a third-party tax system
UseTaxableField – this parameter is ignored when using a third-party tax system
ProrateDiscountsForTaxes – this parameter is ignored when using a third-party tax system
If Stone Edge encounters an error processing an AvaTax transaction, a note is added to the order and the order is not approved. If the error occurs during order import, the failure is recorded in the Reasons for Review and the order is not approved.
If you attempt to use the same tax account with two different store files, you may encounter order number conflicts which prevent the program from processing taxes properly. Each store file must have its own unique tax account.
Avalara's help site is located here.
Monsoon Stone Edge Tax System Dashboard V75
Monsoon Stone Edge Tax System Dashboard V8
Created: 1/27/15
Revised: 6/24/15