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The system has always handled simple origin-based taxes, but anything more complicated or requiring destination-based taxes has not been previously supported. Destination-based taxes are typically required only with significant sales volume in an external state: for example, if you sold more than $100,000 worth of products in an external state, they might require that you pay taxes on those revenues. Please contact our support team if you are not sure if a tax integration is appropriate for your store.

We've partnered with Avalara to solve the challenges with destination-based taxes. Avalara is a tax compliance software that automates the process of identifying and paying destination-based tax. The Avalara integration can be turned on in Rain POS.

You can get to this part of the system by clicking on the Admin Button with your username in the upper right and clicking on Settings > Integrations > Tax.

Please Note: Before you can activate this integration, you need to have the tax service set up with Avalara as an active account. You can learn more about their pricing and services on their website.

Click below to explore Avalara:

 

Setup and Configuration

Sign into the system and follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings > Integrations > Tax
2. Select Avalara in the Tax Service dropdown
3. Enter your Avalara Account Number
4. Enter your Avalara Software License Key
5. Click Save
6. Select your Avalara Company
7. Click Save

 

Start Backfill

1. Once your company is set, you can start a backfill of your previous transactions. We will populate up to two years of Rain POS transactions into Avalara so you can easily determine if you've met nexus in additional locations.
2. Backfill is rate limited, and we recommend you not run it during high website traffic. Once the backfill is started it will run in the background and you are safe to leave this page.

 

Transaction Reporting

1. Transaction Reporting (optional) allows you report your transactions to Avalara so you can continually monitor your nexus status.
2. You have the option to report only transactions that have tax calculated by Avalara, or all transactions.

 

Product Tax Codes

Avalara also allows you to specify tax codes to your products, enabling you to define your products so they can be taxes more accurately.

1. Enable this by going to any Product Edit Page > Advanced > Tax Code
2. Search for your tax code in the dropdown list.
3. Save the product

Now, whenever you get a tax rate from Avalara, it will take the product tax code into consideration and return a more accurate tax rate.

Please Note: Tax Codes only apply to transactions where Avalara is being used to calculate the tax. See FAQ for more information.

 

Entity Use Code

The Avalara integration supports sending an Entity Use Code per customers. This works very similarly to Product Tax Codes, but apply on the customer/transaction level.

1. Enable this by going to any Customer > Settings > Entity Use Code
2. Select your Entity Use Code in the dropdown
3. Save the customer

Whenever a transaction gets a tax rate from Avalara, it will pass along the entity use code and use that in the tax rate calculation.

Please Note: Entity Use Code is also available in the bulk customer spreadsheet, making it easy to update customers.

 

Transaction Reporting

Rain POS will send all transactions that get a tax rate from Avalara over to Avalara to be reported on in their software. This has several specific advantages:

1. Avalara has advanced tax reports that can be utilized
2. Avalara will track your progress towards nexus in any jurisdiction
3. Avalara will allow you to remit sales tax in any of the states for which you've met nexus.

 

Temporary Till Address

By default, the Avalara integration uses the store location as the Origin address to determine the tax rate. If you are processing transactions from somewhere other than at your store (such as at a trade show or pop up event), you can set a temporary till address.

 

Setting a Temporary Till Address

1. Navigate to the Till
2. Click the 3 dots next to the Till
3. Click Temporary Till Address
4. Enter the temporary address
5. When you are finished, click Remove next to the Temporary Till Address

Please Note: When a Temporary Till Address is set, all transactions run through the till will use Avalara to calculate the tax rate.

 

FAQ

How do I enable a nexus state?

This can be done by going to Avalara, and enabling it through their UI. Once it is enabled in Avalara, you should start seeing tax being charged in those areas.

 

What causes a transaction to get a sales tax rate from Avalara?

There are two scenarios when transactions will get a tax rate from Avalara:

1. An order has shipping attached to it
2. This includes website orders, and orders being shipped from the Till.
3. A transaction is using a Temporary Till Address.

 

What causes a transaction to get reported to a tax service?

If the transaction has it's tax calculated using Avalara, it will be reported. If a return is processed on a transaction that had it's tax calculated by Avalara, it will also be reported. If you select "All Transactions" under the transaction reporting section in settings, it will be reported.