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Avalara is a full-service sales tax company that helps you automate your tax compliance processes. Their services offer accurate and affordable ways for you to calculate, collect, report and remit sales taxes.
Shift4Shop allows you to integrate your store with Avalara's services in order to process orders with real-time tax calculation. The information below will outline the basic process of integrating your store with Avalara:
To integrate your store with Avalara
Important
The onboarding process outlined here will create an Avalara account for you. If you already have an existing Avalara account, please refer to the "I already have an Avalara account" section further down.
- Log into your Shift4Shop Online Store Manager
- Using the left hand navigation menu, go to Settings >Payment
- Click on the "Setup Tax" button located under "Tax Manager"
If you've never set up any taxes on your store, you will see the following screen:
- Click on the "Automated Tax" Setup button to begin the Avalara Integration.
Tip
If you have manually created tax ranges in the past, your screen will look slightly different.
To begin the integration in these cases, click on the "Connect to Avalara" button
To continue:
- Mark the checkbox to agree to Avalara's Terms & Conditions
(you can review the terms and conditions here)
- And click "Continue" to proceed
- Enter your Name, Email and address information in the provided form
- Click "Create Account"
Tip
This setup includes a free 60-day trial and will create an account for you on Avalara's service. Please look for an email from Avalara regarding your account.
I already have an Avalara account
If you already have an Avalara account, simply use the "I have an Avalara account" link shown on the onboarding prompt.
This will refresh the page with fields for you to enter your Avalara credentials and settings as shown below.
Enter your Avalara account number, License and Company Code into the appropriate fields. If you have a specific tax code for charging tax on shipping, enter this into the appropriate field as well. This code will match the tax rates for shipping as they are set at Avalara.
Once your credentials are in place, be sure to click "Save" at the top right to commit our changes.
Important Note Before you manually set up your Avalara integration, please make sure your merchant information includes a complete mailing address. Without this information, the Avalara tax module will not perform the necessary calculation calls.
To add your complete merchant address:
- Go to Settings >General >Store Settings
- Under Merchant Information, provide your complete merchant address
(Be sure to include the Company Name, Address 1, City, State, and Zip)
Additional Settings:
Below the main credential and code settings, you will see additional options.
- Include Discount
This setting will calculate tax on the item(s) ordered after their respective discounts have been applied. In other words, if your item is normally $10 and has an applicable discount of $2, the tax calculated will normally apply for the original $10 price instead of the discounted rate ($8). Marking the "Include Discount" checkbox will calculate the tax on the item after the discount is applied.
- Don’t send transactions to Avalara
Use this checkbox if you are using a third-party order management service (i.e. StoneEdge) which ultimately processes and finalizes the orders and commits the transaction on Avalara for you.
- State Selection
This feature will allow you to select which states your Avalara tax calculation will be applicable to. When configuring your individual store's Avalara integration, you can either select a specific state or group of states, or otherwise select them all. In order to calculate sales tax you must first select states in AvaTax.
Note
If no state is selected, the Avalara Tax Module will be called upon each and every time to provide a tax calculation - even if your nexus does not include a particular state. This may incur fees from Avalara since it generates a call to their module, so it's important to only select the States you wish to have tax calculated for..
Additional Information
We also offer a section to manually add addresses or nexuses below the State Selection in the event you do not do this during the initial setup. Adding an address or nexus will dynamically enable the appropriate state in the State Selection area. Removing a state/nexus will also automatically disable the respective state.
Avalara Sales Invoices
In addition to providing you with real-time tax calculation, Avalara will also record "Sales Invoices" for your business' tax reporting requirements. These Sales Invoices will reflect the order invoice status in your Shift4Shop store. Furthermore, when the order status is changed in your Shift4Shop store, the Sales Invoice status on your Avalara account will update as well.
Below are the three main status situations you will see with Shift4Shop/Avalara integration:
- Committed
If the order is fully paid for and its status is "New" in your Shift4Shop, the Avalara Sales Invoice will be listed as "Committed"
- Uncommitted
If the order is paid for with an offline payment method or otherwise is sent to the "Unpaid" status, Avalara will display the Sales Invoice as "Uncommitted" When you change the order status to "New" from your Shift4Shop order management screens, Avalara will update the respective Sales Invoice accordingly
- Voided
Finally, if the order is canceled by you in the Shift4Shop store, Avalara will update the respective Sales invoice to "Voided."
The Avalara Sales Invoices will provide an easy way for you to calculate your tax charges by tying them to specific invoices in your Shift4Shop store, thereby making your business tax reporting process more efficient.
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