What’s the burden? When a small to medium business has to comply with sales tax regulations from multiple jurisdictions, the extra time involved in understanding and keeping up with the varied rules and processes, registering, calculating taxes, and filing enormously increases the time involved in accounting.
While businesses aren’t required to pay the sales taxes in these situations, but just to collect sales tax from customers and pass them on, the change in the law under the Supreme Court’s Wayfair decision could require businesses to add a sales tax specialist to their team, or to invest thousands of dollars and thousands of hours in figuring out compliance on their own.
Free software to solve the problem has not become a reality. When you choose sales tax software for your company, you have to consider value, not just cost. Here are five things you should think about when you make your decision.
Criteria for choosing sales tax software
Does it cover all jurisdictions?
Most companies need to register in more states than they realize. What’s more, you can find yourself needing to collect sales tax in additional states in the middle of the year. The smart move for most companies is to register in all the states. Does the solution you’ve chosen support that?
Is it really accurate?
Sales Tax DataLINK validates before it hits the page. The patented process makes sure your information is accurate down to the invoice level. As states increase audits, this level of accuracy can give you peace of mind and even save you money.
Is it easy to use?
Sales Tax DataLINK makes it super easy to calculate and file your taxes. Just upload your data. Sales Tax DataLINK validates each invoice, reconciles to G/L, and provides improvement alerts prior to each return filed.
Is the cost predictable?
Some popular sales tax software solutions include lots of unpredictable charges. Do you want to pay extra for people who fill up and then abandon a shopping cart? Probably not, but you might have to. Find out how costs are determined and make sure you know what you’ll be charged ahead of time.
What kind of support is available?
If you need help, will you get automated tips that may not relate to your question at all? Maybe a call center staffed with people with a few hours of training? Sales Tax DataLINK offers expert advisory — or, if you prefer, you can outsource your sales tax compliance completely. Our team of sales tax experts can cover it.
Final Thoughts
We’ve seen businesspeople who are ready to close their doors because sales tax compliance has become too complicated and costly. They don’t feel that way after they’ve tried out Sales Tax DataLINK. Call 479-715-4275 and let us impress you.
