While eRATEX supports manually configuring tax rates for your store, many stores will not want to take the time to set up and manage tax rates for all the areas they sell in. To help with this, we have integrated with the AvaTax service, from Avalara. With AvaTax, you can spend a few minutes setting up your taxes and then forget about them. Avalara handles all of the tax rate setup and updates for you.

Setting up Avalara

1. First, you'll need to get an account with Avalara. eRATEX integrates with Avalara AvaTax, so please make certain you sign up for their AvaTax service.

2. Configure the following Settings with information from your new Avalara account:

   • AvalaraTax.AccountNumber - This is your account number. It shows at the top right of the page while logged into your Avalara account.
   • AvalaraTax.License - This is the license key given to you by Avalara when you first sign up for your account. You can also get a new one in the Avalara admin console under Settings.
   • AvalaraTax.CompanyCode - This is the company code you create within your Avalara account, under the 'Organization' tab.
   • AvalaraTax.Enabled - This setting turns the Avalara integration on and off.
   • VerifyAddressesProvider – Set this to "avalara" (no quotes) to use Avalara's address validation. This will attempt to correct addresses customers enter into Aspdotnetstorefront. Currently this only works with USA and Canada addresses.
   • AvalaraTax.PreventOrderIfAddressValidationFails – if using avalara for the VerifyAddressesProvider setting you can prevent checkout if the customer's address fails Avalara's address validation. Use caution with this because it's often preferable to accept an order and resolve address difficulties afterwards than prevent the customer from checking out.
   • AvalaraTax.Debug.Enabled – Leave this set to false unless advised by support to enable it.
   • AvalaraTax.CommitTaxes - Set this to FALSE to enable VR to commit transactions when a shipment is closed in order fulfillment.
   • AvalaraTax.CommitRefunds - Set this to FALSE to enable VR to commit transactions when a shipment is refunded via order fulfillment.

3. Set the RTShipping.Origin Settings to the address you want to use as your 'origin' address when computing taxes. Note that if you are using realtime shipping rates, this step will already have been done.

4. Set the Tax Code value to "FR" for the Shipping tax class on Configuration > Tax Classes page.

    

5.  Enable Configuration - Settings - CacheMenus TRUE, or set the admin Dashboard switch to ON for the "Caching Is:" button
   This is necessary for the Nexus filtering to work for the calls to Avalara
   

6.  Click the Refresh Store button in the admin console.

7. In your admin console you can test your Avalara connection by going to Configuration > Taxes > [depending on version, the link may be "Automate Taxes – Avalara" or "Automate Tax Calculation"] – once on the /admin/avalara.aspx page click the "Test AvaTax Connection" to check your settings.

   • To reduce costs, as of v10.0.16 the Avalara integration filters calls to Avalara based on your Nexus settings on the Avalara admin console. You can display your current nexus settings or reload them from Avalara if you make changes on the Avalara admin console. Refreshing the Store will also reload your nexus settings from Avalara.

The character length of your Customer Level names (if used) must not exceed 25 including spaces. Exceeding this length will throw an error when retrieving Avalara rates.

Configuring your Avalara Account

1. Login to your Admin Console at https://admin-avatax.avalara.net/. Once there, click on the Organization tab.

   Next, we're going to need to setup an Organization from which to base our taxes on. This entity will possess quite a few possible configurations, depending on your company and business model. If at any time you are not sure about a specific value or configuration options, please consult a tax specialist or Avalara's support team to alleviate any unwanted side effects of incorrect taxation. Avalara is the best source of advise you on which taxes you need to collect and how to configure your Avalara account.

2. Click the 'New' button, which will begin a 'Company Setup Wizard'. Run through these prompts, entering the information for your company. Once that is complete, you should end up back on the Organizations tab, with an entry for the company you just set up.

3. Click on the "J" button under the 'Nexus Jurisdictions' column for your new company, and you'll be taken to an area which allows you to choose which countries you'd like to apply tax for. By adding the United States (Check the box and save), you'll now have access to all 50 states and the ability to apply a nexus in each of them.

4. Scroll back down to the United States row. At the far right you can now select the nexus jurisdictions (states). Please consult with Avalara to select appropriate jurisdictions.

5. At this point, your Avalara Account should be configured for proper use.

You have now successfully configured the Avalara AvaTax settings. You can test it by going through the checkout process, and checking the tax values that are being returned for the Nexus regions you enabled.

Orders should show up on the Avalara admin console under the "Transactions" tab.