Commerce Talks EP 11: Christopher Rossini – Avalara

Guest Bio

Christopher Rossini | Director of Sales, Avalara

The Teamwork Commerce platform is built on a natively integrated framework; this strong foundation enables Teamwork Commerce to provide efficient omnichannel functionality to retailers across many industries. With a strong cloud backend, retailers are able to connect a variety of legacy systems, tools and integrations to drive more engaging retail experiences.

One of our integration partners is Avalara, a tax compliance software-based, cloud-based app. Data is sent through an API and allows Avalara to evaluate what is on the order in real time and make the appropriate tax calculations. Avalara captures and houses all the data and can also help companies with filing and remitting sales tax returns.

Chris Rossini, Director of Sales at Avalara joins us to discuss tax related issues for retailers.

Overview

One important topic affecting retailers took place June 21, 2018. The US Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision in South Dakota vs. Wayfair that states can require out-of-state sellers to collect and remit sales tax on sales to in-state consumers even if the seller has no physical presence in consumer’s state. The decision allows each state to define a sales threshold (dollar amount or number of transactions) which will trigger this collection requirement. Before Wayfair, businesses with no physical presence in a state were not considered to have sales tax “nexus” and no requirement to collect and remit tax on these sales.

Marketplace facilitator laws impose an obligation on the marketplace facilitator to collect and remit sales tax on behalf of marketplace sellers. These laws are significant because they shift the obligation to collect and remit sales tax from the seller to the platform that facilitates the sale (the marketplace facilitator).

International tax topics include tariffs, HS Code classifications, registration requirements and value added tax. Tax education is important for retailers. For additional free tax related resources, please go to www.avalara.com