Avalara Implementation/Setup/Documentation Information

Note: Avalara setup/configuration must be completed prior to setup/configuration on WinTeam.

Throughout this information I may switch between Avalara and External Sales Tax Interface/System; they are one in the same.

1. Sign agreement with Avalara (must use Pro version)

a. Create account (will need Account Number and License Key for WT configuration)

b. Configure account

i. Create user accounts

ii. Setup Company (can setup 1 or multiple)

1. Will need Company Code for WT configuration

iii. Configure Nexus for each company

iv. Determine Item Mapping (WinTeam INV items and PS invoice descriptions mapped to Avalara Tax Codes)

1. Will need Avalara Tax Codes for WT configuration

2. Get Avalara Licensed on WT (contact support)

3. Configure WT to use External Sales Tax Interface

a. On the SYS: Defaults and Tier Parameter screen, set the following:

External Sales Tax Interface – Leave unchecked until configuration is complete. Once checked, all existing WT

sales tax calculations are stopped and Avalara is used.

Enable Address Validation – If selected, then a Validate Address button is displayed on the JMF, Warehouse

Address ACB and Primary Service Location on Invoice Entry. When used, a normalized address is returned from

Avalara.

URL – To test with an Avalara Sandbox, set to: https://development.avalara.net

To test with your live account, set to: https://avalara.net

Account – Set to your Avalara Account Number

License – Set to your Avalara License Key

A Test button is available to test your Account/License configuration to make sure that everything is setup correctly.

b. On the SYS: Company Setup screen, set the following:

Company Code – Set to the Company Code from Avalara. This is required to send invoices to the External Sales

Tax System for processing.

Note: If you only created 1 company in Avalara, but have multiple setup in WT, make sure to set all companies to

the same value.

c. On the INV: Item Master screen, set the following:

External Item Code – This needs to be set to the corresponding Avalara Tax Code. This is a required field for

Avalara to compute sales tax. This Code determines whether the item is taxable or not within the determined

jurisdiction.

Default tax codes: Products=P0000000, Services=S0000000, Digital Goods=D0000000, Non-Taxable=NT,

Freight=F0000000, Other=O0000000

A full listing can be found on the Avalara AdminConsole or in their helps at

https://help.avalara.com/000_AvaTax_Calc/000AvaTaxCalc_User_Guide/040_Managing_Tax_Profiles/050_Tax_Cod

es/001_What_is_a_Tax_Code - download the Pro Toolkit

d. On the PS: Hourly Invoice Descriptions ACB off of the PS: Bill Code Categories screen, set the following:

External Item Code – This needs to be set to the corresponding Avalara Tax Code. This is a required field for

Avalara to compute sales tax.

e. On the PS: Other Invoice Descriptions ACB off of the PS: Bill Code Categories screen, set the following:

External Item Code – This needs to be set to the corresponding Avalara Tax Code. This is a required field for

Avalara to compute sales tax.

f. On the AR: Defaults screen, set the following:

External Sales Tax Interface – Select one of the following:

Use State GL Number for Sales Tax Liability – Select this option to use the GL Number specified on the

state Sales and Use Tax Setup record when automatically creating a new record for a City, County or Local

jurisdiction. This should be used if sales tax is separated out by state.

Specify GL Number for Sales Tax Liability – Select this option to specify the GL number to use when

automatically creating a new Sales and Use Tax Setup record. This should be used if all sales tax should be

assigned to a single GL Number.

g. On the AR: Sales and Use Tax Setup screen, set the following:

External Tax Code – This needs to be set for each existing record. This is a combination of values returned from

Avalara - <Region><JurisCode><JurisType>

i.e. OH39State

At a minimum, they will need to have a record for each state that they have Nexus in. Without the state, the City,

County and Local jurisdictions cannot be automatically created by the system. If they wish to use their existing

records for their City, County and Local/Special jurisdictions, then they will have to manually set the External Tax

Code for those records as well. Otherwise, they can let the system create new records.

We can provide a list of the exact External Tax Code for all of the states and an excel spreadsheet with most (if not

all) of the FIPS codes (JurisCode) for the City, County and Local/Special values.

Note: Avalara returns the type of ‘Special’ instead of ‘Local’, but WT considers it Local.

Once the SYS: Defaults - External Sales Tax Interface checkbox is selected, the ‘Current’, ‘Previous’ and the ‘What is

Taxable?’ sections are hidden/disabled, as they are no longer used. All rates and taxability is determined by Avalara.

When a new record is automatically created, notes are added to the Notes field.

h. On the JOB: Job Master File, they can now mark a Job as Taxable or not.

Taxable – Checked by default. However, if the Job should be tax exempt, they can uncheck this field.

Note: There is currently no security around the Taxable field.

Tax Exempt ID – If Taxable field is unchecked, then this field is required. This value is sent to Avalara.

Expiration Date – If Taxable field is unchecked, then this field is required. This value is not sent to Avalara, but can

be seen on the Job File Report (if Print Tax Information checkbox is selected).

So, even if the Customer entered on the Invoice is Taxable, any item sold or service performed can be exempt from

tax if set accordingly.

Once the SYS: Defaults - External Sales Tax Interface checkbox is selected, all of the fields under Sales and within

Item Taxability is Determined by are hidden/disabled. All rates and taxability is determined by Avalara.

Note: The following custom setting will not be enforced when Avalara is licensed and turned on: Jobs - RequireSalesTax - Yes (makes County and City fields required)

4. Validate addresses, if enabled.

a. JMF:

b. Warehouse Locations ACB (if resale products):

5. Work with TEAM to determine when you want to start using Avalara to compute sales tax. Once a date is set, updates will

need to be made to existing Invoices so that they can no longer be edited or accidentally sent to Avalara for processing.

Note: Fields that we will be updating will not cause any issues with current processing of sales tax within WT. They are

only used by the External Sales Tax Interface. If these updates are not made, reports will not pull in these invoices and

you may not be able to Print/Process the invoices within WT.

6. Once ready to start using Avalara, go back to the SYS: Defaults screen and check the External Sales Tax Interface checkbox.

a. This will turn OFF all sales tax calculations performed by WT.

b. Will hide/disable fields on the various screens (noted in the setup section).

c. Requires you to send all future invoices to the External Sales Tax Interface (Avalara) for sales tax calculations prior to

being able to Print/Process Invoices.

d. AR: Invoice Entry has been modified:

Invoice Header

• Primary Service Location - Validate Address button is available (if enabled).

Note: This address is only used as the Destination address if there is no or an incomplete address configured at

the detail line item for the entered Job Number.

• Invoice Number – This cannot be edited once the invoice has been sent to the External Sales Tax System.

• Posting Date – This is the date sent to the External Sales Tax System to be used in the sales tax calculations.

Note: When a CM is created, we send the Posting Date of the original invoice so that the sales tax is calculated

on the CM using the same date as the original invoice in case the jurisdictions or rates have changed.

Invoice Details

• A warning icon is displayed to the left of the Job Number if there is no/incomplete address configured on the

JMF.

• The Taxable checkbox is disabled and remains unchecked until the invoice is sent for sales tax calculations.

• The Invoice Tax Details drill-down screen is blank until the invoice is sent for sales tax calculations (same as the

Tax Summary screen).

• The Tax and Invoice Total fields in the footer will remain blank until the invoice is send for sales tax calculations.

Note: These fields are cleared anytime the invoice is edited after tax has been calculated.

• Hover over the % icon to display the Sales Tax Information. This displays the following information:

o Date Tax Processed – The date and time the invoice was sent to the External Sales Tax system for tax

calculation.

o Date Tax Committed – The date and time the invoice was sent to the External Sales Tax system and

committed.

o External Tax Status – The current tax status for the Invoice:

▪ Not Processed – Invoice has not yet been sent to the External Sales Tax system.

▪ Processed – Invoice has been sent to the External Sales Tax system and taxes calculated.

▪ Edited, needs Reprocessed - Invoice has been sent to the External Sales Tax system and

taxes calculated, but was then edited. Needs to be resent for recalculation of taxes.

▪ Committed – Invoice has been committed to the External Sales Tax system. Edits are no

longer allowed to the invoice.

o Tax System Notes – Details on the actions performed.

Compute Taxes

• After creating the invoice there are several ways to compute/recompute taxes.

o Click ‘Preview Only’ – If the External Tax Status=Not Processed, the invoice is first sent to the

External Sales Tax system for tax calculation and then displayed to the user.

o Click ‘Print/Process’ - If the External Tax Status=Not Processed, the invoice is first sent to the

External Sales Tax system for tax calculation and then printed.

o Actions > Compute Taxes (if External Tax Status=Not Processed) or Reset All Taxes (if External Tax

Status=Processed or Edited, needs Reprocessed).

o Go to the External Sales Tax Processing screen (see details below)

After taxes have been computed, all sales tax information is stored and displayed on the screen.

• The Taxable checkbox is checked/unchecked based on whether or not the item is determined to be taxable.

• The Invoice Tax Details drill-down screen displays the sales tax information (same as Tax Summary screen):

• The Tax and Invoice Total fields display the new values.

• The Sales Tax Information window is updated with the new information:

• If there are any WT issues while calculating sales tax, an error grid is displayed.

o The possible WT errors (invoice won’t even be sent to the External Sales Tax system):

▪ No External Item Code

▪ Invalid Primary Service Location Address Configuration

▪ Invalid Warehouse Location Address Configuration

• If there is an Error processing the invoice on the Avalara side, the single error message is displayed.

For example:

▪ Company not found. Verify the CompanyCode.

▪ Unable to determine the taxing jurisdictions.

▪ Document was posted, but is out of balance.

Note: This actually means that the invoice was Committed on the Avalara side but either the

TotalAmount or TotalTax did not match between WT and Avalara. The Invoice on the WT side is not

updated. Manual updates will need to be made by the user to the invoice through the Avalara

AdminConsole.

▪ MaxCount limit exceeded. Please use filters to limit the result set.

Note: Avalara limits the number of detail line items to 1000. If an invoice has more than that, it will have

to be broken out into 2 invoices.

We’ll have to decide if we need to document/explain all of the errors that can be returned.

e. The new, External Sales Tax Processing screen is also available. This screen is used to both compute taxes for the

selected invoices and Commit the invoices to Avalara.

i. There is user security around accessing and using this screen. A new screen option is available – AR

External Sales Tax Processing – the user must have this to see the screen.

When selected, the following features are available:

Can Commit Invoices – If selected, the user will be able to commit processed invoices to Avalara.

This step is required to allow Avalara to remit taxes.

Can Compute Taxes – If selected, the user will be able to compute taxes for the selected invoices.

ii. The screen can only be accessed from the left side menu (it is not included in the AR Menu Map since it is a

licensable feature).

iii. The following fields are available:

Posting Dates – The From and To dates are required. The From date is defaulted to the first day of the

current month and To date is defaulted to the current day.

Invoice Status – The print/process status of the invoice. All statuses are selected by default

External Tax Status – The status of the invoice in regards to the External Sales Tax system. All statuses

are selected by default.

Not Processed – These invoices have not yet been sent to Avalara to have sales tax calculated.

Processed – These invoices have been sent to Avalara.

Edited, needs Reprocessed – These invoices have been sent to Avalara and have had taxes

calculated, but have been edited in some way that requires sales tax to be recalculated.

Committed – These invoices have been Committed to Avalara. They can no longer be edited on

the WT side and are considered completed.

Only Posted Invoices – Select the checkbox to only display those invoices that have been posted to the

GL. Not selected by default.

iv. No invoices are returned when opening the screen. The Compute Taxes and Commit Invoices buttons are

not available until a search is performed. The Select All button will select all displayed invoices.

v. Committed invoices are grayed out and cannot be selected.

vi. Checks are performed prior to Computing Taxes or Committing and warning messages are displayed:

Compute Taxes

Displayed if one of the selected invoices has an External Tax Status=Processed and Invoice

Status=Send Invoice or Resend Invoice:

Displayed if one of the selected invoices has an External Tax Status=Processed and Invoice Status=Do

Not Send, Invoice Sent, Invoice Resent, Resend Invoice or Duplicate Invoice

Displayed if one of the selected invoices has been Posted to the GL:

Commit Invoices

Displayed if one of the selected invoices has not yet been Posted to the GL:

vii. If there are any errors returned either from WT or Avalara, the External Sales Tax Errors grid is displayed

(includes both WT and Avalara returned errors):

7. Other screens affected:

a. Invoice Processing – A check is performed prior to printing/processing invoices. If any of the selected invoices have

an External Tax Status = Not Processed or Edited, Needs Reprocessed, the following message is displayed and

processing is stopped:

b. Invoice Review (display changes only) – If External Tax Status = Not Processed or Edited, Needs Reprocessed,

then the Invoice Total and Remaining Due fields will be blank and none of the tax information is displayed (must

select the Taxes checkbox under Show in Grid). Tax fields include: Tax Jurisdiction, Taxable, Tax, Tax Code ID, Tax

Rate and Taxable Amount. The new following new fields were also added to the Field Chooser: Date Tax Processed,

Date Tax Committed, External Tax Status and External Item Code (Invoice Details checkbox must be selected).

c. Recurring Invoices – The Taxable column is hidden (do not know taxability of item until sent to External Sales Tax

System). The Compute Taxes button was also removed.

d. Update Recurring to File – Sales tax calculations are not performed with this process. The invoices are

created/updated the same as if they were entered through AR: Invoice Entry. External Tax Process=Not Processed.

e. Update Scheduling to AR Invoice – Sales tax calculations are not performed with this process. The invoices are

created/updated the same as if they were entered through AR: Invoice Entry. External Tax Process=Not Processed.

f. Update to GL – If taxes have not been calculated (External Tax Status=Not Processed or Edited, Needs

Reprocessed, these invoices are added to the ‘Unable to Post’ report and no updates are done.

g. Reports:

i. Customer Activities Report – If any of the selected invoices have an External Tax Status = Not Processed

or Edited, Needs Reprocessed, the following message is displayed but the report is still printed (the Amount

& Balance Due columns may not be accurate as the tax will not be included for these invoices):

ii. Invoice Aging Report – If any of the selected invoices have an External Tax Status = Not Processed or

Edited, Needs Reprocessed, the following message is displayed but the report is still printed (any of the

columns may not be accurate as the tax will not be included for these invoices):

iii. Invoice Register Report – If any of the selected invoices have an External Tax Status = Not Processed or

Edited, Needs Reprocessed, the following message is displayed but the report is still printed (The Tax Total

and Invoice Total columns will display an * for those invoices that have not yet had taxes calculated):

iv. Sales Tax Report – If any of the selected invoices have an External Tax Status = Not Processed or Edited,

Needs Reprocessed, the following message is displayed but the report is still printed (The Taxable,

NonTaxable and Tax columns will display an * for those invoices that have not yet had taxes calculated):

v. Statements and Past Due Notices - A check is performed prior to printing statements/past due notices. If

any of the selected invoices have an External Tax Status = Not Processed or Edited, Needs Reprocessed,

the following message is displayed and processing is stopped:

h. GL > Journal Update Log – If ANY of the invoices being unposted HAVE been Committed to the External Sales Tax

System (External Tax Status=Committed), new warning message is displayed:

Invoices can still be unposted, but any that have an External Tax Status=Committed cannot be edited.