British company grows in the U.S. with confidence in tax compliance
Results
Integrated systems
Improved processes
Increased compliance
Summary
Results
- Integrated systems
- Improved processes
- Increased compliance
Tax challenges
- Compliance risk
- Company growth
- Process inefficiency
Products used
Avalara AvaTax
Dynamically delivers sales and use tax calculations, based on the latest rules and rates in our tax engine, to a shopping cart or invoicing system at the time of purchase.
Avalara Returns
Automatically gathers data from AvaTax to prepare and file sales and use tax returns and remit payments across multiple jurisdictions every filing cycle.
Avalara Exemption Certificate Management (formerly CertCapture)
A highly scalable solution to securely collect, store, and manage tax documents in the cloud and automate exemptions at checkout.
Benefits
- Integration with existing business systems
- Compliance when establishing nexus in new states
- Smoother process for managing calculation and documentation
Industry type
Manufacturing
Meet customer needs and improve compliance when you’re collecting sales tax or exemption certificates.
Company overview
Customer
Limbs & ThingsLimbs & Things
Industry
Manufacturing
Tax type
Sales and use
Integrations
Epicor
Umbraco
Limbs & Things designs and manufactures anatomically accurate models that enhance clinical training for everything from diagnostic procedures to surgical techniques. Founded in 1990 by a British medical illustrator, the company’s U.S. headquarters is based in Savannah, Georgia.
Tax challenges
Limbs & Things has a high-touch sales model, with customers who expect demonstrations, trials, and on-site support. “When you hire salespeople in other states, you achieve nexus in those states through the expanded sales pipeline,” says Colleen Bremer, who heads customer service and logistics in the U.S. “We knew that if we were going to expand into more states, we would need to have a compliance solution that would be adaptable and scalable.”
“Before the Supreme Court’s South Dakota v. Wayfair decision, we really were only collecting and remitting in Georgia,” Colleen continues. “We used to calculate sales tax for every single transaction as it happened in Georgia, and obviously we couldn’t do that for multiple states.”
Most of the company’s customers are medical schools and nonprofit hospitals, and they are tax exempt. The problem of managing exemption certificates grew in step with the company’s nexus footprint. “We had physical records that we’d go and check for expiration dates — it was very rudimentary, and we really could not continue to apply this practice as we grew,” says Colleen. “Once you go into Texas and California, you’re talking hundreds of customers.”
Why Avalara?
“An outside consultant recommended that we get involved with Avalara,” Colleen remembers. “Our accounting firm also recommended Avalara, having worked with other Avalara customers. Every resource that we relied on was pointing in the same direction.”
Integration
“When we launched Epicor in 2017, we wanted it to connect and play nicely with Avalara,” Colleen says. “It was pretty efficient, and when we needed to increase our registrations in response to the Wayfair decision, Avalara took a very, very daunting task and made it achievable.”
Tax challenges
- Compliance risk
- Company growth
- Process inefficiency
Products used
Avalara AvaTax
Dynamically delivers sales and use tax calculations, based on the latest rules and rates in our tax engine, to a shopping cart or invoicing system at the time of purchase.
Avalara Returns
Automatically gathers data from Avalara AvaTax to prepare and file sales and use tax returns and remit payments across multiple jurisdictions every filing cycle.
Avalara Exemption Certificate Management (formerly CertCapture)
A highly scalable solution to securely collect, store, and manage tax documents in the cloud and automate exemptions at checkout.
Benefits
- Integration with existing business systems
- Compliance when establishing nexus in new states
- Smoother process for managing calculation and documentation
Industry type
Manufacturing
Meet customer needs and improve compliance when you’re collecting sales tax or exemption certificates.
“It really is such a great value. I really couldn’t imagine our business without it”
—Colleen Bremer
Operations Director
“It really is such a great value. I really couldn’t imagine our business without it”
—Colleen Bremer
Operations Director
Results
Colleen is quick to point out the efficiency gains she sees from working with Avalara. “I’d have to have another full-time person just to calculate the tax, make sure it’s all accurate, file the returns, and deal with all the notices and things like that. That is a whole additional staff member, if not more, especially as we grow.”
The process of managing exemption certificates, too, is more efficient in terms of both time and space. “We wanted to move away from paper files, so we’ve been able to reduce giant filing cabinets full of customer records,” explains Colleen. “We just upload PDFs to CertCapture, and it takes care of everything. It’s much more reasonable.”
Perhaps the most important benefit, from Colleen’s perspective, is the confidence she feels that comes from compliance. “We’re not trying to dodge anything — we want to do business the right way so that no one’s going to come knocking on our door trying to give us a hard time. In fact, if they want to audit me, they’re welcome to do it because I know Avalara’s products support our business and have our back. It just helps me sleep so much better at night.”
“The last thing I want to see in the mail is a compliance notice from a state that I’m not prepared or resourced to deal with, but I don’t have to worry about that,” Colleen adds. “I know I’ve got Avalara behind me. We’re still a relatively small company but having Avalara’s knowledge and resources makes it feel like we’re bigger.”
