Moroch achieves tax compliance confidence
Results
Improved processes
Increased compliance
Summary
Results
- Improved processes
- Increased compliance
Tax challenges
- Compliance risk
- Tax complexity
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.
Benefits
- Reduced tax-dedicated headcount
- Sound, trusted tax calculation, collection, and remittance
- Audit confidence and ease
Company overview
Customer
Moroch
Industry
Services
Tax type
Sales and use
Integrations
Advantage Software
Based in Dallas, Texas, Moroch is a full-service, integrated marketing agency delivering a wide range of services including creative, advertising, public relations, and digital campaigns. Over the years, the agency has developed a specialized ability to handle the particular needs of national brands with franchises that have local footprints across the country, and that required a robust tax platform.
Tax challenges
Working with franchises presents a level of complexity that requires a lot of flexibility in billing. “Some of our clients are individual franchisees, but many are members of co-ops,” says Brenda Hodge, director of financial operations for Moroch. “Those co-ops often have multiple stores in different tax jurisdictions.”
In many cases, Moroch sends a single invoice to the co-op, but the deliverables must be taxed according to where they’re shipped. Those deliverables are taxed differently based on jurisdiction, and because the rates are frequently changing, compliance is a moving target.
“We used to have a full-time tax manager who spent a lot of time chasing changing rates, evaluating nexus,” Brenda explains. “It was pretty much an impossible task — she worked a lot of overtime in order to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of our clients’ locations.”
Why Avalara?
Moroch needed a solution that would manage the complexity of tax compliance automatically and integrate easily with its agency ERP solution made by Advantage Software. “Advantage is an Avalara partner, and recommended our solution on the strength of its built-in connector to their ERP solution. Integration was super important,” says Brenda.
Tax challenges
- Company growth
- Tax complexity
- Compliance risk
- 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.
Benefits
- Easy integration
- Confidence in compliance
- Future-proofing for growth
“We no longer have to track those changing nexus requirements, search out that information, nor count how many transactions we’ve had in a jurisdiction. That information is just handed to us now, saving us hours of work.”
—Brenda Hodge,
Director of Financial Operations
“We no longer have to track those changing nexus requirements, search out that information, nor count how many transactions we’ve had in a jurisdiction. That information is just handed to us now, saving us hours of work.”
—Brenda Hodge,
Director of Financial Operations
Results
Brenda’s team can now focus on more strategic finance priorities for Moroch. Besides eliminating the need for a full-time tax manager, the team didn’t need to replace a retiring member who handled filing taxes. “One person now handles everything in less than four days a month,” says Brenda, “and they aren’t even full days.”
Since implementing AvaTax and Avalara Returns, the agency has been audited twice. Once was a corporate audit by one of the agency’s top clients. “We got the highest possible scores across the board,” Brenda recalls proudly. “They said we were one of the only agencies they work with who broke out taxes across state lines. We earned a lot of trust coming out of that audit.”
During the second audit, by a third-party auditor, Brenda submitted reports she pulled using Avalara, and never heard from the auditor again. “That was the easiest audit I’ve ever done,” she states.
But the outcome Brenda values most is the peace of mind that comes with confident compliance. “We no longer have to track those changing nexus requirements, search out that information, and count how many transactions we’ve had in a jurisdiction,” she says. “That information is just handed to us now, saving us hours of work.”
