Set Up and Use Avalara for Sales Taxes

Avalara is a software solution that automates tax compliance for retailers, helping businesses track what they owe and file taxes.

CommentSold purchases Avalara accounts for all businesses, and our integration simplifies sales tax calculations for all 50 states. Avalara stores this tax information for you to review and pay, or remit, these taxes. It also accounts for sales tax on returned items. Avalara will also file and send payment to the necessary states for an additional fee.

We recommend you set up Avalara as soon as possible. Tax codes will automatically populate on any items added once you have set this up. You'll need to manually assign tax codes to any product created before you set Avalara up.

Note: While Avalara can help you collect and remit taxes, we recommend that you work with a tax professional. CommentSold cannot give tax advice.

How Avalara Benefits Your Business

Have Avalara manage sales tax rules across multiple regions (e.g., states, counties, etc.).
Stay compliant with sales taxes requirements, processes, and payments.

Create an Avalara Account

For your Avalara setup, you'll be in both CommentSold and Avalara. We walk you through creating your account via CommentSold, then logging into your Avalara account.

Select Setup in the side menu of your CommentSold dashboard.
Select Taxes in the menu at the top of the page.
In the Avalara section, select Create New Avalara Account.
Complete all fields in the pop-up and select the checkbox at the bottom of the pop-up to accept terms and conditions.
Select Create Account.

CommentSold will notify you once your account has been created.

Note: CommentSold will automatically populate the Set Avalara API Keys and Set Avalara Company fields. You do not need to change or update either of these fields.

Log in to the email account for the email you entered in the Avalara pop-up in CommentSold.
Select the Set Your Password link.
On the Avalara website, enter a password and select Save.
The page will refresh and ask you to log in. Your Username is the email address where you received the password email.
Select Next.
Enter your newly created Password.
Select Log In.

Note: This username and password will not match the username and password in CommentSold. This is okay! You do not need to update any information within CommentSold.

Configure Your Avalara Account

Once you've created your Avalara account, you'll need to confirm where you collect taxes. You'll also need to grab your default product code from Avalara and add it to CommentSold.

Your shop's city, county, and state will have automatically populated in Avalara as your region for collecting tax during the account creation process. You can add additional regions if necessary.

Log in to your Avalara account.
Select Settings at the top of the page.
Select Where you collect tax from the options listed.
Confirm the correct region for tax collection. If you collect taxes elsewhere, add those locations by selecting the + Add to where you collect sales and use tax link.

If you reach the nexus threshold for another state (i.e., you have now generated enough sales in that state to pay sales tax), you will need to add that state as a location.

Don't worry—Avalara tracks these amounts and will let you know via your dashboard if there is a state you need to add. You can add it by selecting + Add to where you collect sales and use tax at the top of the Where you collect tax page. Learn more about adding new states and regions here.

For Avalara to calculate taxes correctly, it'll need to know what type of merchandise your shop sells. You'll need to locate your default product tax code and add this to CommentSold.

Select Setup in the side menu of your CommentSold dashboard.
Select Taxes in the menu at the top of the page.
Locate Set Avalara Default Product Tax Code and select the Search Avalara Tax Codes link.
In Avalara, enter a merchandise keyword for your shop in the field provided and select Search.
Locate your merchandise code and select the tile. This automatically copies the code for you.
In CommentSold, paste your code in the Tax Code field.
Select Save.

Add Tax Codes to Products

Every product you add to CommentSold will need a tax code. CommentSold will apply the default product tax code you added on your Taxes tab; however, you can change product-specific tax codes for an individual product and in bulk.

You can enter the appropriate tax code on the product record if a product falls in a category different from your default product tax code.

Select Products in the side menu of your CommentSold dashboard.
Locate the product you need to update and select the three dots on the far right of the product row.
Select Edit.
Locate the Tax Code field on the right side of the page and select the Search Avalara Tax Codes link.
In Avalara, enter a merchandise keyword for your shop in the field provided and select Search.
Locate your merchandise code and select the tile. This automatically copies the code for you.
In CommentSold, paste your code in the Tax Code field.
Select Save.

If you are adding Avalara after you have existing products in your account, or if you need to update multiple products' tax codes for any reason, you can do this in bulk.

Select Products in the side menu of your CommentSold dashboard.
Select the checkbox to the left of each product you wish to update.
At the top of the product listing, select the green Selected drop-down.
Select Update Avalara Tax Code from the drop-down.
Select Edit.
In the pop-up, select the Search Avalara Tax Codes link.
In Avalara, enter a merchandise keyword for your shop in the field provided and select Search.
Locate your merchandise code and select the tile. This automatically copies the code for you.
In CommentSold, paste your code in the Enter Tax Code field.
Select Save.

Note: For products that should not charge tax, like Gift Cards, enter code NT in the Tax Code field for that product.

View Transactions in Avalara

You can view invoiced transactions, if desired, from your Avalara account. CommentSold sends these transactions to Avalara.

Log in to your Avalara account.
Select Transactions at the top of the page.

Colorado Retail Delivery Fee. Effective July 1, 2024, the state of Colorado will impose a $0.29 Retail Delivery Fee on all deliveries by motor vehicle to a location in Colorado. This delivery fee with show as an additional line item in Avalara for those transactions with an end destination in Colorado. Learn more about this tax update here.

State-Specific Fees

The following states have implemented fees

Troubleshooting Issues

Expand this section to know about the common errors and how to troubleshoot them.

Orders Not Syncing to Avalara

If your orders are not syncing to Avalara, follow these steps to identify and resolve the issue:

Check if Orders Were Previously Syncing

Confirm whether orders were syncing to Avalara in the past.
Try to identify when the syncing stopped (e.g., “Orders stopped syncing starting June 1st”).

Review Your Avalara Setup

Go to Setup > Taxes in your CommentSold dashboard.
Ensure Avalara is properly connected and your credentials are accurate.
If needed, disconnect and reconnect your Avalara integration.

Manually Push Orders to Avalara

Once Avalara is set up correctly, you can manually sync the affected orders:
- Navigate to Orders > Taxes.
- Use the date filter to select the time range when orders didn’t sync.
- Select the orders and push them to Avalara.

No Error Message or Dashboard Notification

In some cases, there may be no visible error or alert when the connection fails (e.g., if you changed your Avalara password).
If there’s no error banner on your dashboard, the issue may go unnoticed until orders fail to sync.

Prevent Future Issues

To avoid issues going forward:
- Regularly check that your Avalara connection is active in your dashboard.
- Watch for banners or alerts prompting you to reconnect.
- Reconnect immediately if you change your Avalara account credentials.

If this issue occurs again and there's no warning in your dashboard, please contact our support team so we can escalate it for a possible feature improvement.

Login Issues or “Credentials” error

You can test the credentials for your Avalara Account ID and License Key here:

Test Credentials | Avalara Developer

By default, we use your Avalara account ID for the Username field in CommentSold and your Avalara License Key for the password field. This is automatically set up when you sign up for Avalara through the steps mentioned above from CommentSold.

If you have lost that information, you can retrieve it in Avalara. You can generate a new license key for the password here: https://help.avalara.com/Avalara_AvaTax_Update/Get_your_license_key

Tax is not being charged on orders

Possible causes:

You have not reached nexus in the state the customer is purchasing from. Read more about Nexus here.
You have not set up your Avalara account to collect tax in the state the customer is purchasing from.
A product in the order is not taxable (due to a tax holiday, state tax rules, or because it has NT assigned as the tax code).
The product title is too long. Avalara has a 50 character maximum for product titles. If a product in the order has a title longer than that, the Avalara tax code may not properly apply.
If you have your Shopify account synced to CommentSold, ensure the “charge tax on this product” checkbox is checked in the product details in Shopify.

When should I use the “Record Transactions in AvaTax” setting?

This toggle under Setup>Taxes is optional but recommended if any of the following apply:

You plan to use Avalara for your end-of-year tax reporting or filing tax returns.
You are syncing your Shopify account to CommentSold using MSM.

You should not use this setting if you are syncing your Shopify account to CS while using EZ Importer or Matrixify in Shopify.

Learn More

Avalara Help Center. Learn how to navigate your Avalara dashboard and account.
Manage Existing Products. Learn how to manage existing products' details, media, variants, and inventory information.

Set Up and Use Avalara for Sales Taxes

How Avalara Benefits Your Business

Create an Avalara Account

Configure Your Avalara Account

Add Tax Codes to Products

View Transactions in Avalara

State-Specific Fees

Troubleshooting Issues

Learn More

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