In this week’s earnings webcast, McFarlane said the company is “investing to improve efficiency in our returns business, especially in Europe.” Increased automation will be involved in deciding where companies should file returns, populating data and filing returns. Avalara ended 2018 with its loss narrowing and revenue accelerating. The loss for 2018 rose to $75.6 million, compared to $64.1 million the prior year. Revenue for the most recently ended year reached $272.1 million, up 28 percent from $213.2 million. However, for the fourth quarter the loss dropped to $18.4 million, from $22.4 million for 2018. Revenue in the final three months last year was $76.9 million, an increase of 33 percent from $58 million in the prior year’s corresponding period.