Did not get the chance to visit Vertex and Taxware and both continue to serve the higher-end market with each company having an entry in the Oracle portion. Taxware, however, has its Sales and Use Tax system for the POS world and it serves Dynamics AX, GP and NAV, along with Oracle. Avalara sees the likelihood of news sales-and-use tax entrants on the low-end and it looks like a similar proliferation of cloud systems that we have seen in low-cost accounting packages. Already in the field are Tax Jar, whose line starts at $9.95 per month for up to 1,000 transactions monthly along with automated sales tax reports and the ability to track and record sales-tax payments. Then there is TaxCloud, which provides similar services for online retailers. If the Main Street Fairness Act, which provides for taxation on products sold via the Internet, becomes law we'll probably an explosion of these kinds of products.
SALES TAX IN FULL FORCE AT CONVERGENCE Featured
The Eighteenth Microsoft Convergence features a phenomenon not seen in several years—the four major sales tax vendors had exhibits. Avalara and CCH have not missed a show with their booths, although the size and location of the CCH presence has fluctuated widely. This year, Vertex and Taxware were on the Convergence floor for the first time in a long time. CCH also had a bit of a change with its new booth which emphasizes the company as a unit of Wolters Kluwer.
