A monthly blog series spotlighting the innovative solutions, people, and partnerships powering B2B digital transformation—one partnership at a time.
Compliance That Scales: How Avalara Helps Distributors Reduce Risk
For this edition of Plugged In, I sat down with Jordan Alford, Strategic Alliance Manager at Avalara, to explore how distributors can get tax right every time and reduce risk as they scale digital sales.
Why Tax is a Bigger Challenge in B2B than Most People Think
If you sell across state lines, support wholesale customers, or handle drop ship and special orders, sales tax can get complicated fast. Rates change often. Nexus rules evolve. Exemption certificates expire. What seems like a small compliance task can turn into a significant risk and a drag on productivity for finance and eCommerce teams.
“Avalara’s mission is simple: help distributors get tax right every time by automating complex compliance so finance teams can focus on growing the business.”
“Many distributors think no physical presence means no tax, or that one exemption certificate lasts forever. In reality, economic nexus, certificate expirations, and product taxability rules vary widely across states.”
Built for B2B: Automation that Removes Friction
Avalara provides automated sales tax calculation and exemption certificate management that fits the realities of distribution. Instead of spreadsheets and manual lookups, you get real-time tax decisions at checkout and a central place to capture, validate, and monitor certificates.
What that means for your team:
- Accurate tax calculation across jurisdictions in real time
- Smarter handling of product and customer taxability
- Streamlined certificate collection and renewals
- Less time on manual research and reconciliation
The outcome is clarity and confidence.
“Minimize your risk and exposure to sales tax audits, get on track and stay on track with Avalara.”
How Avalara Handles Complex Scenarios Automatically
Distributors face unique scenarios that can slow down orders if handled manually.
“We centralize exemption certificates, track nexus across states, handle drop-ship rules correctly, and apply the right taxability to each product; all automatically.”
That automation reduces the errors and delays that manual processes introduce.
“Manual processes create errors, missed exemptions, and late filings. That means penalties, audits, and lost time that automation could easily prevent.”
Less Risk and More Focus on Growth
Tax compliance should not slow expansion into new regions, product lines, or channels. By automating the most error-prone steps, distributors reduce audit exposure and free up time for higher-value work like pricing strategy, customer experience, and merchandising.
“Our clients consistently see a significant reduction in time spent researching tax rules, performing calculations, and managing audits, leading to greater efficiency and peace of mind around compliance.”
What’s New and Next from Avalara
Avalara continues to invest in capabilities that matter to distributors.
“We’re enhancing certificate automation, expanding product taxability content, strengthening ERP and ecommerce integrations, and building tools for e-invoicing and audit support; all designed to make compliance easier for distributors.”
Takeaways for Distributors
If tax is creating noise in your digital operations, automation is one of the highest-impact improvements you can make. With Avalara, you can:
- Improve accuracy at checkout and on invoices
- Simplify exemption management for wholesale buyers
- Scale into new markets with confidence
- Spend less time on compliance and more time on growth
