Switching from Avalara? Here’s how to do it.

INTRODUCTION AND EXPECTATIONS

Switching from Avalara to TaxCloud can feel like untangling years of sales tax processes and essential systems, especially if you’ve never changed providers before. It’s a process that requires clarity, planning, and careful coordination.

Fortunately, you don’t have to make the switch alone!

Our onboarding team can talk you through the process required to move your filings and tax calculations from Avalara into the TaxCloud ecosystem.

This guide is built specifically for users transitioning from Avalara to TaxCloud.

Inside, we’ll break down every step of the migration process — as well as what you should avoid — so that you’ll always know what to do next.

PRE-MIGRATION PLANNING

Preparing for the switch

Before you leave Avalara, it’s important to lay the groundwork for a smooth transition. Failure to do so can lead to gaps in coverage and a loss of historical data that you’ll need to get up and running with your new TaxCloud account.

This section walks you through the key steps to take before cancelling your Avalara account. Some of these steps can be handled by your team while others can be handled by a TaxCloud onboarding specialist.

Ending service with Avalara

Before any technical setup begins, it’s important to formally plan how and when you’ll end your relationship with Avalara.

Timing is critical because Avalara, like many providers, doesn’t allow users with expired contracts to access data stored on their accounts. Instead, you’ll need to gather all the data from the platform before your contract expires.

At TaxCloud, we’ll also need some time to set up your new account. During this process, our team will guide you on how to use the information from Avalara to configure your settings, account preferences, and automations while also using your historical transaction data to ensure that future filings are accurate.

If these details aren’t finalized up front, you risk duplicate filings, missed returns, or continued billing from Avalara even after you’ve fully switched to TaxCloud!

Here’s what you’ll need to do:

1. Review your Avalara contract and finalize the cancellation date. Make sure you have a good understanding of your contract terms — including any required notice period — to avoid surprise billing or unexpected service extensions.
2. Choose a transition window that avoids filing deadlines. Since returns are submitted after the close of a filing period (more on this below), try not to cancel mid-cycle. For example, if Avalara is filing February returns (due in March), your cancellation date should fall at the end of March so that Avalara has time to file and complete all outstanding tasks.
3. Notify internal stakeholders of the upcoming change. Filing responsibilities may shift between teams during the transition. Make sure your accounting, operations, and leadership teams are aligned on obligations and timelines.
4. Contact TaxCloud 30-60 days before your cutover. This gives our onboarding team time to review your account setup, prepare your state filings, and assist with removing Avalara’s access to relevant tax portals.

Leaving at the end of the contract period makes the most sense for the majority of businesses, but it shouldn’t be an impulse decision. By getting in touch with our team early and letting us know your intent to switch, we’ll have more time to help you migrate across platforms without interruptions or unexpected curveballs.

COORDINATING YOUR FILING OBLIGATIONS

Once you’ve selected your cancellation date and informed your team, you’ll need to clearly define which provider is responsible for your filings during the transition period.

Like TaxCloud, Avalara can file through the Streamlined Sales Tax (SST) program, so they may be filing on your behalf in two different capacities:

• As your Certified Service Provider (CSP) through the SST program.
• Through direct filing services available in non-SST states.

Each path requires slightly different steps to resolve, and it’s important to get them right to avoid interruptions and compliance gaps.

For clarity, here’s a breakdown of the states covered under SST:

Let’s look at each approach separately.

SST ACCOUNTS

If Avalara is currently acting as your CSP under the Streamlined Sales Tax program, you’ll need to request that they file your final SST returns and then formally separate from your SST account.

Once you inform Avalara that you’re transitioning to a different provider, they’ll typically offer three paths forward:

In order for TaxCloud to take over your SST filings, you’ll choose Option 3.

After Avalara files your final returns, they should initiate separation from your SST account without removing or closing your registrations.

You’ll also need to save your SST ID number. Our onboarding team will need this number to request CSP access and begin filing on your behalf.

Your SST ID will begin with “S” followed by several numbers. (Example: S00123456.)

NON-SST STATES

If Avalara is also filing for your outside of the SST program, it’s essential to carefully define your last filing period with them. Because of how filing periods and schedules work, it’s easy for these directions to be misunderstood.

When coordinating with Avalara, be specific about your filing dates and periods so that it’s clear what paperwork should be completed by their team and when they should stop their filing processes.

During these discussions, make sure that your instructions align with your cancellation date. This way, Avalara will stop filing on a set date and TaxCloud can pick up where they left off.

To prevent confusion, we recommend phrasing the request like this:

Once the handoff is complete, our team will work with you to remove Avalara’s access to your state portals (where possible), so that no additional filings are submitted after your cancellation date.

As a final checklist for this section, confirm the following:

• Determine how Avalara is filing your taxes.
• For the SST program, notify them that you’re switching providers and that you want the new provider to file your SST return. Remove Avalara as your CSP without having them close your SST account. (Option 3 in the table above.)
• For non-SST states, confirm which returns Avalara will file and make sure your cancellation date aligns with your final filing dates.
• Save your SST ID number. TaxCloud will request this during onboarding to register as your new CSP.
• Confirm with TaxCloud when our team plans to take over filing on our behalf. Make sure this aligns with your exit from Avalara.

DATA RETENTION AND IMPORTING

Before you leave Avalara, it’s essential to collect and preserve any tax data, transaction records, or platform configurations that you may need down the line.

Avalara doesn’t typically allow access to your account once your contract ends, which means you could lose valuable information unless you act ahead of time or extend your contract with a new plan.

Keep in mind that you may have to wait until close to your contract end date to download your most recent records. If you export your data too early, you run the risk of missing the final weeks or months of data that accumulates prior to switching providers.

What to download

• All state tax returns filed through Avalara.

Download and store copies of any returns submitted on your behalf, along with the amounts reported. In the event of a discrepancy or audit, this data will be essential.

• Sales tax reports by state or jurisdiction.

This is the source data or summary that Avalara used to prepare each return. It should show the total tax collected, as well as breakdowns by jurisdiction (state/ city/county/etc.). This data may also include schedule or line-item breakdowns.

• Transaction-level sales data for the past 12-24 months.

Export detail transaction records, ideally covering the last two years of business operations. This is useful for tracking economic nexus, backdating reports, and uploading historical data to TaxCloud.

• All product tax code mappings.

If you’ve assigned Avalara tax codes to your products, export or document them. TaxCloud uses its own system (called TICs), and our team can help to translate your mappings during the onboarding process.

• Customer exemption certificates.

BBe sure to save any documentation recorded for tax-exempt customers. Losing these means that you’ll be forced to collect certificates again from your customers. Note that these may be stored in Avalara’s certificate management module and may be required to validate exemption status in the event of an audit.

• List of states enabled for tax calculations.

Take note of the states in which Avalara calculated sales tax. At TaxCloud, we can use this data to make sure that no states are missed during the changeover.

From an onboarding perspective, our team will need some of this data in order to ensure a smooth transition.

Providing our team with historical data, existing tax codes, and exemption certificates gives us the ability to help you prepare your account in advance. Using this approach, we can map products appropriately and make sure that our economic nexus tools are already accounting for your existing transaction data.

While it’s possible for us to prepare your account without this data, our tools will lack historical context without the required information. In this scenario, TaxCloud can track things like economic nexus, but it starts from $0 and won’t be able to offer a full picture of your economic nexus obligations.

CONFIGURATION AND TESTING

Once your TaxCloud account is set up, we strongly recommend testing your tax calculations before going live.

While our team works closely with you during the onboarding process to configure your states, product codes, and exemptions, every sales channel is different. Miscalculations can happen if testing is skipped, leading to reporting discrepancies, incorrect tax calculations, and other problems down the road.

Here’s a closer look at testing methods we recommend:

1. Use a sandbox or staging store whenever possible. If your marketplace or e-commerce platform supports it, clone your store and run TaxCloud calculations in a test environment before going live. This is – by far – the safest and easiest way to catch issues without impacting live transactions.
2. Test across product types and shipping destinations. Try taxable, non-taxable, and reduced-rate products. Test shipping to multiple states to confirm that the correct rate and treatment applies.
3. Test tax-exempt customer behavior. Place orders using tax-exempt accounts or certificates to make sure that exemption logic works properly.
4. Compare results to your Avalara data. If you still have Avalara calculations running, or if your marketplace/e-commerce store allows two tax platforms to integrate simultaneously, compare transaction data side-by-side. Pay careful attention to line-item handling, rounding, and any special tax rules that might apply.
5. Validate edge cases. Discounts, drop shipping, bundles, and other complex scenarios are where errors are most likely to occur. Include these in your test suite, along with any other fringe cases or uncommon variables that are unique to your storefront operation.

Running these tests ahead of time helps you catch small configuration issues before they become bigger problems.

The trick is to conduct your testing without interfering with your live storefront. Especially if your website or marketplace storefront enjoys regular shoppers, switching engines in a live environment can lead to missed sales, misplaced transaction data, and a host of other issues. That’s why we always recommend sandbox-based solutions when they are available.

Once testing is complete and you’re confident in the results, you’re ready to make the switch. Our team will help you coordinate the go-live process, verify that tax is being calculated correctly in real time, and confirm that your setup is fully aligned before we begin filing returns on your behalf.

MAPPING PRODUCT TAX CODES

If you’ve previously assigned Avalara tax codes to your products, you’ll want to carry that logic over to TaxCloud before going live.

TaxCloud uses a classification system called TICs (Taxability Information Codes), which function similarly to Avalara’s tax codes. While the systems don’t share a one-to-one mapping function, we’ll work with you to align your catalog with the appropriate TICs to ensure product-level taxability is preserved in all states.

While taxability codes are critical to calculating accurate tax in a given jurisdiction, configuring the system can be a hassle.

Here are some of the best ways to approach this during the migration:

Correct product mapping is one of the most important steps when ensuring tax accuracy. If even a few products are misclassified, you may end up under- or over-collecting in certain states, which can trigger audits or customer service issues.

Our onboarding team will walk you through this process in detail. We can even assist in bulk mapping if you provide a copy of your product catalog early in the setup process.

COMMON PITFALLS TO AVOID

Even well-planned migrations can run into issues when crucial steps and details are missed.

In this section, we’ll tackle some of the most common mistakes that organizations make when switching sales tax providers.

While preparing for the transition, take careful note of the errors in this section. Be sure to keep them top-of-mind as the migration takes place.

Losing access to Avalara data

Avalara doesn’t allow users to access their accounts after contract expiration.

If you forget to download your transaction records, tax returns, or exemption certificates before the cutoff, you may lose them permanently. This puts you at a disadvantage in the event of a state audit or future data reconciliation.

Fortunately, this problem is easy to avoid with proper planning.

1. Before your contract expires, download each of the following:
   • Filed returns
   • Detailed transaction data (inc. line items and assigned product tax codes)
   • Sales tax reports
   • Login details and filing frequencies for your nexus states
   • Copies of your customer exemption certificates
2. Back up your data in multiple locations (internal servers, cloud storage, etc.) to avoid loss or corruption.
3. Export data in standard formats like CSV or XLS for easy reference and cross-system compatibility.

Download everything you need before your Avalara contract ends. While you shouldn’t leave this until the last day, don’t export too early either or you may miss any data collected between your download date and your switchover date.

Filing overlap or missed returns

Transition periods are where many businesses miss a filing window or end up accidentally double-remitting tax.

This commonly occurs when brands forget to coordinate filing obligations across providers during the transition process.

When this isn’t properly communicated, both tax platforms may file separately on the organization’s behalf — creating a double-remit – or fail to file at all because they believe the obligation lies with the other platform.

To prevent this:

• Confirm with Avalara when service is ending.
• Document the final period covered by Avalara.
• Verify when TaxCloud will begin filing on your behalf, and confirm that information.
• Notify your internal team of the provider change.

Because of how filings work, determining exact dates can become a major source of confusion if instructions aren’t clear.

Although this may be frustrating, take extra steps to be crystal clear on which provider is responsible for filing within a given time period, and make sure that all remittance is accounted for as that responsibility shifts between platforms.

Turning off tax calculations prematurely

If you disable Avalara before TaxCloud is fully configured, your storefront may stop calculating sales tax altogether.

Disabling early can result in orders being processed without appropriate tax, causing undercollection, refund issues, and future compliance problems. This is especially risky on platforms that don’t support multiple tax engines at once, like Shopify or WooCommerce.

To prevent this from happening, do the following:

• Test TaxCloud calculations in a sandbox or staging store, if possible.
• Do not disable Avalara until TaxCloud has been tested and validated.
• If you’re unable to test live, coordinate a scheduled go-live time with our team to minimize disruption.
• Avoid making changes during high-traffic periods (sales events, product launches, etc.).

Once TaxCloud is enabled and calculations are confirmed you can disengage with Avalara and turn off the system for live transactions.

However, until you’re confident that TaxCloud has been configured correctly, we recommend sticking with your current provider.

Not removing Avalara’s access from tax portals

Even after you cancel your Avalara subscription, the platform may still retain login access to your state accounts. That’s especially true if you previously authorized them to file on your behalf.

If Avalara retains access to your tax portals, their automated system may continue submitting filings even after you’ve transitioned to TaxCloud. This can lead to duplicate filings, payment conflicts, and confusion from state agencies.

In order to prevent this, take the following steps:

• Identify which states Avalara was actively filing in, with special attention paid to non-SST states.
• Revoke any third-party logins or delegated access granted to Avalara within state portals once Avalara has filed your final return. This will need to be done from the state portal, not from within Avalara.
• Update passwords or user roles where applicable. Changing the login details that the Avalara integration uses to validate its credentials with the state portal can stop filing, even if you’re having trouble removing the integration.
• Notify state departments that you’ve changed service providers, if required. However, keep in mind that notifying them may not prevent confusion if they receive conflicting filings from separate providers.

Our onboarding team will assist you with this process during your transition. We’ll let you know which accounts need attention and where you should focus your efforts to ensure that Avalara can’t submit returns after their final filing period.

However, this usually requires some manual effort on your part, as our team may not have the login credentials or user authority to make changes within your accounts.

FINAL STEPS

Pre-flight and launch

Once you’ve completed your onboarding setup, tested your tax calculations, and confirmed your final filing handoff with Avalara, you’re almost ready to go live!

At this stage, our team will work with you to verify your configuration and choose the right day to officially switch tax engines. While some businesses choose to go live as soon as the initial configuration is complete, we recommend scheduling a brief handoff period where both providers remain connected to your systems but are disengaged from filing duties. This gives you space to double-check everything before the new system takes over.

Going Live

Once TaxCloud is configured and tested, you’re ready to make the switch official. When you launch, TaxCloud will take over live tax calculation and begin preparing filings on your behalf.

Typically, that involves each of the following:

• Activating live tax calculations in your ecommerce or POS platform.
• Monitoring real-time transactions to verify tax is applied correctly.
• Ensuring filing schedules are active and ready for the next due date.
• Turning off or disconnecting Avalara, if the system was embedded in your online store.

Remember: If something doesn’t look right, reach out to our team immediately. It’s essential that any issues are corrected and resolved before filings begin.

Post-launch

Sales tax is constantly evolving as new regulations are passed. After launch, TaxCloud will help you stay informed, compliant, and prepared as your business evolves.

Most of this information should update automatically within the system through regular updates. Only some of these may be relevant or visible to you.

For example, if a jurisdiction in the U.S. changes its tax policy, this is likely to be reflected within the software through an internal update. Tax will apply correctly at checkout based on new rules and regulations, but you may not be notified of the change.

However, other data may be highly relevant to you. Be sure to check your reporting and tracking tools to ensure they’re working properly. Because TaxCloud offers nexus tracking, you’ll be alerted when you’re approaching a threshold in a new state.

Lastly, our onboarding and transition teams will be available for several weeks after your transition takes place. Lean on these resources while you have them in order to smooth out any kinks in the migration process.

After the migration is complete and things have had time to settle, we’ll put you in touch with our regular support team, who are better equipped to handle issues that fall outside the scope of the onboarding and transition process.

FINAL CHECKLIST

1. Planning your exit from Avalara

• Review your Avalara contract and identify your cancellation window.
• Choose a cutover date that avoids active filing deadlines.
• Notify internal stakeholders of the transition and timeline.
• Contact TaxCloud at least 30-60 days before your target cutover.
• Confirm how Avalara is filing (SST, non-SST, or both)
  • For SST: Select Option 3 to remove Avalara as CSP, and retain your SST account.
  • For non-SST: Confirm your final filing period and communicate exact filing dates.
• Save your SST ID for onboarding. Ensure Avalara will stop filing after their final reporting period.

2. Collecting and backing up your data

• Download all state tax returns filed through Avalara.
• Export sales tax reports by state or jurisdiction.
• Save 12-24 months of transaction-level data for nexus tracking and reporting.
• Export product tax code mappings (Avalara codes).
• Download customer exemption certificates. Record all states currently enabled for tax calculation.
• Store backups in both local and cloud-based locations.
• Use standard file formats (CSV, XLS) for compatibility and ease of use.

3. Setting up and testing TaxCloud

• Connect your ecommerce/POS/ERP platforms to TaxCloud.
• Map products to the correct TICs (Taxability Information Codes).
• Use a cloned version of your live store for pre-launch testing.
• Run sample transactions across product types, states, and exemption scenarios.
• Validate complex cases (bundles, discounts, shipping, etc.).
• Confirm tax-exempt customer behavior is working correctly.
• Compare TaxCloud calculations to Avalara (if still active).
• Only disable Avalara once testing is complete and TaxCloud is live.

4. Final handoff and Go-Live

• Confirm TaxCloud will begin filing on the correct date.
• Deactivate Avalara from your ecommerce system once TaxCloud is active.
• Revoke Avalara’s access to your state tax portals (where applicable).
• Update portal logins or user roles to prevent unintended filings.
• Notify states of your provider change, if required.
• Monitor real-time calculations after go-live.
• Ensure filing schedules are active and ready for the next due date.
• Archive all final Avalara reports and configuration data for audit and reference