Avalara Sales Tax Alternative: USgeocoder Sales Tax API

Simple address-based sales tax rates that are updated monthly

A lighter version of Avalara Sales Tax service

Avalara sales tax service provides comprehensive information. As a result, they charge more and it takes a good amount of time to integrate its API. However according to companies  switching from Avalara to USgeocoder, the common reason of leaving Avalara is that they only need simple sales tax rate information.

For many businesses, they don’t need to worry about resale permit or exemptions. They are not in businesses such as food, lodging or energy which have different sales tax rates than general tax rates for tangible items. All they need is sales tax rates for a particular address. If you are one of these businesses, instead of using Avalara sales tax service, USgeocoder might be a better solution for your sales tax information needs.

USgeocoder provides all the general tax rate information that you can get from Avalara sales tax service for tangible items.

To ease the sales tax reporting process, USgeocoder’s sales tax service provides the data that makes sales tax reporting simple! You will get the following data for each address:

1. Each taxing jurisdiction and its tax rates including State, County, Municipality and Special Districts.
2. Tax Code if applicable. Some states such as CA have specific tax codes issued by the state agency to represent specific taxing jurisdictions. For example, for address 1591 Williamsport Drive, San Jose, CA 95131. Its tax code is 43060. This tax code represents the tax rates for addresses in CA, Santa Clara county and San Jose city. Some states require such codes when doing sales tax returns.
3. Local district sales tax names and their rates are also available. Below is a screenshot of the sales tax information for 7345 Delridge Way SW, Seattle, WA 98106-1740. It shows the detailed sales tax information for each taxing jurisdiction. All the information you see on this screenshot is available via USgeocoder API.

You can do your own testing by entering a street address and its 5 digit zip code on USgeocoder’s live demo at: https://usgeocoder.com/api_live_demo

Just like Avalara sales tax service, USgeocoder provides location-based sales tax rates with top accuracy

In today’s market, there are 4 different ways to calculate sales tax rates: by 5 digit zip code, by 9 digit zip code (zip code and zip+4), by address and by geocodes.

Some legacy software still uses 5 or 9 digit zip codes to get sales tax rates. Using zip codes produces the least accurate sales tax rates. From New York State’s Department of Taxation and Finance, its publication 718 says:

“Postal zones usually do not coincide with political boundaries, and the use of ZIP codes for tax collection results in a high degree of inaccurate tax reporting.”

Both Avalara and USgeocoder provide address-based sales tax sales tax rates. With USgeocoder, it could be either the center of the parcel, or the front of the drive way. When receiving an address via API request, USgeocoder geocodes the address to identify its geolocation and taxing jurisdictions, and then queries sales tax database to produce its tax rates.

In addition, USgeocoder also produces sales tax information by latitude and longitude. (Latitude + Longitude = Geocode) This very handy for sales to new construction, pipelines, broadband, and energy infrastructure facilities where there is no address. It is also twice as fast as looking up by address.

You can do your own testing by entering a latitude and longitude on USgeocoder’s live demo: https://usgeocoder.com/api_live_demo to lookup its sales tax information.

How often does Avalara sales tax rate get updated?  USgeocoder does it monthly.

Each state has different update schedules for sales tax rates. It could be monthly, quarterly, semi-yearly, yearly or as needed. Each month, USgeocoder checks each state to update its tax rate database accordingly. To find out the latest sales tax updates for each state, you may follow this blog article: https://blog.usgeocoder.com/2024-sales-tax-by-state/

Avalara sales tax service costs too much?  USgeocoder’s pricing is a lot more affordable. No Monthly Subscriptions! No Contract Terms!

If you don’t need most of the data Avalara provides, then why pay for information that you don’t need? One of the main reasons companies leave Avalara for USgeocoder is cost saving. Because USgeocoder provides simple rate information, it costs substantially less.

USgeocoder’s pricing is based on the number of lookups one buys at a time.  The price per lookup decreases with the size of the number pre-purchased. USgeocoder’s lookups do not expire. So most USgeocoder clients save money by purchasing large volume of lookups at a time. USgeocoder offers volume discount starting at 50,000 lookups.  And what’s better? There is no monthly subscription fee and there is no contract term!

Does Avalara sales tax service provide free trial? USgeocoder does!

There is nothing to lose with giving USgeocoder a try! You can test USgeocoder’s accuracy by using its live demo at https://usgeocoder.com/api_live_demo.

That’s how most of our clients started evaluating us. If you are satisfied with the results, then signup for a free API trial account from https://www.usgeocoder.com/api_trial_get_started. The free trial is good for 2-weeks or 1000 free lookups, whichever comes first. If you need more time or more free lookups for integration and/or testing purposes, you will certainly get them.

Is it easier to get hold of Avalara sale tax’s customer service and its technical support? USgeocoder is only a phone call or a click away!

Complete customer satisfaction is the standard that USgeocoder holds itself to.  Give us a call at toll free (888) 938-6732, or click on the “Chat” icon on the bottom right of usgeocoder.com’s web pages, or fill out a webform from USgeocoder’s Contact Us page.