Avalara is a convenient and easy tool to use for calculating required tax collections. You can charge taxes on content or products in Thought Industries with the Avalara Thought Industries integration.
Use Case Information
When using the native Thought Industries Ecommerce you can add tax to the check out flow on all transactions it is deemed necessary.
When configured you can control the following:
- Add Tax to Courses, Learning Paths and other Ecommerce Items
- Choose from a range of Tax codes
- Send tax data to Avalara
Connecting Avalara
Prerequisites:
- You will need to work with Avalara to set up an account, and then link that account to your Thought Industries site. If you have not done this step, please contact your Avalara Representative.
- You will also need to designate a fulfillment center since Avalara will calculate taxes automatically based on the location of the center.
Note
You must have an Ecommerce setting, such as Stripe, integrated before setting up Avalara in Thought Industries. Once Stripe is set up, follow the steps below.
Connecting Avalara in Thought Industries
- From your homepage, select Ecommerce > Settings.
- In the left menu, select Integrations.
- Go to the Tax Settings tab and locate the Avalara Tax Settings section.
- Enter the appropriate information:
- Avalara Account Number
- Avalara License Key
- Avalara Service URL
- Avalara Company Code
- Select Test Credentials to ensure everything was entered correctly.
- Select Save.
Enabling the Appropriate Settings
Tax Included in all Prices?
When enabled, tax is assumed to be built into the price of every item for sale, and as a result, sale amount and tax is back-calculated in Avalara.
Send Email as Customer Code?
When enabled, we'll send the Learner's email address as the Customer Code.
Disable Avalara Document Committing?
When enabled, orders are not saved to the Avalara tax database.
Disable Address Validation?
When enabled, addresses will not be validated during checkout.
Disable Tax Calculation?
When enabled, orders will not be taxed.
Show Logs
When checked, Avalara tax requests/responses will be logged temporarily, and can be viewed on the Tax Settings screen.
Setting Up a Fulfillment Center
Note
Only one fulfillment center is currently supported on each learning site.
A fulfillment center is required because tax is charged between where the company is located and where the purchaser is located. Generally speaking, the fulfillment center is typically the company's headquarters.
- From your homepage, select Ecommerce > Settings.
- In the left menu, select Integrations. Go to the Tax Settings tab.
- Assuming you've connected to Stripe and Avalara, you will have the option to manage fulfillment and shipping rate details on this page.
- Select Create Fulfillment Center.
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Enter a Fulfillment Center name and address. Note that not all address fields are required, but Avalara requires either City and Region or Postal Code in order to accurately charge taxes on your transactions. If you leave the Country field blank, Avalara will default to US.
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Alternatively, you can choose to toggle on Have Latitude/Longitude? to assist with defining location. Toggle this to Yes if you have the latitude and longitude of this fulfillment center (only applicable to locations within the US). Otherwise, toggle to No and enter address information.
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- Select Save.
Tip
See our Setting Up Shipping Rates article for more information on shipping.
Enabling Taxes on Content
- From your homepage, select Courses > All Courses.
- Select the content you wish to add tax information to.
- Select Enrollment and then Ecommerce.
- Enable Taxable? if you'd like to charge taxes.
- Complete the fields within the Pricing section:
- Fulfillment Center: select a fulfillment center from the drop-down list (once set up as outlined above).
- Tax Code Category: select a tax category that applies to the specific item. Either choose from the drop-down or use the search field to find a specific category.
- Select Save.
Enabling Taxes on Ecommerce Items
- From your homepage, select Ecommerce > Products.
- Select Edit from the actions drop down on the Ecommerce item you wish to add tax information to.
- Enable Taxable? if you'd like to charge taxes and complete the following fields:
- Fulfillment Center: select a fulfillment center from the drop-down list (once set up as outlined above).
- Tax Code Category: select a tax category that applies to the specific item. Either choose from the drop-down or use the search field to find a specific category.
- Select Save.