Get started with AvaTax for Communications
In order for us to help you get started using AvaTax for Communications, you must complete your purchase with your Avalara salesperson. After your purchase is complete, you can work through the get started checklists below.
Get started steps for AvaTax for Communications
Follow the checkmarks below to set up AvaTax for Communications products for tax determination. Each step must be completed in the order of appearance.
Step | Complete for AvaTax for Communications |
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Complete the Set-up Questionnaire sent to you by your salesperson and email it back to Avalara.
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Participate in the welcome call that your Implementation Consultant schedules for you. To prepare for the call:
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With your implementation consultant, set up information for your business:
(Note: You will need user documentation provided by Avalara to identify and document bundles, Transaction/Service pairs with bundles and the % needed for creating the bundle file.) |
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Begin building your integration API.
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Send a test transaction using your sandbox account.
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Contact your Implementation Consultant and let them know when you're ready to roll out.
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Follow-up actions
After your Go Live is complete, your Implementation Consultant will:
- Review processes and best practices.
- Inform you of how to contact our Support should you require assistance in the future.
- Inform you of your Customer Account Manager, whom you can contact for questions about your contract, services or products, and billing.
- If you need to file returns, see Get Started with Avalara Returns for Communications below.
Get started steps for Returns for Communications
Follow the checkmarks below to set up Returns for Communications. Each step must be completed in the order of appearance.
Step | Complete for Returns for Communications |
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An Onboarding Implementation Consultant will send you an Onboarding Document to in order to gather information about your company and returns details. Note the following during this step:
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Your Implementation Consultant will set up your Compliance Portal access. | ![]() |
Participate in the Welcome Call that is scheduled after the Compliance Portal set up. Be prepared to discuss the following:
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(Optional) If needed, we will prepare the registrations via PDF for your approval.
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Assuming you have sent in all the documentation and registrations to your Implementation Consultant, the Implementation Consultant will set up your Returns. | ![]() |
Review your returns for the final approval. | ![]() |
Is this all I need to do?
The steps outlined above are initial steps to get you up and running. After they're complete, navigate to the product-specific Get Started pages listed here:
- Avalara AvaTax for Communications SaaS Pro (REST)
- Avalara AvaTax for Communications SaaS Pro (SOAP)
- Communications Customer Portal
- Use Profiles to customize your tax calculation settings
- Add an Exclusion Group to manage the regions where you don't collect tax
- Add a Bundle Group to apply separate transaction/service pairs to bundled items
- Add a Safe Harbor Override to change the interstate percentage used to calculate the Federal Universal Service Fund surcharge
- Add custom tax settings
- Use the tax determination calculator to test your customizations
- Geo for Communications Pro
- Avalara AvaTax for Communications Manager
- Returns for Communications