Local jurisdictions
If you collect and pay tax in any of the following states, you may need to select local authorities for AvaTax to accurately calculate tax for the counties, cities, or special tax jurisdictions within them.
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Idaho
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
Your customer may be responsible for paying use tax if you don't collect tax for these local jurisdictions.
When you tell AvaTax to collect tax in one of the states listed above, you're prompted to add any optional local authorities. Add local authorities by entering an address or by selecting them from a list. To change where you collect and pay tax, go to Settings > Where You Collect Tax.
What if I'm not sure where my company collects and pays tax?
What does Automatically Update Authorities do?
What if I don't need to add local collection authorities?
Here's a summary of how AvaTax handles local jurisdictions in the states listed above. Review the information for each state summary before altering your settings in AvaTax. If you're not sure whether you need to collect tax in a local jurisdiction after reviewing this information, speak with your tax professional.
Alabama |
AvaTax lists all local jurisdictions, including state-administered, third-party-administered, and self-administered. Select the check box next to a local jurisdiction only if you're required to collect in that jurisdiction. |
Alaska |
All local jurisdictions listed are self-administered. Select the check box next to a local jurisdiction only if you're required to collect in that jurisdiction. Alaska doesn't collect sales tax at the state level, so you must add local jurisdictions to collect tax in Alaska. |
Arizona |
All local jurisdictions, other than local reservation districts, are state-administered. By default, AvaTax selects all local jurisdictions for you. To view or change the local jurisdictions where you collect:
The Arizona license type you initially apply for determines whether you file a transaction privilege tax (Tax type: Sales tax) or use tax (Tax type: Sales or sellers use tax) form. If you file use tax, no county tax is calculated. |
California |
The statewide base sales and use tax rate is 7.25%, and is made up of both state and local taxes:
All local jurisdictions are state-administered. Local jurisdictions listed represent those on the state’s District Tax Schedule (supplemental schedule to state return). By default, AvaTax selects all local jurisdictions for you. You can change this if you need to, although the local taxes included in the 7.25% base rate can't be disabled. Per the state:
There are some differences between the rules that apply to the payment of taxes in districts and the payment of sales and use taxes in general. Refer to Publication 44: District Taxes (from California's Tax Resources page) for more information. |
In most cases, AvaTax automatically selects and maintains local jurisdictions that are considered mandatory or compulsory but does not select optional jurisdictions. The exception to this scenario is Colorado. A compulsory local jurisdiction is one that requires collection of tax if you have nexus in the state. Since these jurisdictions are compulsory, they can't be selected. See How to prepare for the December 1, 2018 Colorado sales tax changes. AvaTax lists all local jurisdictions, both state-administered and self-administered. Counties are always state-administered. Complicated formulas exist for intrastate transactions.
The only state-administered jurisdictions that are required for out-of-state sellers are transit-related special taxing jurisdictions. |
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Idaho |
All local jurisdictions listed are self-administered. Select the check box next to a local jurisdiction only if you're required to collect in that jurisdiction. |
Louisiana |
All local jurisdictions are self-administered, including parishes and their special tax jurisdictions. Be sure to select special tax jurisdictions that apply to parishes. City jurisdictions are administered by the parishes. Select the parish where a city is located to calculate city taxes. |
Mississippi |
AvaTax selects and maintains the local jurisdictions that are considered required. Be sure to select any optional local jurisdictions where you're required to collect tax. |