Install and Configure Avalara AvaTax for Salesforce Billing
After you activate AvaTax and set up your company profile, install and configure AvaTax for your business application. During configuration, customize your setup to fit your unique business needs for things like:
- Tax calculation settings for various tax types
- Exemption settings if you have exempt customers
- Product taxability settings
Alter these settings when your business needs change.
Before you install
- You must have all the following installed before installing AvaTax for Salesforce Billing:
- Salesforce CPQ (must be installed before Salesforce Billing)
- Salesforce Billing
- If your organization has Salesforce CPQ installed, make sure it's Salesforce CPQ 1.5 or later.
Install the AvaTax integration for Salesforce Billing
Install the Avalara AvaTax Salesforce Mapper and the Avalara AvaTax for Salesforce Billing packages to enable tax calculation and address validation in Salesforce Billing.
To connect Salesforce Billing to AvaTax:
- In AvaTax, go to Settings > Integrations > Manage.
- Select See connector versions for the appropriate Avalara AvaTax Salesforce Mapper version (sandbox or production), and then select the most recent version.
- On the Package Install page, select Install for All Users, and then click Install.
- To complete the installation, click Done.
- Ensure the user has full access permissions for Avalara custom objects (UDLs and UserMessages).
- Repeat steps 1-4 to install the appropriate version (sandbox or production) of AvaTax for Salesforce Billing.
Configure
In addition to adding controls to pages in Salesforce Billing for quicker access to AvaTax actions, you must configure certain objects specifically to allow AvaTax to properly calculate taxes and validate addresses. If you use a custom field to record information included in any of the configurations in this section, use the XML on the tax integration page of AvaTax Salesforce Mapper to complete the configuration.
Find system integrator documents for each version on the release notes for the version.
Customize Salesforce Billing pages
- On each indicated page, click Edit Layout, click Fields or Buttons, and then drag the appropriate button or field down to the Detail section of the page:
Page Field Button Accounts - Exemption
- Entity/Use Code
- Business Identification Number
- Is Seller Importer of Record
Validate Addresses Legal Entities Validate Addresses Contact Validate Addresses
Configure the Billing Config object
- In Salesforce Billing, go to Setup > Build > Develop > Custom Settings, and then, next to Billing Config, click Manage.
- If a configuration named AVALARA AVATAX doesn't exist, create it:
- Click New.
- Fill in the following values, and then click Save:
Field Value Name AVALARA_AVATAX Category Tax String Value Avalara AvaTax
Configure the Tax Config object
- In Salesforce Billing, go to Setup > Build > Develop > Custom Settings, and then, next to Tax Config, click Manage.
- Click New, fill in the following values, and then click Save:
Field Value Name Avalara AvaTax Class Name AVA_BLNG.TaxCalculationAPI
Configure an AvaTax tax integration
The default tax integration page doesn't contain all the necessary fields. Configure the page layout as part of creating the AvaTax tax integration.
Create the tax integration and configure the page
- In Salesforce Billing, go to Tax Integrations, and then click New.
- In Tax Integration Name, enter a unique and easy to identify name for the tax integration, and then click Edit Layout.
- Click Buttons, and then drag the Test Connection button down beside the Tax Integration Detail heading, into the Custom Buttons space.
- Click Fields, and then drag the following fields down under the Tax Integration Detail heading, into the Information section:
- AvaTax Account Number
- AvaTax License Key
- Doc Code
- Customer Code
- Validate Addresses
- Save transactions to AvaTax
- In the Section Properties dialog box, select 1-Column, in the Section Name field enter AvaTax XML Mapping, and then click OK.
Configure the tax integration
- On the tax integration page you just created, fill out the following, and then click Save:
Field Action Active Select this option to make the tax treatment visible and available to use.
If you clear this option in the future, any existing objects with a lookup relationship to this treatment won't be changed.
AvaTax Account Number Use the information provided in an email from Avalara (sent to the email account you used to activate your account). It must match what's saved in AvaTax at Settings > Account ID. AvaTax License Key Use the information provided in an email from Avalara (sent to the email account you used to activate your account). It must match what's saved in AvaTax. Default Select to set this tax integration as the default. Sandbox - To test AvaTax using a sandbox account, select this option.
- To send transaction to an AvaTax production account, clear this option.
Tax Engine Select Avalara AvaTax. Doc Code - To use the invoice name as the doc code, select Name.
- To use the invoice ID as the doc code, select Id.
Customer Code - To use the account name as the customer code, select Name.
- To use the account ID as the customer code, select Id.
Validate Addresses Select this option to allow address validation for addresses in the US and Canada. Save transactions to AvaTax - To save transactions to AvaTax, select this option. (Recommended)
- To show estimated tax but not save transactions to AvaTax, clear this option. We recommend you only clear this option when testing your integration.
Test Connection Click to validate the information you've entered. -
Click Test Connection. When a successful connection is made, the AvaTax Config file is automatically added and displays in the Notes & Attachments section.
Restrict editing tax integrations
To restrict who can edit tax integration settings for the AvaTax tax integration, make sure only the System Administrator profile is set to use the AvaTax tax integration page layout.
Configure the AvaTax legal entity
- In Salesforce Billing, go to Legal Entities, and then click New.
- Fill out the following, and then click Save:
Field Action Legal Entity Name Company code created in AvaTax Active Select this option to make the legal entity visible and available to use. Address fields Enter the ship-from (origin) address
Configure an AvaTax GL rule
- In Salesforce Billing, go to GL Rules, and then click New.
- Fill out the following, and then click Save:
Field Action GL Rule Name Enter a unique, easy to identify, name for the rule Active Select this option to make the tax rule visible and available to use.
If you clear this option in the future, any existing objects with a lookup relationship to this rule won't be changed.
Configure an AvaTax GL treatment
- In Salesforce Billing, go to GL Treatments, and then click New.
- Fill out the following, and then click Save:
Field Action Name Enter a unique, easy to identify, name for the GL treatment. Active Select this option to make the tax treatment visible and available to use.
If you clear this option in the future, any existing objects with a lookup relationship to this treatment won't be changed.
GL Legal Entity Select the GL legal entity to use for saving transactions to AvaTax. Tax Rule Select the GL rule that's configured for AvaTax. Credit GL Account Select the tax payable account to record credit tax transactions to. Debit GL Account Select the accounts receivable account to record debit transactions to.
- Fill out the following, and then click Save:
Configure an AvaTax tax rule
- In Salesforce Billing, go to Tax Rules, and then click New.
- Fill out the following, and then click Save:
Field Action Tax Rule Name Enter a unique, easy to identify, name for the rule Active Select this option to make the tax rule visible and available to use.
If you clear this option in the future, any existing objects with a lookup relationship to this rule won't be changed.
Taxable (Yes/No) - To send the record to AvaTax to calculate tax, select Yes. Sending all records, including those for non-taxable lines, helps avoid tax compliance issues, especially for SST customers. (Recommended)
- To not send the record to AvaTax and to set tax to zero, select No. We don't recommend using this to make invoice lines non-taxable. Instead, on the Tax Treatment page, in Tax Code, select NT.
Configure an AvaTax tax treatment
- In Salesforce Billing, go to Tax Treatments, and then click New.
- Fill out the following, and then click Save:
Field Action Name Enter a unique, easy to identify, name for the tax treatment. Active Select this option to make the tax treatment visible and available to use.
If you clear this option in the future, any existing objects with a lookup relationship to this treatment won't be changed.
Tax Code Enter the desired tax code previously created in AvaTax. The code determines taxability of invoice lines to which this tax treatment is mapped. Tax Integration Select the tax integration you configured previously with AvaTax login details, and that will be used for calculating taxes and saving transactions to AvaTax. Tax Legal Entity Select the tax legal entity you configured previously to use for saving transactions to AvaTax. Tax Rule Select the tax rule you configured previously for AvaTax.
Set the tax calculation address for invoices
- In Salesforce Billing, go to Setup > Installed Packages, and then, next to Salesforce Billing, and then click Configure.
- On the General tab, from the Tax calculation is based on list, select the address AvaTax uses as the ship-to (destination) address when calculating tax on invoices.
Set product tax rules
- In Salesforce Billing, go to Product, select a product, and then click Edit.
- In the Salesforce Billing Configuration section, select the AvaTax rule you created, and then click Save.
- Repeat this for each active product.
AvaTax custom fields and integration points
The AvaTax for Salesforce Billing integration package includes the following custom fields:
| Label | API name | Data type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| AvaTax Account Number | AvaTaxAccountNumber__c | Text(255) | Account number to connect to AvaTax account |
| AvaTax License Key | AvaTaxLicenseKey__c | Text(255) | License key to connect to AvaTax account |
| Customer Code | CustomerCode__c | Picklist | Select whether to send the invoice number or the invoice ID as the doc code |
| Doc Code | DocCode__c | Picklist | Select whether to send the account name or the account ID as the customer code |
| Sandbox | TestMode__c | Checkbox | The default account type is production. If selected, account type is changed from production to sandbox. |
| Save transactions to AvaTax | Save_transactions_to_AvaTax__c | Checkbox | If selected, transactions are posted to AvaTax |
| Validate Address | Validate_Address__c | Checkbox | If selected, address validation feature is enabled |
AvaTax integrates with Salesforce Billing at the following points:
| Object/Page | Address validation | Test connection | Exemption | Calculate tax | Void tax | Commit tax | Tax date override | Tax code mapping | Legal entity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Account | Yes | Yes | |||||||
| Contact | Yes | ||||||||
| Legal Entity | Yes | ||||||||
| Tax Integration | Yes | ||||||||
| CPQ Order | Automatic | Yes | |||||||
| Invoice | Automatic | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||
| Invoice Line | Yes | Yes | |||||||
| Credit Note | Manual | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||
| Credit Note Line | Yes | Yes | |||||||
| Debit Note | Manual | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||
| Debit Note Line | Yes | Yes | |||||||
| Refund | No | No | No | No | No | No |