Top seven reasons to move to SaaS-based sales tax compliance software

by TaxJar October 13, 2023

Please note: This blog was originally published in 2020. It’s since been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

Organizations turn to SaaS-based sales tax compliance software because it’s a smart business decision. Sales tax can be complex with 3,000 tax categories, over 14,000 tax jurisdictions and constantly shifting regulations. There’s the obvious reasons to choose a SaaS-based solution such as rapid implementation, additional flexibility and easy access to software updates. But there are other equally important reasons you might not have considered. Read on for the top seven reasons to consider SaaS-based sales tax compliance software.

Operational efficiency. Per an IDC report, “Nearly 50% of organizations still consider spreadsheets and paper records as their primary tax compliance tool.” Yikes! Why continue to rely on spreadsheets to manage your sales tax compliance when software can take the manual tedium and human error out of the equation? Companies who automate their sales tax filings save on average four hours per return. For companies filing in multiple states, that time can add up quickly.
Flexibility. Give your organization the ability to move quickly as changes happen to the business – have you met economic nexus thresholds in new states? Are online shopping habits changing and putting a bigger emphasis on reliability? Make changes when you need to.
Auditing capability. Retain transaction information. Have jurisdiction-level reporting and data-archived returns at your fingertip in case of audit.
Continuous compliance. Stay in sync with a rapidly shifting sales tax landscape, changing rate tables and state-level taxability, and 46 different sales tax laws without doing the heavy lifting.
Data visibility. Get insights into your sales tax data and know what’s going on and how it’s impacting your organization – where do you currently have economic nexus? Where are you approaching economic nexus? How much sales tax have you paid and when? Data visibility is relevant to other parts of your business as well helping inform actions such as sales and marketing decisions.
Rapid implementation. SaaS allows for the elimination of hardware and a much quicker deployment. While you’re still involved in the implementation process, your vendor takes on more of the ownership and responsibility – which all equates to a faster ROI.
Automatic software updates. Get the latest and greatest additions to functionality and fixes in real time. Pair that with 99.99% uptime and you experience virtually no associated downtime that occurs with on-premise options.