Avalara, the Seattle-based company that provides corporate tax solutions, recently acquired 3CE Technologies, located in Quebec, Canada. 3CE specializes in global trade management and customs compliance, and their software is used by governments, shippers, and logistic service providers to navigate the complicated process of identifying and mapping codes for cross-border transactions. These codes are important because they ensure that a customer's products and services are taxed at the correct rate for any jurisdiction and the most accurate sales tax is calculated.

This is Avalara’s third acquisition since the beginning of October, following their acquisition of Track1099 on October 1 and CrowdReason later that month. With these purchases, Avalara hopes to use these platforms for additional support of end-to-end tax compliance for its customers, as well as increase their offerings related to document management, tax content, and property tax returns.

Avalara partners with Shopify

In addition to the acquisition of 3CE, Avalara is teaming up with e-commerce technology giant, Shopify, to manage cost pricing for its customers, helping them determine the duty and import tax requirements in more than 180 countries. Websites using Shopify for cross-border sales will now be able to calculate the correct taxes and fees at checkout, minimizing surprise costs, and reducing compliance risk.

The goal of this partnership is to make it easier to sell anywhere in the world and in new industries through Shopify Markets. Randy Rotchin, president and CEO of 3CE says, “We are committed to removing barriers to global commerce for businesses of all sizes.”

CEO Scott McFarlane of Avalara agrees with Rotchin, stating, “Cross-border commerce comes with increased compliance complexity that can create risk for merchants. Shopify Markets provides merchants with the automated duty and import tax capabilities of Avalara’s cross-border solutions to streamline the checkout process.”

Tax compliance category traffic continues to climb

Due in large part due to the uptick in online shopping as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, retailers need to stay apprised of all transactions, while ensuring that they are collecting and remitting the proper taxes and staying compliant with both local and international tax codes and regulations. 

Around March 2020, just as the pandemic took the world in its stranglehold, the traffic to G2’s Sales Tax and VAT Compliance category started to increase at a significant rate. 

We’ve seen a traffic increase of more than 80% to this category since the start of the pandemic. As more and more merchants realize the importance, and difficulty of tracking sales taxes, VAT, and GST, we expect to see that number steadily rise, especially if platforms continue to expand and improve their tax compliance offerings.