New setup experience for Avalara
We’ve redesigned the Avalara setup flow to help you get started faster and manage your products with greater ease.
The updated experience includes a streamlined sidebar for quicker navigation and improved access to settings and connectors. Based on your subscription, what you see on the interface differs.
- For single-product subscriptions, you need to complete setup before you can access the Avalara Home.
- For multi-product subscriptions, you can set up products in any order, following recommended guidance. Configure at least 1 product to access Avalara Home.
For more information, see Avalara setup guide.
Support for adding product images to tax code mapping items
You can now upload a product image when creating or editing an item during tax code mapping.
This optional feature allows for quick visual verification of item identity. If an image is no longer needed, you can remove it at any time.
Support for changing start date for new tax reporting location
When you add a new tax reporting location in AvaTax after completing onboarding, the start date is now automatically set to the current date.
Previously, AvaTax defaulted the start date to 1 year earlier, which could create confusion or misalignment in your reports. This change helps ensure that your reporting starts from the correct date and reflects your actual business activity more accurately.
Improved handling of missing attribute data in tax rules
AvaTax now offers improved flexibility in handling tax rules by processing transactions even if some parameters from AttributeOptionsare missing in the request. This update reduces friction caused by incomplete data and ensures reliable calculation without unnecessary failures.
Previously, the missing attributes required by a tax rule’s AttributeOptions caused the transaction to fail. With this enhancement:
- AvaTax assumes the missing AttributeOptioncondition doesn’t apply, and
- Continues evaluating the remaining rule logic as usual.
This change significantly reduces errors and improves transaction success rates, especially in scenarios where certain product or customer data may not always be available.
- The attributeApplicable and UnitOfBasis expressions must still include all required parameters.
- This update only applies to the Parameterpart of AttributeOptions.
When AvaTax detects a missing AttributeOption, it will return a descriptive message in the response. This message helps the developers and integrator:
- Identify which attribute was missing
- Understand that AvaTax skipped applying that specific condition
- Take corrective action if needed – without disrupting the transaction
Suppress Estimator-Provided HS Code from TCS response
AvaTax now supports a new customer-level setting: SuppressEstimatedHSCodes. This setting lets users control whether the AvaTax Estimator includes HS Codes in responses from the Tax Calculation Service (TCS) API.
When you enable it, AvaTax returns only the customer-provided HS Code, along with a warning. When disabled, the Estimator’s HS Code is included in the response.
Suppression is enabled by default (estimated HS code won’t be returned). This setting doesn’t affect customs duties calculation. Note Existing customers must contact Avalara to enable this setting.