While AspDotNetStorefront supports manually configuring tax rates for your store, many stores will not want to take the time to set up and manage tax rates for all the areas they sell in. To help with this, we have integrated with the AvaTax service, from Avalara! With AvaTax, you can spend a few minutes setting up your taxes and then forget about them! Avalara handles all of the tax rate setup and updates for you. Note that you must be running on a current version of the MultiStore platform to use the Avalara Addin.
This page covers the setup of the Avalara Addin in version 9.1.0.1. For directions for version 9.2.0.0. and beyond, see here.
Setup is easy, and only takes a few minutes. It is broken into 2 main parts:
Installing the AddIn
1 - Before making any changes to your site, ensure that you have a full backup of your site files and database.
2 - First, you'll need to get an account with Avalara. The service we integrate with is called 'AvaTax OnDemand', so make sure that's what you sign up for!
3 - Next, contact the support desk to receive the Avalara AddIn files.
4 - Extract the files in the AddIn to a location on your computer.
5 - Open the \web\AddIns\AddIns\avalara.dll.config file in a text editor (Notepad is fine) and set the following keys with information from your new Avalara account:
AvalaraAccount - This is your account number. It shows at the top left of the page while logged into your Avalara account.
AvalaraLicense - This is the license key given to you by Avalara when you first sign up for your account.
AvalaraServiceURL - This is the web service URL provided by Avalara that the system should call for live rates. The dev/test URL is https://development.avalara.net.
CompanyCode - This is the the company code you create within your Avalara account, under the 'Organization' tab.
6 - Save the changes to the file.
7 - If you do not own the source code for the AspDotNetStorefront software, skip this step and move on to step 8! If you have modified any of the core class files, you will need to take the source code files that you were provided with the Avalara download (the files outside of the \web folder) and merge them into your source code, and then recompile. You will likely only have changed a few of these files (if any) as the majority of them are specific to Addins. You must replace all of these class files and recompile with them in place anyway! This should only be undertaken by a developer who is familiar with this kind of work, and with the modifications that have been performed on your site. After the recompile, be sure to 'push' up the new DLLs to your live site.
8 - Copy all of the files from the \Web folder you extracted onto your site, ensuring that the files end up in the same path on your site as they were in the extracted files. When prompted, choose to overwrite the existing files. Note: Source code customers should skip the /bin folder, as those files were replaced in step 7 above.
9 - Run the 'Update 9.1 to Latest.sql' script in the \db folder you extracted against your database.
10 - In the store admin site, navigate to Configuration -> Advanced -> AddIn Manager. Verify that there is an entry in the list of registered addins called 'ITaxRates'.
11 - Set the Addins.Enabled AppConfig to true.
12 - Set the RTShipping.Origin AppConfigs to the address you want to use as your 'origin' address when computing taxes. Note that if you are using realtime shipping rates, this step will already have been done.
13 - Click the 'Reset Cache' link in the admin console.
Configuring your Avalara Account
1 - First you will need to login to your Admin Console. For testing purposes you can use the URL of https://admin-development.avalara.net. Once there click on the Organization tab.
Next, we're going to need to setup an Organization from which to base our taxes on. This entity will possess quite a few possible configurations, depending on your company and business model. If at any time you are not sure about a specific value or configuration options, please consult a tax specialist or Avalara's support team to alleviate any unwanted side effects of incorrect taxation. AspDotNetStorefront cannot advise on the taxes you need to collect or how to configure your Avalara account.
2 - Click the 'New' button, which will begin a 'Company Setup Wizard'. Run through these prompts, entering the information for your company. Once that is complete, you should end up back on the Organizations tab, with an entry for the company you just set up.
3 - Click on the green N button under the 'Nexus' column for your new company, and you'll see the 'Edit' button. Click that, and you‟ll be taken to an area which allows you to choose which countries you'd like to apply tax for. By adding the United States (Check the box and save), you'll now have access to all 50 states and the ability to apply a nexus in each of them.
4 - Click the 'United States' hyperlink on the (AvaTax/GlobalNexus/NexusCountryList.aspx) page, and you'll be taken to this URL (AvaTax/GlobalNexus/NexusRegionList.aspx?CountryId=US). Click the 'Edit' button once more, and you will see a list of the US states.
5 - Check the states you'd like to have a nexus in and then save your selections.
6 - At this point, your Avalara Account should be configured for proper use.
You have now successfully installed the AvalaraTax AddIn. You can test it by going through the checkout process, and checking the tax values that are being returned for the Nexus regions you enabled.