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AvaTax calculation on ShipTo

Started by double0p, September 16, 2014, 16:34:39 PM

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double0p

I am using the Avalara Avatax plugin to calculate tax. Does the current version of VirtueMart (v. 2.6.10) and the Avatax plugin calculate tax based on the ShipTo address or the BillTo address?
Previous versions used the BillTo address; however, the ShipTo is what is used to assign tax in the United States.

OrangeYouGlad?

Sorry for the late response. (I just found this forum the other day). Hopefully your question was answered in one form or another (maybe by your customer account manager). BUT, in case if it wasn't, our AvaTax engine calculates rates based on the ShipTo address.  Unless, of course, you happen to be doing business in an origin based state. In that instance, it will calculate based on the location of your business. Billing address should have nothing to do with the calculation.

If you are experiencing a situation where it IS calculating tax based on the billing address, please let me know so it can be corrected.

What Are Origin-Based States?

Origin-based states are states where tax gets applied to products at the point of origin, rather than the ship-to address, on intrastate transactions. For instance, if a product was shipped from New York to Chicago, the tax applied would be based on the Chicago location. If the same product was shipped from Springfield, Illinois, the tax would be based on the Springfield location instead.

The following states are origin-based:

Arizona, Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia.

Texas is also origin based, but if the local tax rate from the origin address is less than 2%, the destination address is used to apply additional local tax up to the state-mandated 2% limit.

In California, the county portion of the tax is origin-based, but the cities and special tax jurisdictions (STJ's) are destination-based.
In all of these origin-based states, Avalara AvaTax applies this logic to products only (both digital and TPP). Services are always taxed based on the destination address.
John Offergeld
206-826-4900 x1122


double0p

OrangeYouGlad?, I somehow missed your response to this thread. Otherwise, I would have replied sooner.
Yes, my Avalara account is operating correctly in how it calculates tax according to the address that the VirtueMart AvaTax plugin is sending. Unfortunately, the AvaTax plugin is sending the wrong address. As I reviewed orders in my Avalara control panel, only one address is being sent up to Avalara from my store, and that's the Bill To. If a separate Ship To address is entered, Avalara is never made aware of that.
So yes, Avalara is working correctly based upon the information it is receiving from VirtueMart. But VirtueMart is not sending the correct address which is causing a lot of reconciliation issues in my Accounting Department.