Salesforce powers some of the most sophisticated sales and ecommerce operations in the world. From custom-configured CPQ quotes to multi-channel Commerce Cloud storefronts, it’s built to move fast, scale globally, and flex around complex customer needs.
However, speed and scale can create friction when it comes to sales tax compliance. Patchwork tax logic, manual overrides, and bolt-on tools leave gaps and risk.
That’s why we built CereTax for Salesforce: a smarter, faster way to handle tax inside the platforms you already use.
CereTax now integrates directly with Salesforce CPQ and Salesforce Commerce Cloud (B2C + B2B) to automate every aspect of indirect tax calculation, address validation, exemption management, and reporting.
Instead of patching together bolt-ons or relying on external workarounds, teams can now calculate sales tax in real time, manage exemptions as part of the workflow, and access audit-ready reporting without leaving Salesforce.
This isn’t a plug-in. It’s a fully embedded tax engine designed to match Salesforce’s speed—and handle the messiness of modern sales.
These are two sides of the same coin. Whether your customers buy through CPQ or online storefronts, the same tax engine powers it all. That means consistent logic, seamless reporting, and fewer headaches across the board.
Salesforce CPQ helps teams build complex quotes fast, but things get messy without the right tax logic in place. When tax is applied manually or added after quote approval, errors creep in, reporting breaks, and deals get delayed.
CereTax eliminates that risk by embedding real-time tax intelligence directly into the quoting process. Quotes reflect the right tax treatment from the start; that logic flows cleanly into orders and invoices. That means fewer surprises downstream, cleaner handoffs to billing, and smoother month-end closes.
Bundled SKUs and complex pricing scenarios are automatically allocated and taxed correctly. Exemptions can be captured and validated on the spot. Every rate, rule, and exemption decision is fully transparent and complete with citations and history tracking.
Because when tax is wrong, everything downstream suffers: from revenue recognition to audit risk. CereTax gets it right up front, so your team can quote faster, close faster, and trust the data every step of the way.
Running a Salesforce Commerce Cloud storefront means keeping pace with constantly changing SKUs, discounts, delivery zones, and buyer profiles. That’s a lot of moving parts, and if your tax system can’t keep up, you’re stuck filling the gaps manually. And that’s risky. Manual tax work invites errors, delays, and missed exemptions. It slows your team down when speed matters most.
CereTax for Commerce Cloud automates sales tax in real time, applying the correct rates at checkout, no matter the customer, region, or product combination. It handles the complexity of bundles, promotions, and freight sourcing logic without skipping a beat. Address validation happens at the rooftop level, not just ZIP code approximations. And exemptions are applied accurately as part of the transaction flow, not as a clunky afterthought.
Because when tax gets handled mid-checkout, not post-transaction, everything runs smoother—from conversion rates to compliance. With clean, exportable reporting and full visibility into every tax decision, your finance and ops teams stay ready for audits, month-end close, and whatever else comes next.
Tax teams don’t just need tools, they need tools that work the way their systems and their developers do.
That’s why CereTax was built natively with Salesforce in mind:
Fast to implement, so your projects stay on track
API-flexible, for seamless fit into complex architectures
Language-agnostic, so your devs aren’t stuck with constraints
UI visibility that helps tax pros self-serve, not guess
Real human support when things get complicated
More than a connector, CereTax is a foundational platform your Salesforce stack can count on: scalable, stable, and designed for how modern teams actually work.
Sales tax complexity isn’t going away. But the rework, the delays, the blind spots? Those can.
If your team is tired of stitching together temporary fixes, it’s time for a tax engine that’s built to last: one that meets Salesforce where it is and clears the path forward.
Most finance teams don’t realize how much time, risk, and money their current sales tax solution is costing them, until it’s too late. What starts as a simple add-on or legacy system can quietly turn into a major drag on your team and your bottom line.
Manual work piles up. Sales tax compliance risk creeps in. Integrations break. And when you need support, it’s nowhere to be found. If your sales tax solution is creating more work than it saves, it’s time to take a closer look. Here are five red flags that signal your system may be holding you back.
A modern sales tax software solution should be automated and accurate. If your finance or tax teams are constantly making manual overrides, fixing calculation errors, or managing workarounds outside the system, that’s a red flag—and a signal that your tax engine is no longer reliable.
Every manual intervention introduces risk and inconsistency. The more often teams override the system, the less confidence they have in its outputs. Over time, this erodes trust not only in tax data, but in reporting across the business. When leaders can’t rely on tax calculations, financial operations slow down, audit prep becomes more painful, and teams divert energy toward fixing symptoms instead of addressing root causes.
In short, manual fixes mask systemic problems. If they’ve become the norm, it’s time to take a closer look.
If you can’t clearly see how tax decisions are being made, you can’t manage risk or ensure sales tax compliance. Too often, legacy systems turn tax data into a black box, leaving teams guessing at rates, rules, and logic, or relying on outdated prior knowledge to try and fill the gaps.
Without transparency, it becomes difficult to validate tax calculations, explain variances, or ensure consistency across systems. This lack of visibility undermines confidence in reporting and can cause friction between tax, finance, and leadership.
When an audit hits or leadership asks for clear answers, the scramble begins. If you can’t easily trace a tax decision back to its source with supporting documentation and clear logic your business is exposed to penalties, reputational risk, and delayed close cycles.
Visibility into your sales tax software is a fundamental requirement for managing tax risk and maintaining sales tax compliance in today’s environment.
Audit readiness should be a given rather than an annual fire drill. If every audit cycle brings anxiety, your sales tax solution isn’t doing its job.
A strong sales tax compliance process creates a clear, defensible record of tax decisions as they happen. If your team is building audit trails after the fact, or scrambling to piece together documentation, that’s a sign of deeper systemic issues.
Missing data, inconsistent logic, and manual workarounds all add complexity and uncertainty to the audit process. When auditors encounter gaps or conflicting information, they ask more questions, request more documentation, and scrutinize your entire process more closely.
Beyond penalties, this creates reputational risk and consumes valuable internal resources. Time that should be spent driving the business forward gets redirected toward audit remediation. If this scenario feels familiar, it’s time to re-evaluate your sales tax solution.
Tax processes should move with your business instead of slowing it down. But many sales tax solutions struggle to keep up with evolving tech stacks and business models. As companies add new sales channels, markets, and systems, maintaining seamless tax integration across systems becomes increasingly complex.
Poor integration support leads to broken connections, data mismatches, and manual rework across ERPs, ecommerce platforms, and billing systems. These issues not only create operational headaches; they introduce sales tax compliance risk and can directly impact the customer experience. Inaccurate tax calculations or delayed invoicing erode customer trust and strain relationships.
When tax processes can’t keep pace with your growth, they become a bottleneck. If your team is spending more time managing integrations than managing tax strategy, it’s a clear signal your system is out of step with your business needs.
Sales tax compliance is too complex and too critical to manage without trusted support. When tax issues arise, you need expert support that shows up, understands your business, and helps you resolve problems quickly.
Unfortunately, many legacy providers deliver slow, unresponsive, or outsourced support. When your team is left scrambling during an audit, system outage, or critical filing deadline, the true cost of poor support becomes painfully clear.
Inconsistent or absent support adds unnecessary stress and risk at the worst possible moments. It also forces internal teams to waste time triaging issues they shouldn’t have to solve on their own. If your support experience is reactive or unreliable, it may be time to evaluate whether your sales tax solution is truly serving your needs.
If your sales tax solution is creating more work, more risk, and more frustration than it solves, it’s worth asking why. Tax complexity isn’t standing still. Most legacy sales tax software simply wasn’t built for the pace and breadth of today’s indirect tax demands.
Many businesses outgrow their initial tax systems without realizing it. What worked at one stage of growth can become a hidden liability at the next. When tax becomes a source of constant manual work, audit stress, and integration pain, it’s a signal that your current tools may no longer fit your needs.
Today’s sales tax compliance landscape demands agility, accuracy, and transparency. If your current system can’t deliver on those fundamentals, it might be time for a change.
Curious what modern tax automation could look like for your business? Let’s do this.
CereTax is the next-generation sales tax platform built to handle the complexity of scaling an ecommerce business.
If your BigCommerce store is growing fast, your sales tax system shouldn’t just keep up. It should support your scale. Most plug-and-play tax tools weren’t built for what comes next: multi-channel growth, bundled SKUs, increasingly complex shipping rules, and real audit risk.
At first, managing a few manual workarounds might feel easier than switching systems. But what starts as a “quick fix” becomes a daily problem that eats up your team’s time and exposes your business to compliance risk.
We’ve seen the same scenario play out over and over. Teams try to stretch basic tax tools by patching them with spreadsheets, disconnected platforms, and last-minute overrides. It works, until it doesn’t.
Over time, the tax technology stack becomes fragile, error-prone, and expensive to maintain. Businesses come to CereTax after realizing they’ve outgrown their current solution, not just because the software is limited, but because everything around it is too.
They’re dealing with inconsistent support, confusing pricing structures, and zero guidance when things get complicated. The lack of customization becomes a real obstacle to running their business. Support teams don’t understand their product or setup. They’re doing all the heavy lifting and still worrying about staying compliant.
CereTax is a certified sales tax partner on the BigCommerce platform, but we’re not just another app in the directory. We’re purpose-built for mid-sized ecommerce and retail brands that manage the complexity that off-the-shelf tax tools simply weren’t designed to handle.
Our platform is customizable by design. Whether you sell direct-to-consumer, B2B, or both, CereTax adapts to your product catalog, shipping methods, and exemption logic without constant manual updates. And the best part? You always have real people helping you work through what scale looks like for your business.
CereTax doesn’t just integrate with BigCommerce. It also connects seamlessly with your ERP, billing system, accounting tools, and other business technologies. You get clean, accurate tax calculations in real time, plus visibility into the product-level logic, legal citations, and sourcing rules behind every transaction.
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: migration. Switching to a new tax system sounds painful, but with CereTax, it will feel like coming home.
Our implementation process is fast, structured, and fully supported by a team that understands ecommerce sales tax inside and out. We walk you through each step, from configuration to testing to go-live, and tailor it to your business's unique needs.
That includes configuring rules for product-specific taxability, handling origin vs. destination sourcing, and syncing everything with your existing fulfillment logic. This isn’t a self-service install with vague help articles. It’s a guided, expert-supported transition designed to minimize downtime and eliminate confusion.
CereTax isn’t just about technology. It’s about giving your team the help they need to stay focused on growth, not fixing tax issues.
When you work with us, you get real answers from real people. No bots. No offshore handoffs. Just fast, responsive support from experts who understand ecommerce, retail, and sales tax inside and out.
For many of our customers, this is the first time they’ve had a sales tax partner who’s actually proactive and helpful. That’s intentional. We’re not here to check a box. We’re here to make sure your tax operations are clean, scalable, and headache-free.
CereTax gives you the automation, transparency, and adaptability you need to stay compliant and move faster, even as your business becomes more complex.
With CereTax, you’ll get accurate, real-time tax calculations across your whole product catalog and sales footprint. Our engine automatically handles origin/destination sourcing, freight rules, and bundled SKU logic. All of it feeds into a centralized dashboard that gives you clean, exportable reporting — perfect for audits, reconciliation, and confident scaling.
We also support custom stacks and open source. industry-specific platforms like nopCommerce. As well as working directly with customers to create tailored integrations that meet their evolving requirements. That flexibility, paired with real human support, is what keeps our clients ahead of tax complexity and out of compliance trouble.
“From a performance perspective, there isn’t even a comparison. CereTax is a far more advanced and capable platform than our prior solution.”
— David Franko, Director of Global Tax, Alvaria
“CereTax has proven itself as a future-ready partner, ready to support TEKLYNX in both current and future tax compliance challenges.”
— Jenna Wagner, Marketing Director, TEKLYNX Americas
Legacy tax apps weren’t built for where you’re headed. CereTax is.
Whether you're adding channels, bundling SKUs, or expanding fulfillment, CereTax gives you the clarity, control, and expert support to scale without second-guessing your tax setup. Clean data. Confident compliance.
CereTax is engineered to scale with your business, not break under it.
Let us show you what modern sales tax automation should look like.
Transaction action
Utah will become the latest state to remove the transaction threshold for economic nexus, effective July 1. The state’s S.B. 47, signed on March 25, repeals Utah’s mandate that a seller must pay or collect and remit sales and use tax if sales of tangible personal property, electronically transferred products or services exceed 200 separate transactions. The requirement will be only gross revenue from sales in to Utah exceeding $100,000.
More than a dozen states have eliminated their transaction thresholds, most recently Indiana and South Dakota. Many states and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico maintain their economic nexus thresholds based on dollar amount or quantity of sales over a prior period.
Battle of the taxes
A Florida lawmaker wants a $5 billion cut in the state’s sales taxes. Governor Ron DeSantis instead proposes a $1,000 tax break for homestead property owners, having argued that his tax break benefits Florida residents, but sales tax cuts also benefit tourists.
The deadline for a deal is May 2 to prevent a special session. Tallahassee House Speaker Daniel Perez said he’ll still advance cutting Florida’s sales tax from 6% to 5.25% as part of the House’s spending plan (the measure isn’t part of the Senate’s). Observers have said that cutting taxes too far would hamper Florida’s ability to respond to an economic downturn.
The up and up
Los Angeles County now has a higher sales tax as an anti-homelessness funding measure that voters greenlighted in November takes effect. The cities of
Lancaster and Palmdale added their own 0.75% tax on top of the countywide increase and now have a 11.25% sales tax, the largest hike in the area. Compton, Lynwood and South Gate saw their rates rise to 10.75%.
Exempt from sales tax in California are sales of certain food products for human consumption, such as groceries; sales to the U.S. government; sales of prescription medicine and certain medical devices; and sales of items paid for with Electronic Benefits Transfer cards.
Cap off
Pennsylvania has advanced a proposal to lift the cap on the sales and use tax vendor discounts that businesses can receive for timely collecting and remitting state sales tax. The legislation, which revives a pre-2016 break, has been approved by the state’s Senate Finance Committee and now moves to the Senate.
The vendor discount has been one percent of the amount collected, up to $300 per month, regardless of the size or scope of the business. The proposed measure is billed as helping offset the businesses’ cost of compliance, including transaction fees, bookkeeping and payment processing costs.
Grocery bill
Alabama looks to join the growing ranks of states to whittle sales taxes on groceries: A measure to cut the grocery tax from 3% to 2%, part of a larger tax-cut package, has passed the state House and now heads to the Alabama Senate for a committee vote.
Groceries, a rich source of tax revenue, incur either full or reduced sales tax rates in 10 of the states that have a statewide sales tax (or some variation of one): Alabama, Arkansas, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, South Dakota and Utah. Kansas and Oklahoma are among the latest states to eliminate their grocery tax.
Check out the CereTax Knowledge Base for the most up-to-date rate information.
Retail fees on the move
The rise of digital commerce has led more states to consider a Retail Delivery Fee (RDF), a levy designed to supplement traditional tax structures and fund infrastructure. Colorado was the first to implement an RDF at 29 cents per order, applying to taxable retail deliveries, with exemptions for retailers with under $500,000 in annual sales. Minnesota followed with a 50-cent RDF for orders of $100 or more, requiring collection from businesses with at least $1 million in annual sales.
Other states exploring RDFs include Washington, Mississippi (30 cents), Hawaii (50 cents), and Nebraska (50 cents), Maryland (75 cents), and New York (25 cents). Challenges include flat fees instead of percentage-based rates and a lack of refund or credit mechanisms for returns.
Food for thought
Soaring inflation and skyrocketing grocery prices—like eggs surging 59% in a recent report—have pushed more states to reconsider grocery sales tax. Oklahoma and Kansas have eliminated theirs, Virginia reduced it, and Illinois plans to end it next year. Meanwhile, Tennessee, Utah, Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, and Mississippi have introduced or debated similar tax cuts.
In Arkansas, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders aims to eliminate the state’s remaining 1/8th-cent grocery tax, calling it the "most regressive tax." However, critics warn that if federal funding declines, states could face budget shortfalls, and in places like Missouri, local governments fear lost revenue will shift the burden onto them.
Fire break for L.A.
After recent wildfires, California has extended the sales and use tax filing deadline for Los Angeles County taxpayers until April 30. The state’s Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) said returns and payments due on or before January 31, 2025, are automatically extended for Los Angeles County taxpayers whose last return was for less than $1 million in sales and use tax on their 3Q24 returns.
Impacted business owners not subject to the automatic extension or who require additional relief are encouraged to contact CDTFA. Taxpayers who need copies of CDTFA tax records can receive replacements free, and help’s available for updating account information such as changed addresses.
Swipe out
An Arizona lawmaker is sponsoring a bill to remove swipe fees on sales taxes. In an op-ed for Chandler Independent, Representative Jeff Weninger, a Republican, says HB 2629 would relieve the state’s small businesses from swipe fees (aka interchange fees) when collecting sales taxes. A similar bill is being considered in Colorado.
“These fees … are charged by credit card companies on every transaction. They can range from 1% to 5% per transaction, and businesses have no ability to negotiate them,” Weninger writes. “The fees aren’t just charged on the cost of goods and services — they’re also tacked onto the sales tax businesses must collect and remit to the state.” In 2023 alone, Arizona businesses paid over $217 million in swipe fees on sales taxes,” Weninger adds, “a fee on a fee that never should have existed in the first place.
All that glitters
Colorado has revised information to clarify that the sale, storage, use or consumption of coins and precious metal bullion are exempt from state and state-administered local sales and use taxes.
Other numismatic items that are not coins or precious metal bullion are not exempt, including paper money, tokens, checks, and wampum. Coins qualify if they are monetized bullion or other forms of money; are manufactured from gold, silver, platinum, palladium or other such metals; and are designated as a medium of exchange under the laws of Colorado, the United States, or any foreign nation.
All in one
When Louisiana voters cast ballots on March 29 on a state constitutional amendment, they’ll also decide key sales tax issues.
The state’s House Bill 7 proposes to rewrite Article VII of the Louisiana Constitution to require that any new sales tax exclusion or exemption be applicable to both state and local sales and use taxes. The bill also maintains the state sales tax exclusions for food for home consumption, residential utilities, and prescription drugs. Louisiana also recently passed an expansion of sales tax to digital products, internet, and streaming services.
In March, voters will also decide on reducing the state income tax rate and adding a bigger standard deduction for taxpayers age 65 and older; and requiring a two-thirds vote of each house of the legislature for the enactment of an exemption, exclusion, deduction, credit, among other measures.
Transaction action
A bill in Trenton will, if enacted, see New Jersey join the growing number of states that have eliminated the transaction threshold for economic sales tax nexus. New Jersey currently has an economic nexus threshold of 200 or more separate transactions or $100,000 in gross sales annually involving state residents. The bill is currently being read in the state Senate.
The U.S. Supreme Court 2018 Wayfair decision ignited economic nexus thresholds nationwide based on transaction counts, gross sales, or both. Many states never had transaction thresholds and over 10 have eliminated them. Transaction thresholds are generally considered biased against small businesses, though, and New Jersey’s business community supports the bill.
Opponents say the bill could hurt state revenues even as New Jersey is running a deficit, though studies have shown that eliminating transaction thresholds ultimately has little impact on revenues.
Let freedom ring
A U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has agreed in part with banks and credit unions for a preliminary injunction of a new law prohibiting swipe fees on some tax and tip amounts.
Last year, the state enacted the Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act, which as of July 1 prevents entities from collecting swipe fees (aka interchange fees) on certain tax and tip amounts of credit or debit card transactions. (Illinois is the first state to try to ban these fees.) Challengers argued in their lawsuit that federal law preempted this type of statutory prohibition on collecting interchange fees.
U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Kendall granted a preliminary injunction for the Illinois Bankers Association ruling that its members “face irreparable harm” without an injunction, but dismissing other Association claims related to the state not representing their interests.
Gaming experience
The Indiana Department of Revenue has ruled that optional items offered by an out-of-state video game publisher are not subject to state sales tax.
The out-of-state company uses a related entity to sell an electronic video game directly to customers and through third-party vendors such as Steam, PlayStation, and others. The company does not sell video games, and its related entity and/or its wholesalers collect applicable sales tax on the sale of the games.
The company does offer purchasers optional items after the sale of the game, including a monthly online subscription that allows the player to play the game in an online, multi-player setting; in-game items such as costumes, weapons or time saving enhancements; and virtual currency for the purchaser to acquire in-game items or pay for the monthly online subscription within the game. The DOR ruled that such optional items are not subject to Indiana sales tax because they do not constitute tangible personal property or specified digital products.
SaaS-sy
The North Carolina Department of Revenue has issued a Private Letter Ruling. SUPLR 2024-0011, that a taxpayer’s subscription fees for access to digital videos, books, and audiobooks incur sales and use tax unless the transaction is exempt as a bundled transaction.
In another opinion in the wrangling over cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and sales tax, the DOR clarified that the taxpayer is not selling SaaS or an information service when providing access to digital content, as the customers are paying for the content itself and not the software used to deliver it. North Carolina also doesn’t impose sales and use tax on revenue from access to cloud-based software accessed via internet connection.
Tax-Free Groceries
Sales tax on food in Kansas has finally hit 0%. In 2023, the Kansas state portion of sales tax on food and food ingredients for human consumption (and certain prepared food) began phasing down, most recently to 2% for last year. Now, starting Jan. 1, 2025, the state rate will be 0%.
For Kansas state sales tax purposes, food products are generally “food and food ingredients” and “prepared food,” a differentiation that sets the rate of state sales tax. The reduced rate generally applies only to food and food ingredients; prepared food continues to be taxed at the full 6.5% state sales tax rate. City and county grocery taxes, ranging from 0% to a high of 2.25%, will still apply.
Permit Perils
Holders of an Illinois “Direct Pay Permit” (DPP) must now annually review their purchase activity to verify that the purchases made in the preceding year were sourced correctly and had the correct tax rate.
Following findings that many DPP participants aren’t in compliance, the new law provides that “by March 31, 2025, and by March 31 of each year thereafter” each holder of a DPP must review its purchase activity. If the holder discovers an error in sourcing or the tax rate during this review process, the holder must file an amended return correcting the error by April 20 of the calendar year in which the review occurs. Failure to do so could incur a $6,000 fine.
NFT + TPP = TAX
Michigan now treats sales of non-fungible tokens as taxable if the NFTs represent ownership interest in tangible personal property such as artwork or collectibles. This "tokenizing" of real-world items means the buyer of the NFT can prove ownership of the specific NFT; similar to a certificate of authenticity.
Because most NFTs represent digital goods, the majority of NFTs are not subject to Michigan sales tax. But be aware that those that they represent an interest in tangible personal property can be subject to the state sales tax.
Franchise Fee-Free TV
A state court has determined that streaming and satellite TV companies aren’t subject to video service provider fees.
Last fall, Netflix Inc. and DirecTV LLC won their challenge to the fees imposed by the Missouri city of Creve Coeur, which had joined more than 400 other municipalities in the state to try to impose franchise fees on streaming companies. That legal move had come after Missouri lawmakers amended the state’s tax-related definition of “video services” last summer to exclude streaming services.
In late December, the Missouri Circuit Court of St. Louis County ruled for the steaming giants. The Missouri decision came as such TV services began incurring sales tax in other states, namely Louisiana.
Tax Blame Backfires
Pointing fingers over sales tax obligations rarely works in court. Vishal Dhar, co-founder and president of the now-defunct tech support company iYogi, was held personally liable for $19.3 million in unpaid sales and use taxes by the New York Division of Tax Appeals. Dhar argued that an overseas holding company was responsible for the taxes, but the court was unconvinced.
The judge noted Dhar was a co-founder, majority shareholder, and had authority to sign tax forms and invoices. Despite claiming his actions were directed by others in India, Dhar failed to prove he lacked authority to ensure tax compliance or that he was prevented from fulfilling his responsibilities.
CereTax is excited to announce our partnership with Rev.io and their cutting-edge telecom billing platform. Together, we’re taking a major step forward in our mission to revolutionize tax compliance for the telecom industry. As part of our ongoing commitment to be the most robust tax platform in the space, this integration reinforces our mission to deliver smarter, faster, and more adaptable tax automation solutions. By expanding our partnerships in telecom and beyond, we’re building an ecosystem designed to meet the evolving needs of businesses in this unique challenging regulatory space.
The Power of Dynamic Telecom Billing
For existing CereTax users, Rev.io offers a robust telecom billing solution that complements our true-cloud, next generation tax engine. Rev.io brings a scalable and feature-rich platform that streamlines billing, customer management, and revenue reporting, making it an invaluable tool for businesses aiming to enhance their billing operations. The integration allows CereTax customers to benefit from a unified billing and tax compliance solution, ensuring a simplified and hassle-free experience.
Next Generation Communications Tax Automation
This integration with Rev.io provides current Rev.io users with seamless sales and communications tax management to match their powerful billing solution. Our cloud-native platform seamlessly handles the burdensome and ever-changing tax requirements that telecom companies face. For Rev.io customers, this means accurate tax calculations, minimized risk, and enhanced operational efficiency. With CereTax, users can focus on growing their business rather than navigating communications tax automation and reporting.
A Comprehensive Suite of Telecom Billing Solutions
Our partnership with Rev.io is just one example of how we’re building connections across the telecom landscape.
At CereTax, we believe partnerships are the key to unlocking new possibilities for our customers. By joining forces with Rev.io, we have made another leap toward simplifying tax and billing processes for telecom businesses. We’re excited about the future of the communications industry and the role we’ll play in driving innovation and growth in the novel telecom space.
Ready to see the difference CereTax and Rev.io can make? Let’s connect and simplify tax and billing for your telecom business!
TEKLYNX is a leader in barcode label software, offering comprehensive solutions for label design, printing, automation, security, and centralized management. Their products cater to businesses of all sizes, from small enterprises to large corporations, ensuring efficient and compliant labeling processes. With a user-friendly interface and over 100 barcode symbologies, TEKLYNX software simplifies label creation and integrates seamlessly with existing systems. Their commitment to quality and innovation has made them a trusted partner in the industry.
Navigating Challenges with Their Previous Sales Tax Solution
TEKLYNX Americas initially relied on another sales tax solution to manage tax compliance but encountered numerous obstacles. The previous provider’s lack of support and complex pricing structure created challenges for TEKLYNX’s team, who often found themselves without adequate sales tax guidance and overpaying for their technology. After trying to make the system work, TEKLYNX Americas recognized that finding a reliable, supportive partner would be essential for effective sales tax management.
"One of our main challenges was the limited support from our previous provider, with response times sometimes stretching up to three weeks while we were trying to be in production. Account managers changed frequently and didn’t have time for us. Additionally, their billing method charged for each connector and ping, leading to substantial overcharges." Anthony Bieniewski, Operations and IT Manager at TEKLYNX Americas
CereTax Offers a Relationship First Approach to Meet TEKLYNX America’s Needs
To address their challenges, TEKLYNX Americas transitioned to CereTax, a next-generation sales tax solution designed to help navigate sales tax compliance with dedicated support at every stage. CereTax provided TEKLYNX Americas with reliable, hands-on guidance throughout the transition, enabling a smooth and effective implementation that minimized disruptions. The dependable support from CereTax’s team ensured that TEKLYNX Americas received answers quickly, helping the company quickly resolve issues and ensured a quick implementation.
"It’s a big deal to work with a company that actively collaborates with us and puts our needs first. From the start, CereTax responded promptly to our questions, and that level of support has continued consistently." Anthony Bieniewski, Operations and IT Manager at TEKLYNX Americas
Future-Proofing TEKLYNX America’s Sales Tax Compliance with CereTax
CereTax worked closely with TEKLYNX Americas to develop integrations tailored to their unique systems, including their custom e-commerce platform, nopCommerce. TEKLYNX valued CereTax’s willingness to actively engage in conversations about new integrations and to customize solutions that met their specific requirements. This flexibility and future-oriented mindset have empowered TEKLYNX to feel confident that CereTax will continue to meet evolving business needs.
“We appreciated CereTax’s responsiveness and curiosity about how our business works. CereTax has proven itself as a future-ready partner, ready to support TEKLYNX in both current and future tax compliance challenges." Jenna Wagner, Marketing Director at TEKLYNX Americas
A Reliable Partnership for Long-Term Success
TEKLYNX America’s transition to CereTax showcases the impact of a supportive, responsive sales tax solution on operational success. By choosing CereTax, TEKLYNX Americas was able to work through their sales tax process needs and gain confidence in a partner committed to their goals. With CereTax’s expertise and proactive service, TEKLYNX Americas now enjoys streamlined compliance and a reliable foundation for future growth. TEKLYNX Americas chose CereTax, not only for its reliable service and immediate tax solutions, but also for its commitment to adapting and expanding to meet future needs. CereTax’s flexible approach and openness to collaboration provided TEKLYNX with the confidence that the solution would grow with them.
As 2024 draws to a close we wanted to look back at everything we've accomplished as a team, as partners, and as a next-generation sales tax solution:
✅ Grew our team by over 60%
🚀 Grew our revenue 3x
🤝 Expanded our partner network 3x
🔑 Added 50% new integrations to the CereTax platform
💲 Processed 50% more tax calculation transactions
📍 Sponsored and attended events across the US
⭐ Secured a 99% CSAT score
💪 and so much more!
This year has given us so much to be thankful for and a lot to look forward to in the coming year. Thank you to our incredible customers, partners, and the entire CereTax team. The amazing partnerships, dynamic teamwork, and relentless effort made 2024 a year to remember! We can't wait to see what 2025 has in store!
Bayou bounce
Louisiana will raise its sales tax to 5% for five years starting January 1, 2025.
The hike, part of a measure Baton Rouge lawmakers voted in just before Thanksgiving in a special session, includes a cut to individual and corporate income taxes and elimination of the corporation franchise tax. Many digital goods and several services were also added to the state sales tax base.
This 5% tax will be on top of each local sales tax in the state; some Louisiana cities will see an overall sales tax of 10% or higher starting next year. Louisiana already had the highest combined state and average local sales tax in the country at 9.56%, according to research cited from the Tax Foundation.
Source of debate
A county district court judge in Texas has sided with six municipalities in a case that could potentially shift sales taxes for online transactions from the sellers’ cities to the buyers’ cities. The case began after regulatory changes by the Texas Comptroller made certain internet orders not considered received at the “place of business” of the seller. Previously, the regulations generally sourced the local sales tax revenue generated from these sales to the municipality with the seller’s ecommerce fulfillment or sales center.
Coppell had been fighting the comptroller’s regulations for more than three years, claiming with other plaintiffs that the warehouses, distribution centers, and fulfillment centers use expensive, city-supplied infrastructure and services.
Judge Karin Crump of the Travis County District Court decided in favor of the Texas cities of Coppell, Humble, Desoto, Carrollton, Farmers Branch and Round Rock. She ruled that the proposed regulations contradicted the state’s statutory language concerning where the sale of a taxable item is consummated and violated portions of the Texas Administrative Procedures Act.
In the bag?
Will Tennessee be the next state to eliminate sales and use taxes on groceries? Rep. Elaine Davis (R-Knoxville) has submitted a bill in Nashville that would eliminate the tax on retail sales of food and food ingredients, which is now 4% in addition to any local sales taxes. The proposed legislation does allow counties to implement a sales tax on groceries.
Only a handful of other states still have a statewide sales tax on groceries, including Alabama, Arkansas, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas (until January 1, 2025), Mississippi, Missouri, South Dakota and Utah. Many local communities also tax groceries.
Another sales tax for the last frontier?
Anchorage, Alaska, is entertaining a proposed ballot measure for a 3% sales tax in the city.
The sales tax would be charged on most consumer goods, for a total tax of up to $30 per transaction; only the first $1,000 of a sale would be taxable. The tax would sunset after seven years, news reports said. No date has been set for the vote.
Alaska has no statewide sales tax. Unlike the other no-sales tax states of Oregon, Delaware, Montana and New Hampshire, Alaska does have many communities that have banded together to charge sales tax, including on online transactions.
eServices made easy
The Nevada Department of Taxation has launched My Nevada Tax, an eServices platform that will give taxpayers with “a convenient, user-friendly” online portal to manage their tax accounts, file returns, make payments, and access other essential services, including sales and use tax management. Users will also be able to update account information, manage permits and licenses, register businesses, and file returns, among other functions.
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Check out the CereTax Knowledge Base for the latest information. Be on the lookout for next month's newsletter to stay in the know when it comes to sales tax news that may impact your business.
‘Yay’ or ‘Nay’
Though voters in and around San Diego, California; Charleston, South Carolina; Little Rock, Arkansas, and elsewhere voted against sales tax measures, sales tax increases did get the Election Day green light in many parts of the country, often with specified funding purposes:
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Sales Tax
Florida has issued sales tax guidance for non-permanent holiday decorations, attributing it to a lack of awareness among some businesses.
Businesses that sell or rent holiday lighting or decorations are required to collect sales tax on the total sales or rental price, including charges for design, labor, and services to install or remove the decorations and lighting. This applies to the entire transaction, covering both the sale or rental of the items and any associated services.
However, charges for labor or services to install and remove customer-owned decorations and lighting are not subject to sales tax if the business providing the services does not supply any tangible items, such as light clips, adhesive, nails, screws, or extension cords. Similarly, charges solely for removing customer-owned decorations and lighting, when the business did not originally install them, are also exempt from sales tax. Additional details and exemptions may apply.
Lease is More
As of January 1, Illinois and Maine will begin taxing each periodic lease or rental payment made for the lease or rental of tangible personal property (TPP). Both states currently charge sales or use tax upfront to the lessor based on the acquisition cost of the leased or rented TPP, rather than imposing sales tax on periodic payments to the rental customer, which is common in other states.
In addition, both Illinois and Maine have revised their sourcing rules for leases. Illinois will source leases with recurring periodic payments to the primary property location. For leases without recurring payments or where the lessee takes possession of the property at the lessor’s place of business, the same sourcing rules as sales of TPP under the Illinois Retailer’s Occupation Tax (ROT) will apply. Maine adopts a similar approach, sourcing the first payment for leases with recurring periodic payments based on general retail sales sourcing rules, while subsequent payments are sourced to the "primary property location."
The transition period for these changes varies between the two states. Illinois will continue to allow the use of an existing credit allowed when rental inventory already taxed upfront is sold, while Maine offers a refund option. Illinois exempts autos, titled property, certain licensed software, and property subject to Chicago’s personal property lease transaction tax from the new rules.
ATLANTA, November 12, 2024 -- CereTax, the next-generation sales tax solution, partners with ACTSOLV, delivering comprehensive sales tax process solutions, today to announce the launch of CereTax’s Exemption Certificate Management solution — CereTax SmartExempt. Designed for businesses seeking a streamlined and secure way to handle exemption certificates and their tax impacts, this next-generation solution simplifies certificate tracking, storage, and validation, making tax compliance easier and reducing the risk of costly audit penalties.
“Our goal is to provide a robust solution that simplifies and streamlines the tax exemptions workflow while reducing risk for our customers,” said Mike Sanders, CEO of CereTax. “With CereTax SmartExempt businesses can confidently manage exemption certificates, reduce manual work, and stay audit-ready.”
Powered by ACTSOLV, a leader in exemption certificate management technology, CereTax SmartExempt leverages ACTSOLV’s expertise to deliver a fully integrated exemption management experience.
“This partnership enables CereTax users to manage their exemption certificates more effectively and efficiently,” said Larry Powers, CEO of ACTSOLV. “Together, we’re helping businesses stay compliant and protected from audits.”
Key Features and Benefits of CereTax SmartExempt:
• Seamless Integration: Connects effortlessly with ERP’s and CereTax, automatically updating exemption data, giving companies the seamless ability to connect their customer exemptions to their tax calculation.
• Faster Audit Resolution: Tracks and requests missing certificates through automated workflows.
• Security and Scalability: A cloud-based, centralized system with robust security for secure and scalable exemption management.
CereTax SmartExempt is the ideal solution for businesses looking to streamline tax compliance, reduce risks, and stay focused on growth.
About CereTax
CereTax is a next-generation sales tax automation solution that leverages the latest advancements in cloud technology to revolutionize how a sales tax calculation platform operates. CereTax processes millions of transactions per month for some of the largest enterprises, enabling companies to do business reliably and in compliance. CereTax was founded in 2021 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Learn more about CereTax at https://www.ceretax.com/.
About ACTSOLV
ACTSOLV leverages best practice technology with exemption certificate experience that improves internal controls and provides customers with confidence that exemption documentation and data are correct and complete. CertSOLV℠ automates this process, helping to ensure full compliance while reducing the incidence of missing, misplaced, inaccurate, or expired certificates, while effectively managing companies’ certificates ranging from a few hundred to hundreds of thousands.
No Sales Tax on Groceries
Oklahoma has passed Enrolled House Bill No. 1955, which amends the Oklahoma Sales Tax Code to introduce a zero state sales tax rate on certain food items and defines terms such as “bundled transaction” and “distinct and identifiable products.” It also expands definitions related to tangible personal property and outlines the effects of sales tax levies by political subdivisions, including prohibitions on modifications to the levy of sales tax for a specified duration.
The Act clarifies calculations for "gross receipts" and "sales price," outlines conditions for bundled transactions, dietary supplements, and software, and addresses price reductions, business presence, and manufacturing activities. It also defines classifications for over-the-counter drugs, prepared foods, and provides guidelines for the sale and resale of tangible property and services.
New provisions impose a zero-percent excise tax on retail sales of food and food ingredients for off-premises human consumption until June 30, 2025, and require counties or municipalities to exclude “food and food ingredients” from any increased sales tax rate when submitting tax questions to voters.
Tax Surge on Phone Bills
The Tax Foundation reports that a typical American household with four phones on a family share plan, paying $100 per month for taxable wireless service, would pay nearly $320 per year in taxes, fees, and government surcharges, up from $294 last year. Nationally, taxes, fees and government surcharges make up a record-high 26.8% tax on taxable voice services.
After decreasing in 2023, the Federal Universal Service Fund charge increased in 2024 from 10.8% to 12.8%. State and local taxes also increased, from 13.7% to 14%.
Oklahoma had the largest increase of any state in 2024, from 26.9% to 31.1%, due to increases in the 911 fee and the State Universal Service Fund charge. Illinois residents continue to have the highest wireless taxes in the country, at 36%, followed by Washington (34.4%) and Arkansas (34.2%). Idaho residents pay the lowest wireless taxes, 16.1%.
Corn Just Got More Expensive
The Nebraska Department of Revenue announced changes in local sales and use tax rates as of Oct. 1: Adams will impose a new 1% rate; Grafton and Kenesaw will each impose a new 1.5% rate; Lyons will increase its rate from 1.5% to 2%; and Mullen and Nelson will each increase their rate from 1% to 1.5%.
With the recent approval by the Nebraska Department of Economic Development of two additional Good Life Districts (GLD), the state sales tax rate of 2.75% will be effective on October 1, 2024, on taxable transactions occurring within these GLDs that are also located within the city boundaries. The two newest GLDs are located in Grand Island and Bellevue.
No Seller Left Untaxed
Starting in January, Illinois will implement changes to its sales tax sourcing rules for out-of-state sellers. Public Act 103-0983 aims to simplify tax compliance by applying destination-based sourcing uniformly for both remote retailers and out-of-state sellers shipping goods from outside the state.
Out-of-state retailers with a physical presence in Illinois will be required to collect state and local taxes at destination-based rates when shipping from outside Illinois, aligning them with the tax obligations of remote sellers. Sellers shipping from within Illinois will pay taxes based on the ship-from address, while those shipping from outside the state are subject to the state use tax without additional local taxes.
Marketplace inventory used solely for registered marketplace facilitators does not create a physical presence for sellers, as the facilitator is responsible for tax collection. Sellers without a physical presence in Illinois will continue to follow destination-based sourcing, charging taxes based on the delivery address.
States Urged to End Sales Tax Guesswork
At recent U.S. Senate Finance Subcommittee hearings on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth, witnesses at recent hearings emphasized the need for states to simplify the patchwork of sales tax regulations and remote-seller obligations to provide relief for small businesses.
Testimonies were provided by Joe Bishop-Henchman, executive VP of the National Taxpayers Union Foundation; Craig Johnson, executive director of the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board; and Diane L. Yetter, president of Yetter Consulting Services and the Sales Tax Institute. Yetter emphasized that determining the correct tax to collect shouldn’t be a "guessing game" for sellers, calling for clear, accessible, and fair tax rules.
Witnesses advocated for uniform nexus requirements and definitions, urging states to simplify compliance and improve transparency. Bishop-Henchman suggested that even states not joining the Streamlined Sales Tax Agreement could still demonstrate efforts to reduce compliance costs for businesses.
Want to stay up-to-date on CereTax product and content updates?
Check out the CereTax Knowledge Base for the latest information. Be on the lookout for next month's newsletter to stay in the know when it comes to sales tax news that may impact your business.
Sales tax and vertical-specific transaction taxes in the U.S. are incredibly complex, varying significantly across states and even at the local level. Some taxes apply to other taxes, adding another layer of complexity. So, why start a business in sales tax? It's a good question, and here's why we did it.
Opportunity arises from need—whether it's the need for a new solution or alternatives when existing options fall short. Existing sales tax solutions might not be "bad," but they often have limitations—restricted by scope, age, or lack of support.
The opportunity for CereTax was to create a modern sales tax solution capable of managing various taxes for complex vertical markets through a single consolidated platform. We also aimed to bring this solution to market with a "Value Culture" dedicated to serving clients with excellence.
Experience was another key factor. The founding team at CereTax has decades of knowledge in various areas of indirect tax. We knew from our past experiences that we could assemble a stellar team with expertise in sales tax who share our values and goals. During the hiring process, we found many professionals with similar backgrounds eager to join our mission. This resulted in a collaborative team of experienced professionals united toward one vision.
Lastly, we were driven by the challenge. There hasn't been anew sales tax calculation solution in the market for many years, and none of the recent offerings have attempted to support complex industries like construction, manufacturing, telecommunications, and deregulated energy. We believed we could create a platform using modern software development techniques to manage all this complexity through a flexible and robust interface.
While there's still work to be done to fully realize our vision, we are pleased to have launched CereTax using our own designs and methods for research, GIS, technology, and content. We are committed to continuous improvement as we deliver solutions for additional markets, integrations, and tax types.
To answer the original question, we created CereTax because we were motivated by the opportunity to build and deliver a next-generation sales tax solution with an experienced team dedicated to serving clients with excellence. This service-minded approach drives our culture and everything we do.
Click here to connect with a team member to learn more about CereTax can simplify financial operations for you business.
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Mike Sanders Co-Founder and CEO, CereTax |
Ideal Living, based in Los Angeles, specializes in creating, marketing, and distributing innovative products to enhance health, wellness, and home environments. Their mission is to ensure everyone has access to clean air, clean water, and a solid foundation for wellness. They achieve this through their products: AirDoctor, AquaTru, and Aromatru.
Manual Processes Created Inefficiencies and Increased Risks
Ideal Living faced several challenges in managing its B2B sales operations. The Accounts Receivable (AR) team manually handled sales tax calculations, requiring it to lookup tax rates, input them into the system, and then check them for accuracy. The process consumed significant time, risked errors, and led to dissatisfaction among the team. Every month, the AR team would need to correct entries for 10-20% of new B2B customers, resulting in needless delay. As Ideal Living rapidly expands its business from individual to commercial customers, with plans to quadruple its size by the end of the year, the existing process became unsustainable and unscalable. The team had to make a change.
CereTax and Microsoft Were Implemented for Automation
To address these challenges, Ideal Living integrated CereTax Sales Tax with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, with the assistance of an implementation partner. The implementation process was straightforward and streamlined, supported by the responsive and knowledgeable CereTax team. The project, which ran from October to December 2023, included testing mid-way through. It included specific sales tax content for food and supplements and a custom shipping method, incorporating taxability behind the shipping, to ensure accurate tax calculations.
The CereTax team conducted training sessions and converted existing mappings to ensure a smooth transition. They maintained weekly calls to quickly resolve issues and provide ongoing support. Setting up SKU and customer information took just two weeks, followed by training and testing phases. Open lines of communication were vital for a seamless transition, and having a knowledgeable support team was crucial for addressing specific questions and concerns, ensuring the team felt fully supported throughout the process.
"Of all the integrations we set up with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, CereTax was by far the most straightforward and streamlined. The process was very easy, and the team was exceptionally responsive and knowledgeable," said Lina Pinskaya, Controller of Ideal Living.
CereTax’s Certified Microsoft Integration
CereTax provides a certified integration with Business Central. This allows the Ideal Living Sales and Accounting teams to manage the entire sales tax process directly from within the ERP, utilizing native workflows. As part of the implementation process, CereTax set up its robust rules engine to accommodate specific requirements with custom rules.
The tight integration between CereTax and Business Central ensures that issues are promptly flagged within the Business Central interface, allowing for swift resolution. One common example is the native Business Central posting approvals. If Business Central stops an invoice from posting due to a missing field, CereTax will also prevent the invoice from posting on its side. Conversely, if an invoice is ready to post in Business Central, but CereTax detects an issue, it blocks the posting process.
“The CereTax integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central was easy to set up, enabling real-time data synchronization between the solutions. It leverages Microsoft’s native functionality, eliminating the need for customization on our part,” said Lina Pinskaya, Controller of Ideal Living.
Ideal Living Saw an Immediate Increase in Efficiency and a Reduction in Workload
The success of sales tax automation was evident immediately. The CereTax process ran on its own with significantly reduced human oversight. Fewer data entry errors needed to be corrected. The AR team spent less time setting up and correcting invoices before they were sent out. And because of the training sessions, sales and accounting teams more efficiently managed sales tax in Business Central.
"We've seen a dramatic reduction in time spent on manual processes. The new system has truly streamlined our operations," said Nini Le, Accounting Consultant for Ideal Living.
The CereTax team consistently provides support as needed, demonstrating responsiveness and quick turnaround times. They promptly hold calls to resolve issues and offer assistance from highly knowledgeable staff. Their responsiveness to specific questions ensured Ideal Living felt supported when transitioning to a new system and application.
"Having a knowledgeable support team made all the difference. They were responsive to our specific questions and helped us feel supported throughout the transition and after," said Lina Pinskaya, Controller of Ideal Living.
Ideal Living Positioned for Growth with Sales Tax Automation
In conclusion, the move to automation with CereTax and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central significantly improved Ideal Living’s operational efficiency. By automating sales tax calculations and streamlining the invoicing processes, the company reduced the time and resources spent on error-correction, streamlined operations, and positioned itself for successful business expansion. The project highlighted the importance of thorough planning, effective training, and responsive support in streamlining business processes and automating sales tax.
"We knew we needed a solution to streamline our operations and support our rapid business growth. CereTax and Microsoft were the perfect fit," said NiniLe, Accounting Consultant for Ideal Living.
ATLANTA, GA – CereTax, the next-generation sales tax solution, today announced a $9 million financing led by S3 Ventures, with participation from Wild Basin Investments and Leaders Fund.
CereTax revolutionizes sales and use tax automation by combining the modernization of a true cloud solution with a relationship-first team of indirect tax experts. Unlike older tax systems plagued by long implementations, inflexibility, and scalability limits, CereTax provides a modern solution that meets the high demands of today's businesses with ease. This year, CereTax’s revenue has more than tripled year-over-year while enabling 20+channel partners.
“Sales and use tax determination and compliance is complex and burdensome,” said Aaron Perman, Partner at S3 Ventures. “The legacy solutions used by the vast majority of enterprises struggle to handle the complexity and scale of modern business, and errors can result in significant tax liabilities and penalties. We are excited to partner with CereTax for the long haul as they build the first new enterprise SaaS platform for indirect tax in twenty years.”
“With CereTax Sales Tax, we've seen a dramatic reduction in time spent on manual processes. The new system has truly streamlined our operations," Lina Pinskaya, Controller of Ideal Living. “Having a knowledgeable support team made all the difference. They were responsive to our specific questions and helped us feel supported throughout the transition and after.”
With the new funding, CereTax will further invest in product innovation and supporting customers and partners. Key early hires to scale the company and grow the business include Dario Salas Machado as Vice President of Finance, bringing over 15 years of finance and business expertise, and Marni Burger as Vice President of Marketing, with over 15 years of experience in B2B software and SaaS marketing.
CereTax is also excited to announce the addition of Robert Alvarez to the board of directors. With a proven track record at companies like BigCommerce, Robert's expertise in scaling high-growth technology businesses will be invaluable to CereTax's future endeavors. Robert's deep understanding of financial strategy and operational excellence will enhance CereTax’s commitment to innovation and customer success.
"By growing the leadership team and expanding the board, CereTax is strategically positioning itself for a new era of growth and innovation,” said Mike Sanders, CereTax’s CEO and Co-Founder. “Their combined expertise and vision will be invaluable as we continue our relentless focus on customer and partner success while achieving substantial growth in the years to come."
About CereTax
CereTax is a next-generation sales tax automation solution that leverages the latest advancements in cloud technology to revolutionize how a sales tax calculation platform operates. CereTax processes millions of transactions per month for some of the largest enterprises, enabling companies to do business reliably and in compliance. CereTax was founded in 2021 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Learn more about CereTax at https://www.ceretax.com/.
About S3 Ventures
Founded in 2005, S3Ventures leads Seed, Series A, and Series B investments in Business Technology, Digital Experiences, and Healthcare Technology. Backed by a single limited partner — a highly philanthropic family with a multi-billion-dollar foundation — S3 Ventures empowers visionary founders with the patient capital and true resources required to grow extraordinary, high-impact companies. Learn more about S3 Ventures at https://www.s3vc.com/.
Throughput is an interesting concept. While it seems straightforward, like the rate of water flowing through a garden hose, it becomes more complex when dealing with financial transactions. Not all transactions are created equal.
In financial transactions involving buying or selling, there's usually an invoice. This could be a sales order, a purchase order, or items from an online shopping cart. Depending on the type of transaction, this “invoice” may include various details such as purchase location, shipping information, product or service line items, quantities, discounts, and more.
From a sales tax engine perspective, all these invoice data points must be collected, evaluated, and processed for accurate tax calculation. Each invoice, or transaction, can vary significantly in the data it contains. For instance, one transaction might be a sales invoice with hundreds of product line items, while another might be transactions from an e-commerce site as items are added to a shopping cart. Other transactions could involve real-time cell phone data from a telecom provider or multiple telecom Voice-over-IP switches sending requests simultaneously.
Processing these transactions for sales tax calculation can be challenging. It takes time to determine what data is contained, process it, and deliver the correct tax amounts. When the rate of inbound data to the tax engine is very high, originating from numerous and diverse sources, most systems struggle to handle the throughput. This challenge is compounded when multiple high-volume events occur simultaneously, such as processing Black Friday transactions while others are submitting large batches of invoices from an accounting system. We have historically seen existing sales tax engines fail under these conditions—they simply cannot handle the data burst.
For the production release of CereTax, we focused extensively on designing ways to handle data bursts. We support financial transactions or invoices from many different vertical markets, each with its own complexities. At launch, we successfully processed 10,000 simultaneous transactions per second for a prolonged period with no errors. This level of processing throughput is not affected by the type of invoice or whether it contains one line item or 500. However, this rate is not our limit; we considered it a fair representation of a burst event that would overwhelm most sales tax engines.
One advantage of delivering a modern sales tax engine is the ability to use current approaches for system architecture and data management. We are fortunate to incorporate these techniques into the CereTax design. Our clients can send transactions to our tax engine at any burst level—they can trust that we understand throughput and will not break.
Click here to connect with a team member to learn more about CereTax can simplify financial operations for you business.
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Mike Sanders Co-Founder and CEO, CereTax |
