The growth of the subscription economy brings an increased number of recurring transactions that are often not updated from the original agreement. This can create challenges for companies ensuring their product taxes are being accounted for and implemented properly, according to Simon Geach (pictured), vice president of sales at Avalara Inc.

“Ensuring what’s on the invoice, including the taxes, is really important. For a lot of companies, it becomes ever more complex. And the costs of dealing with it manually can sneak up on you, and before you know it you’re investing a lot of time and resources managing it with no guarantee of accuracy,” Geach said.

He spoke with Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick), co-host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during this year’s Zuora Subscribed event in San Francisco, California. They discussed how his company is helping subscription-based companies ensure their invoices are accurate from a tax perspective. (* Disclosure below.)

A subscription to tax expertise

Avalara helps companies determine their exact tax rate based on a layer of software that leverages a wide range of inputs.

“We actually determine the tax rate using a latitude and longitude coordinate overlayed by a tax jurisdictional boundary of the U.S., and that’s proprietary technology that we maintain. Then we overlay that with product taxability content,” Geach said.

A key aspect of Avalara’s business is ensuring its understanding of the tax code is up-to-date, thereby removing the burden from a company to research the latest tax regulations.

“We have a content team of over 100 people who are managing state compliance legislation and are working to ensure that our tax engine is always up to date. We actually guarantee the accuracy of our calculations,” Geach stated. 

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Zuora Subscribed 2017. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Zuora Subscribed 2017. Neither Zuora Inc., the event sponsor, nor other sponsors have editorial influence on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE