Avalara vs TurboTax Business

QuickBooks Online

hellotax

QuickBooks Online Advanced

QuickBooks Online is an all-in-one online business software designed to help manage business finances. The platform is built to scale businesses, unlocking insights and providing the functionality of a larger team, all on one integrated platform.

hellotax is a cloud-based VAT management software, which offers tools for both registering VAT numbers and automating VAT filings and returns. The all-in-one VAT management platform is designed specifically for online retailers within Europe and offers VAT registration for various EU countries.

QuickBooks Online Advanced is a web-based accounting & business management solution which enables small businesses to track sales, inventory, financial accounts & payroll from a single dashboard

Business Resource Manager

Calling in takes forever and trouble tickets, it seems the biggest goal is to close as fast as possible which isn't always the best customer service.

owner

The service didn’t work properly, and support was useless — they were supposed to help me seamlessly transition my Shopify orders into Avalara, but it never happened, and I ended up doing everything manually.

Systems Analyst

Support response times can vary depending on the issue complexity.

Avalara offers automated tax compliance software that simplifies sales tax reporting and filing for businesses of all sizes. Its agentic AI handles tax calculations, returns preparation, and exemption certificate management across jurisdictions.

Accounting

Accounting Integration

Accounts Payable

Accounts Receivable

Address Validation

Alerts/Notifications

Audit Trail

Bank Reconciliation

Billing & Invoicing

Compliance Management

Consumer Use Tax

Corporate/Business

Data Import/Export

Document Management

Electronic Filing

Exemption Management

Financial Reporting

For eCommerce

General Ledger

K-1 Reporting

Multi-Currency

Purchase Order Management

Reporting/Analytics

Sales Tax Management

Taxability Verification

Tax Calculation

Tax Compliance

Tax Filing

Tax Management

Third-Party Integrations

Transaction Tracking

Value Added Tax (VAT)

Workflow Automation

By industry, Avalara reviewers are most commonly professionals in retail (16%). The most frequent use case for Avalara cited by reviewers is sales tax (97% of reviewers).

Users and use cases

Some users report that Avalara offers good value for the money and find it reasonably priced, while many users indicate it is expensive, especially for small businesses, and they find the pricing structure confusing and upgrades costly.

Value for money

Avalara is a sales tax program with key features that include tax calculation, tax compliance, tax filing, and more.

Avalara

Web-based

TaxJar

Vertex

Sovos

TaxCloud

Core Compliance

Core Compliance + SST Services

Custom

Consistently poor user experiences

100% of reviewers feel negative about their overall experiences with Avalara. Reviewers indicate that their interactions with the company have been overwhelmingly disappointing, often describing their experiences as frustrating, unacceptable, or even the worst they have encountered in business. Users say they feel let down by the product and service, expressing regret and dissatisfaction with the outcomes. Many reviewers mention a sense of being mistreated or 'ripped off,' emphasizing the significant negative impact on their perception of the company.

High and increasing costs

ERP Administrator

Pushed to upgrade to costly Technical Account Manager with no added value

Senior Accountant

72% of reviewers feel negative about Avalara’s pricing. Reviewers find the software expensive, especially for small businesses and startups, and mention that costs can escalate unexpectedly due to required upgrades or additional services. They say the pricing structure is confusing and lacks transparency, with frequent price increases and charges for features that may not deliver expected value. Users express concern about paying high fees for limited benefits, and some feel misled about the total cost of ownership.

Unreliable billing and difficult cancellations

Tried canceling my service and had a hard time finding how to go about that.   Once the fee went through for another annual use they refused to refund saying it was too late.

Director of Finance and HR

They will charge exorbitant "Upgrade Fees".   Because their QBO integration is so bad, you end up having to use 3x the usage you expected, which then costs you 3x what you expected.  

97% of reviewers feel negative about Avalara’s billing and charges. Reviewers report frequent overcharges, hidden fees, and unauthorized billing, sometimes for services not rendered or after cancellation attempts. They say the cancellation process is confusing and often results in continued charges, with customer support providing little assistance. Users express frustration with inflexible contracts, unexpected price increases, and difficulties obtaining refunds or resolving disputes. Many reviewers highlight the lack of transparency and accountability in billing practices as a major concern.

Persistent technical problems

President

If you ever encounter a problem (and we encountered MANY), do not count on anyone taking responsibility for the issues, or being able to fix them.

77% of reviewers feel negative about Avalara’s bugs and technical issues. Reviewers report recurring software errors, integration failures, and unresolved bugs that disrupt business operations. They say troubleshooting is difficult, with vague error messages and limited guidance for resolving problems. Users often experience long-standing issues that remain unaddressed, requiring repeated follow-ups with support. Some reviewers indicate that technical problems affect critical functions like reconciliation and data imports, leading to inefficiencies and a lack of confidence in the software’s reliability.

Slow and ineffective support

Lack of support, virtually no communication from key support staff that are critical for most anything in Avalara, software is NOT intuitive and figuring it out is a nightmare AND if you don't code everything properly it will do as much harm as good.

The customer service is the worst I've ever come across, and I'm paying for the enhanced support.  

67% of reviewers feel negative about Avalara’s customer support. Reviewers report slow response times, lack of knowledgeable assistance, and frequent changes in support representatives, which forces users to repeatedly explain their issues. They say support is often unhelpful in resolving technical or billing problems, and communication is inconsistent or absent. Some users mention difficulty reaching support, long wait times, and a lack of proactive follow-up. Reviewers indicate that poor customer service significantly impacts their overall satisfaction with the product.

Comprehensive and flexible reporting

81% of reviewers feel positive about Avalara’s reporting capabilities. Reviewers appreciate the seamless integration with ERP systems and the ease of generating, accessing, and customizing reports. They find the reporting tools helpful for monthly reconciliations, compliance tracking, and filing returns. Users say the reports are logical, easy to read, and facilitate manual adjustments when necessary. Some reviewers indicate that the intuitive web portal and automated reporting features simplify end-of-month processes and enhance transparency in their financial operations.

Intuitive and accessible platform

The ease of use and the versatility of the different programs they have that are available.  

Project Manager

Overall, Avalara is easy to use and a straight forward system.

81% of reviewers feel positive about Avalara’s ease of use. Reviewers appreciate that the software is user-friendly, intuitive, and simple to navigate, allowing users to quickly access necessary features with minimal effort. They find the interface straightforward, which helps reduce the learning curve and makes onboarding new users easier. Some reviewers highlight the flexibility and the ability to easily implement or adjust settings as needed. Users say that the consolidated access to various Avalara products in one place streamlines their workflow and increases efficiency.

IT Manager

Assuming you have no issues or questions, the functionality and automation of the sales tax calculation, tax filing and tracking of customer tax exemptions are fantastic, especially if you can integrate Avalara with your ERP system.

It saves time in that it is able to automatically identify customers who have tax exemption certificates on file and processes transactions based on valid Tax Exemption Certificates on file that are valid.  

Financial Accounting

What I liked least about Avalara is that, despite its strong automation capabilities, the platform can sometimes feel complex and not very intuitive for new users.

Founder

Their entire purpose is to file tax returns accurately and compliantly, yet our filings were submitted incorrectly and non-compliant. When I raised the issue, the team refused to take responsibility or offer a resolution.

Tax Expertise - questionable - they state they will ensure you will "Submit returns to the right places at the right times with an automated filing" and they literally have been filing our LA returns to the wrong tax entity for 3 years and when I brought it to their attention and asked how they would resolve this their reply is "it is [your company] responsibility to ensure that state registration aligns with the schedule return setup in Avalara Portal, [your company] will need to resolve this notice directly with the LA" or pay for additional services from Avalara.

Senior Tax Manager

Avalara is a powerful tax automation platform that offers many useful features designed to simplify and streamline tax compliance for businesses of all sizes.

Owner

Someone from the company contacts me after I post but every interaction fades into the ether and nobody takes responsibility for fixing the problem.

Avalara has made tax management much easier across multiple regions and sales channels.

Accounting Administrator

Our data did not integrate correctly, and upon individual review of our account, we found many certificates had been duplicated by the automated system, and we were being charged for storage per item. When we brought this to our account manager's attention, she rolled her eyes and became, not only defensive but aggressive during the meeting.

It has also helped reduce errors and improved confidence during audits and reconciliations.

It provides strong value for money for medium to large businesses dealing with complex tax requirements.

Avalara requires you to use their AI support and knowledge base articles to solve problems, before you can speak to someone about your issue.  

Controller

For tax software, that kind of delay can create real operational headaches.  

AR AP Lead

I don't think i use avalara to its full potential but it does make it very easy to navigate and the fact that they register in states for you, make life so much easier!

It was great for 3 years as we assumed they were doing their job of tax assessment and tax returns well but the house of cards began to fall when we started getting notices from State entities that our taxes had been filed incorrectly for YEARS.

Has become a “default stack” tool for sales tax compliance.

They have no place to remove your ACH credentials, huge red flag.

There are often errors in the sales tax calculations on our sales, resulting in incorrect amounts being charged to our customers and further remitted to the government.

Director of Finance

There can be several false positives of sales tax nexus that you are alerted to that I haven't quite found a way to configure.

They were deceptive upon onboarding, have billed me incorrectly, have errors and incomplete coverage in the ECM software, and customer service is non-existent.

I stopped receiving bills from Avalara and couldn’t log into my account anymore, so I thought it was the end of the story. But they kept charging me.

Their follow up when you do have an issue, to make sure the issue is resolved is amazing.

I’d also recommend avoiding their state registration service.

For the 36-ish months we used them, they filed 32 of them correctly.

Poor communication, lack of accountability, and overall not providing the true service you pay for.

In addition, it is not set up to configure locations of warehouses, so it calculates taxes according only to the location of the corporation, sending a warning to all clients outside of that country that they may have to pay duty charges upon receiving the goods.

They take your money and run (don't do their job) until they ask for more money to upgrade you to a higher tier to do more of a job they haven't done in the past.

It is super expensive too, and though I never ended up actually using it (we did not launch our store with it) and due to all this frustrating issues met with indifference, we decided to cancel our contract and ask for a report nbirsement for the software that was never used, ensuring I mentioned that as a business owner, I was willing to negotiate a fair market value for the time spent with their engineer in the one meeting we had with him to explain our issues and the one meeting with the implementation specialist at the beginning, who sent us the manual to read, and took us through a general walkthrough of their platform, as well as all the HS codes we had received vs the ones we actually paid for. But they were unwavering due to their 60 day policy, which I sure went well o er since I purchased the service way before we were ready for launch, and all though I explained everything I stated above.

Avalara provides information on tax situations throughout the 46 taxing states + District of Columbia.  

I’ve had an open case for nearly a year, and their only repeated suggestion is to “upgrade the installed package,” which has never resolved the problem.

Business Analyst

It has seamless connection to Netsuite so easy to use

Their software that is used and intergrated into woocommerce to determine correct tax rate

They just tell you what you already can see in the AvaTax dashboard and will not help you find meaningful answers. If your ticket gets escalated, be prepared to spend 4-5 hours showing Avalara how you QA'd their product and found their bug, and then once you've proven to them, multiple times, that the bug exists, they might just fix it.

Finance Team

We then got in touch with them and organised the onboarding, which was a bit of a lenghty process, however once we launched it we never looked back.

Business Systems Manager

Automatically calculates tax rate for orders.

I have been trying since December to get resolution on several issues and no matter what avenue I take, I can't even get someone to respond to me.

Accountant

There are alot of reports that do about the same thing just maybe a little tweek so sometimes trying to find the right one is hard.

It is very low cost for the amount of value that is provided.

Then there were compatibility issues between avalara and our system, though they say they are compatible with WooCommerce, if your platform is using any other plugins or apps it will cause issues, such as long delays in the check out process.

Our account manager changed multiple times in the first few months and has since stabilized.

Member

Then they disconnected the App that integrated with eComm and then never fixed anything.

Extremely helpful in navigating the ins-and-outs of US sales tax.

I received nothing positive from working with this company — only charges and poor communication.

By far, the worst vendor experience ever.

Tax Manager

The combination of their chaotic emailing, lack of support with our new account manager, and their high prices are definitely making us lean towards taking our business elsewhere.

Reviewers indicate Avalara's tax calculation capabilities are generally accurate and automated, reducing manual effort and minimizing errors. Users report Avalara helps manage complex tax rates across all U.S. jurisdictions and appreciate that Avalara automatically applies taxes for transactions nationwide. They find Avalara's tax calculation tools helpful for ensuring correct tax amounts, but some users mention recurring calculation errors and difficulties with setup and support. Users say Avalara's tax calculation sometimes leads to audit issues and inconsistent results across marketplaces. Of the 23 Avalara users who gave detailed accounts of their use of Tax Calculation, 91% rated this feature as important or highly important.

Bugs and Issues

Billing and Charges

Customer Support

User Interface

Integrations

Certificate Management

Implementation Process

Audit and Review

Sales Process

Small Business

Mid-size Business

Large Enterprises

Freelancers

TaxDome

Trusted by 15,000+ tax, bookkeeping, and accounting firms, TaxDome is the #1-rated practice management platform for CPAs and EAs — combining workflow automation, CRM, document management, client portal, and billing in one connected hub.

MyTAXPrepOffice

MyTAXPrepOffice is a professional tax preparation software that helps businesses prepare and file tax returns on a cloud-based platform. Enjoy mobility, accuracy, ease of use, and affordability.

Drake Tax

Drake Tax is a tax management software designed to help small to midsize accounting businesses manage returns for clients via a unified portal. It includes shortcut keys and macros, which enables tax professionals to streamline data entry operations.


Minister

customer service is amazing the tech support is on point and I recommended other to used this software for their business.

TurboTax Business is mobile-friendly tax preparation software that guides businesses step-by-step when submitting federal & state income tax returns.

Activity Tracking

Customizable Reports

Data Verification

Historical Reporting

Mobile Access

Payroll & Employer Forms

Reporting & Statistics

SSL Security

Tax Forms

Reviews for TurboTax Business come from a wide variety of industries, including retail (8% of reviewers), consumer services (5%), and accounting (5%). The most frequent use case for TurboTax Business cited by reviewers is tax preparation (51% of reviewers).

Some users say TurboTax Business is reasonably priced and offers good value, especially compared to competitors. However, some reviewers feel the price is high with add-ons, and users wish for more transparent, affordable pricing for small businesses.

TurboTax Business is a tax preparation program with key features that include tax calculation, data import/export, and more.

TurboTax Business

iPhone

Android

Windows

iPad

TaxAct Business

ProSeries Tax

Taxprep

The above is for an investment pool for my elderly parents structured as a Partnership, so it will be able to receive a stepup basis when they pass away so that they can seamlessly transfer assets to their grandchildren.

There is no ability to enter a 1099 (a 1099 has simple numbered boxes, but TurboTax business does not, nor do they use the same or even similar terms and as I found out after a 2 hour call there simply is no way to enter foreign tax expenses into TurboTax business for a partnership).

designer

The fact that it's needed at all instead of our taxes being automatically calculated and filed, at least as far as basic returns are considered.

Tax expert

It has some glitches from time to time, refusing to update certain info.  

PRESIDENT

easy to use interface, simple navigation, efficient tax preparation and filing of business tax returns

Executive Officer

I get to be guided and ensured that I am getting the maximized amount of credits and deductions along with the benefit of expert experience built into the software product.

Avalara vs TurboTax Business Comparison (2026)

Avalara

TurboTax Business

Overview

Video & Screenshots

Pricing

User reviews

Key features

Integrations

Alternatives