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Tassetta vs sales tax software
Avalara, TaxJar and Sovos are good at the thing they were built for. They calculate rates accurately across a lot of jurisdictions, and if you need a rate API in your checkout, that is what you should buy.
The question they leave open is who operates the rest of it. With a rate engine you are the operator: you map the product tax codes, you watch the nexus dashboard, you reconcile the marketplace tax by hand, and you click file. Managed filing is usually an extra line on the invoice, and the base price climbs with transaction volume, so your compliance cost peaks in your best month.
More to the point: no person is accountable for the number. The engine produces a figure and you file it under your own name.
Line by line
| Sales tax software | Tassetta | |
|---|---|---|
| Calculating the tax | Yes, that is the core product | Yes |
| Tracking nexus | A dashboard you check | Measured continuously, alerts on crossing |
| Preparing the return | You, or a paid add-on | The platform, every period |
| Verifying the numbers | Nobody | A named CPA, every return |
| Filing with the state | You click, or you pay more | Included |
| Separating marketplace tax | You reconcile it | Split at import |
| Answering a state notice | Your problem | Matched, drafted, logged |
| Evidence for an audit | Export what you can find | Seven-year archive per filing |
| What you pay on | Transaction volume | $1,000 a year, unlimited states |
When software is the right buy
If you have an in-house tax person who wants to own the process and just needs a good rate engine, buy the rate engine. Tassetta is for teams who do not want to build that function internally and are not willing to fly blind instead.