Implementation

This document provides the key steps for completing the Sage X3 setup required to effectively use the Sage Sales Tax integration. Additional settings must be completed when configuring the Avalara web portal. A customer or partner is assigned an Avalara implementation consultant to manage that side of the implementation. The remainder of this document is focused on the Sage X3 configuration and setup.

Sage Sales Tax can be implemented anytime during the ownership lifecycle. It is easier to implement on a new installation before in-process sales documents are in the system. When implementing Sage Sales Tax on a production or live system, there are special considerations that must be factored into the implementation.

Live systems

The tax values on any open sales documents (quotes, orders, shipments, and invoices) are reflective of the Sage X3 tax setup and calculation. The Sage Sales Tax calculated tax is applied while sales documents are modified or processed. The tax calculated could change so you should post all invoices prior to implementing. Otherwise, the system document could be inconsistent with a printed invoice you have mailed.

If you are converting from using the Sage X3 tax rate tables, the Sage X3 calculated tax can appear while documents (quotes, orders, and shipments) are accessed. Once Sage Sales Tax returns the tax amounts, new rates and sales tax amounts are displayed. This can be confusing if not explained in advance to your users.

It is recommended to select the Migration option that validates all open invoices. If you do not select the Migration option, it is recommended that you create a new invoicing element to link to the Discount invoicing element you entered for that company.

Other considerations

The integration is controlled by a company within Sage X3 that is consistent with the method Avalara licenses their product. The product is licensed by region and the North American region includes the United States and Canada.

To use SST for a company, select the Activation check box in Companies (GESCPY). The countries defined in the Sage Sales Tax connection enable address validation for that country. This control ensures that Sage Sales Tax only validates tax relevant addresses and does not signal errors for those outside the taxable region.

Sage Sales Tax integration does not support splitting tax calculations on a sales document. A document’s tax is either calculated by Sage Sales Tax or by Sage X3.

To ensure that an accurate tax amount is calculated by Sage Sales Tax, it is important that the United States and Canada Nexus/jurisdictions are defined in the Avalara portal during implementation. If a Sage X3 address is in a Nexus/jurisdiction that is not selected on the Avalara portal, the tax calculation returned to Sage X3 is zero. This should be covered with the Avalara implementation consultant, not your Sage consultant.

The base data for driving Sage Sales Tax calculations is defined in miscellaneous tables. The tables must be populated with valid values required to update your Sage X3 master data. Miscellaneous table 202 stores the list of entity/use codes that apply to your business. Miscellaneous table 203 contains the Sage Sales Tax (SST) codes that apply to your products. Sage does not deliver these tables prepopulated because a typical implementation only requires a small subset of the values. You need to determine the correct codes by working with your Avalara implementation consultant. Once identified, they must be entered into the appropriate miscellaneous table or tables.

Open: Common data > Common data > Miscellaneous tables

You must assign entity/use codes when appropriate for customer ship-to addresses that belong to exempt categories.

For all products and invoicing elements to be processed using Sage Sales Tax, you must assign an SST tax code. This code is one of the variables used by the calculation engine to determine a product’s and invoicing elements’s tax rate.

The entity/use code and SST codes are used to determine if a document is taxable or nontaxable. For sales documents, the entity/use code defaults from the customer’s ship-to address. Defining this value when applicable is a mandatory step for completing the tax setup. Use Sage Sales Tax initialization to open documents to update the customer’s entity/use code for open sales quotes, orders, shipments, service requests, and service contracts.

Open: Declarations > Tax management > United States > Sage Sales Tax initialization

Sales invoicing elements, whose sales tax can be reduced or eliminated based on the use of the appropriate SST code, must be reviewed to validate the setup and ensure that the correct SST tax code is assigned.