New alliance represents Avalara’s expansion into the PEO industry

Bainbridge Island, WA – Sept. 8, 2014: Avalara, Inc., (www.Avalara.com), a leading provider of cloud-based software that delivers a broad array of compliance solutions related to sales tax and other transactional taxes, today announced it has formed a strategic alliance with PayPlus Software, Inc., (www.payplus.com), a leading payroll and employee management software company serving the Professional Employer Organization (PEO) industry.

Under this new partnership, PayPlus/SLS is now able to introduce Avalara’s sales tax compliance solutions to their PEO service bureau partners, who in turn can add Avalara’s solutions to their portfolio of customer offerings. Avalara’s alliance with PayPlus represents Avalara’s inaugural entry in the PEO industry, making it easier for PEO customers to be compliant in all aspects of their business.

“Manually managing sales tax is difficult, expensive, and time consuming, and businesses can face stiff penalties if they don’t get it right,” said Pat Falle, SVP of strategic sales at Avalara. “Just like outsourcing payroll, outsourcing sales tax compliance reduces risk and increases efficiency. This is something PEO customers need; it’s a natural extension for PEO’s to offer – and Avalara is making it easy for them to do just that.”

Specifically, Avalara automates and simplifies governmental compliance processes for business of all sizes, including tax determination, exemption certificate management, and tax return preparation, filing, and remittance. It works within a customer’s own financial, billing, ecommerce, or point of sales systems to automate manual processes, delivering cloud-based compliance services that are fast, easy, accurate and affordable.

“PEO customers who outsource payroll understand the benefits of outsourcing and automating the compliance process,” continued Falle. “Our solutions and those offered by payroll providers go hand-in-hand and, once engaged, Avalara becomes an extension of the payroll provider’s sales, marketing and deployment team. It’s a compelling partner model, and one we look forward to developing.”

Angela Costello, president of PayPlus/SLS said, “As a long time operator in the Payroll/HR Outsourcing industry, we understand how automating complex, administrative processes can help businesses gain efficiencies. Our partnership with Avalara allows our PEO clients and partners to expand their offerings and provide additional value, allowing businesses to focus on their primary expertise.”

About Avalara
Avalara helps businesses of all sizes achieve compliance with sales tax, excise tax, and other transactional tax requirements by delivering comprehensive, automated, cloud-based solutions that are fast, accurate, and easy to use. Avalara’s end-to-end suite of solutions are designed to effectively manage complicated and burdensome tax compliance obligations imposed by state, local, and other taxing authorities in the United States and internationally.

Avalara offers hundreds of pre-built connectors into leading accounting, ERP, ecommerceand other business applications. The company processes millions of tax transactions for customers and free users every day, files hundreds of thousands of transactional tax returns per year, and manages millions of exemption certificates and other compliance related documents. Founded in 2004 and privately-held, Avalara’s venture capital investors include Battery Ventures, Sageview Capital, Arthur Ventures, and other institutional and individual investors. Avalara employs more than 700 people at its headquarters on Bainbridge Island, WA and in offices across the U.S. and in London, England and Pune, India. More information at: www.avalara.com

About PayPlus Software
PayPlus Software, Inc., is the oldest and largest provider of payroll and human resource management software to the PEO (Professional Employer Organization) industry. PayPlus is designed specifically to operate PEOs and/or temporary staffing companies. Its "PEO software by PEOs"—the only PEO software developed by PEOs for PEOs.