AvaTax for HubSpot Setup Guide
Built by Taxiom

Avalara’s AvaTax is a cloud-based solution automating transaction tax calculations and the tax filing process. AvaTax provides real-time tax calculation using tax content from more than 12,000 US taxing jurisdictions and over 200 countries, ensuring tax is calculated based on current rules.

HubSpot is a leading customer relationship management (CRM) platform and suite of software tools designed to help businesses of all sizes attract, engage, and delight customers, ultimately leading to growth.


This integration connects HubSpot to AvaTax, allowing for real-time tax calculation inside HubSpot. Click below to go to a guide section:


Connecting AvaTax & HubSpot

Configuring Sync Settings

How to Handle Exemptions

How to Assign Taxability

Accessing the Logs

Overriding Avalara’s Tax Calculation

Validating Addresses

Troubleshooting

This integration was built by Taxiom, an Avalara partner, and this guide will provide instructions on use and setup. We highly encourage you to schedule a call with the Taxiom team so this can be done with you over the phone. You can schedule the initial setup call here - https://app.lemcal.com/@taxiom/avatax-for-hubspot

Connecting AvaTax & HubSpot (go to top)

For this integration to work properly, you will need:

· An account with HubSpot

· An Avalara subscription that includes access to the AvaTax for HubSpot connector

· To sign up for the ‘AvaTax for HubSpot’ integration through the HubSpot Marketplace

After purchasing an Avalara subscription that includes ‘AvaTax for HubSpot’, proceed to the HubSpot Marketplace and search for ‘AvaTax for HubSpot’.

From there, sign up & install the ‘AvaTax for HubSpot’ integration through HubSpot. Then configure the integration:

1. First, login to the Integration portal -

2. In the menu on the left, start by inputting your HubSpot Access Token (see here for more info)

3. Then under Avalara Credentials, input your Account ID (see here), License Key (see here), and Company Code (see here). Please note, if you would like to connect to an Avalara Sandbox account, you'll need to input the Sandbox Account ID, Sandbox License Key, & Sandbox Company Code.

4. After entering in the Avalara Credentials, click 'Save Info' to verify the information provided.


5. Then in the menu on the left, click 'Connect to HubSpot' to initiate the connection and select the HubSpot account you want to connect to

See next section for guidance on saving HubSpot transactions in Avalara for tax reporting & filing

Configuring Sync Settings (go to top)

In Avalara, the term "committed" refers to the status of a transaction or document, indicating that it is considered final and ready for inclusion in compliance reports and tax return filings.

And "uncommitted" means that a transaction has been added to AvaTax but has not yet been finalized and included in reports or tax returns. It's a provisional status for transactions that are subject to review and might not be ready for reporting or filing liability calculations.

With this integration HubSpot can receive tax calculation from AvaTax and this setting will allow you to control when the HubSpot transactions get saved and 'committed' in AvaTax.

Option 1 - Commit when quote paid – This is the recommended option. This would save the transaction in Avalara as ‘uncommitted’ when the quote is created, then when the quote is marked as paid in HubSpot, the transaction would automatically get updated to ‘committed’.

Option 2 - Commit when quote created – This option would save the transaction in Avalara as ‘committed’ when the quote is created.

Option 3 - Don’t commit to AvaTax – This option would NEVER save a transaction in AvaTax. Select this if you only want to receive tax calculation from AvaTax but not save the transactions in AvaTax. This is only recommended in very specific scenarios.

See next section for guidance on setting up product taxability….

How to Handle Exemptions? (go to top)

The best way to manage exempt customers is through AvaTax. See instructions here.

In the AvaTax console, under Exemptions, you can map your HubSpot customer code to an exemption certificate. Then, as long as the certificate is valid in the jurisdiction in question, AvaTax will recognize your HubSpot customer code and automatically exempt them any time an order comes through for that HubSpot customer code.

Alternatively, you can Use Codes (for both Entities & Line items) from inside HubSpot to tell AvaTax that a company or a specific line item should be exempt from sales tax for a specific reason.

When you apply the Use Code to the COMPANY, all line items on any order for that company will have the company’s Use Code applied and then be exempted. To add or edit a company’s entity use code in HubSpot:

1. Go to HubSpot and find that company record.

2. From within the record properties, find the record called ‘AvaEntityUseCode’.

3. Input the desired entity the code (see below).

a. Please note, the entity use code should be 1 LETTER only. So, for Resale you would just enter the letter ‘G’ in the ‘AvaEntityUseCode’ field.

When you apply the Use Code to the LINE ITEM, only the specific line item that contains the use code will be exempted, but the other line items that don’t have a Use Code will be taxed as normal. To add or edit a line item’s use code:

1. Go to the HubSpot Quote and go to the Line Items section

2. If you don’t see ‘AvaLineUseCode’, then hit Edit Columns, and add the property to the Line Item View

a. For optimal use, please add the following fields to the Line Item View:

i. Avalara Tax Calculated

ii. Avalara Tax Override

iii. AvaTaxCode

iv. AvaLineUseCode

3. Then Input the desired line the code

a. Please note, the line use code should be 1 LETTER only.

Use Codes

A - Federal government (United States)

B - State government (United States)

C - Tribe / Status Indian / Indian Band (both)

D - Foreign diplomat (both)

E - Charitable or benevolent org (both)

F - Religious or educational org (both)

G - Resale (both)

H - Commercial agricultural production (both)

I - Industrial production / manufacturer (both)

J - Direct pay permit (United States)

K - Direct mail (United States)

L - Other (both)

M - Not Used

N - Local government (United States)

O - Not Used

P - Commercial aquaculture (Canada)

Q - Commercial Fishery (Canada)

R - Non-resident (Canada)

See next section for guidance on setting up product taxability….

How to Assign Taxability (go to top)

Out of the box, AvaTax doesn’t know what you are selling, as every company uses different SKUs and product codes. The Avalara Tax Codes are how AvaTax knows if you are selling software vs a t-shirt. The idea is to map your HubSpot SKUs to an Avalara Tax Code, then it will know the taxability of what you’re selling in any US jurisdiction.

Depending on what you sell, you may or may not need to map your HubSpot SKUs to Avalara Tax Codes. If you don’t do this, Avalara will tax everything as it if were TPP, tangible personal property, which may be fine for some people.

For others, here’s how to map your HubSpot products to Avalara Tax Codes.

Please keep in mind, every product, service, warranty, or ‘thing’ that could appear on an invoice/quote should have an Avalara Tax Code. If it shows up as a line item on your invoice/quote, it should have an Avalara Tax Code.

For shipping charges, you'll need to create a Shipping Product. This will be a product like any other, and then you'll map the Shipping Product SKU to an Avalara Tax Code that matches your shipping scenario. If you have more than one type of shipping (as in Shipping by Company Vehicle VS Shipping by Common Carrier), you'll want to create a separate Shipping Product for each. Please see here for the Avalara Shipping Tax Codes.

1. In HubSpot go to Commerce, then Products

2. Click on a Product to open details screen.

3. If you don’t see ‘AvaTaxCode’, click Actions, Customize Properties, then Add a Property, and then select ‘AvaTaxCode’

4. Look up the appropriate AvaTax Tax Codes at - http://taxcode.avatax.avalara.com

5. After finding the appropriate Tax Code, enter it in the ‘AvaTaxCode’ field.

6. That’s it! You’ll only need to do this once per new product. And any time that product is added to a Quote, it will automatically pass along the AvaTax Code!

See next section for guidance on address validation & tax overrides…

Validating Customer Addresses (go to top)

For Avalara’s Tax Engine to accurately determine taxes, having a complete address is CRUCIAL. The address has to include the city, state, zip code, AND country for sales tax to calculate properly.

If you don’t receive a tax value back automatically from AvaTax after adding a line item to a quote, it may be because the customer address is incomplete.

If there is an address error, our integration system will send you an email notifying you so you can correct the specific company record, then re-run the transaction.

If you’d like to get ahead of this, we have partnered with ZipCodeInfo, another member of the HubSpot Marketplace, to help you validate your HubSpot addresses in bulk. Please see https://zipcodeinfo.org/ for more information.

And if you’re going to purchase a subscription from them, feel free to use to discount code ‘Taxiom’.


After you purchased/installed their add-on, it will connect to your HubSpot account, scan your company addresses, then make recommendations. You can update the addresses by clicking the 'Update Now' at the bottom of the page.

See next section for guidance on tax overrides….

Overriding Avalara's Tax Calculation (go to top)

In the event you don’t agree with Avalara’s tax calculation, you can override it.

1. Go to the HubSpot Quote and go to the Line Items section

2. If you don’t see ‘AvaTaxOverride’, then hit Edit Columns, and add the property to the Line Item View

3. Then Input the desired sales tax amount.

a. This amount will get used as the tax amount for that specific line, and get posted to Avalara as the tax (instead of what Avalara calculated)

See next section for guidance on accessing the logs….

Accessing the Logs (go to top)

You can find the record logs in the integration’s settings portal, in the menu on the left, under Avalara Tax Logs. This can be used for troubleshooting if needed.

See next section for guidance on troubleshooting….

Troubleshooting (go to top)

If you run into issues with the AvaTax for HubSpot integration, feel free to:

· Reach out to Taxiom’s Support – avataxforhubspot@taxiom.com

· Reach out to Avalara’s Support – See here

Need a break from tax insanity? Check out our new Podcast, Tax Fun with Taxiom!