Getting started with a TaxJar Professional plan

Getting started with a TaxJar Professional plan

Welcome to TaxJar! Congratulations on taking the first step towards automating and simplifying your sales tax compliance management. With your TaxJar Professional plan, you gain access to:

  • Real-time calculations: Instantly calculate accurate sales tax at checkout – even during peak demand – using up-to-date rates and address validation.
  • Sales tax reports: Get detailed, up-to-date reports on sales and sales tax collected or due by state and jurisdiction.
  • File and remittance support: Save time and reduce errors by automatically submitting returns and remittance to each jurisdiction. Never miss a deadline again.
  • Nexus insights: Stay informed about where your business has nexus now, and as your business grows to remain compliant. 
  • Sales tax registration support: Work with our team to register in new nexus states, relieving you of the time and effort involved in the process.

Now it’s time to set up your TaxJar account. To help, we’ve put together some steps to help you get started 

Step 1: Connect your integration

TaxJar users have multiple options for integration. We offer prebuilt integrations, the ability to manually import your data, and the option to create a custom integration to meet your specific business requirements. For each type of integration, we provide articles in our Knowledge Base to help you understand how to connect to TaxJar, set up sales tax calculations, and ensure your exempt products and customers are correctly categorized.

  • Find a list of our prebuilt integration guides here
  • Building a custom integration? We walk you through how to set up your integration here.
  • You can upload a CSV file to import transactions that take place on platforms that TaxJar does not have a direct integration with. We show you how to import data to TaxJar here. 

If you’re integrating an ERP that is also integrated with a sales channel that is supported by TaxJar, we recommend not linking the sales channel to TaxJar as well, in order to avoid duplicate transactions.

Step 2: Set up your TaxJar account

As you navigate your TaxJar account, you’ll need to ensure a few details are set up properly:

  • Complete your TaxJar Business Profile  
    • This includes details such as your name, business name, default shipping address, and federal tax ID.
  • Set up your state settings
  • Users and roles
    • While this task isn’t required right away, if you plan on adding any users to your TaxJar account, we recommend you do that at this point. We have more information about the different users and roles permissions in our Knowledge Base. 

Step 3: Configure customer exemptions or product exemptions, if applicable 

If you sell exempt or reduced-rate products, or to exempt customers, be sure to set up your product and customer exemptions within your integration first. 

Refer to the knowledge base article specific to your integration for instructions on how to complete this process. 

Please note that some integrations may require you to configure exempt products and customers directly within both the platform and your TaxJar account. More details can be found in the integration-specific documentation.

Step 4: Understand your sales tax reports

We recommend taking some time to review your sales tax reports within your TaxJar Dashboard to ensure you understand how to read and navigate your reports. If you are planning to enroll in TaxJar AutoFile, this step is important as you’ll need to ensure the data on your TaxJar sales tax reports is accurate for filing. 

Step 5: Review the Economic Nexus Insights tool results

You can use the Economic Nexus Insights tool in your TaxJar account to see where else you may need to register due to economic nexus thresholds. 

We suggest importing your historical sales from the previous and current calendar year for the most accurate results with this tool, as this is the data the states will be reviewing to see if you’ve crossed their nexus threshold. The steps to follow to import your historical sales will depend on your integration. Review the documentation for your integration to learn more. 

Step 6: Register for a sales tax permit, if applicable

After using the Economic Nexus Insights tool, many customers find that they have met a nexus threshold in a new state and need to register for a sales tax permit and begin collecting sales tax in that state. TaxJar can register on your behalf, or we have helpful blogs that outline the registration process in each state. 

Step 7: Enroll in AutoFile

If you’d like to take advantage of TaxJar’s automated filing service, AutoFile, now is a good time to enroll in each state where you’d like to use AutoFile. Enrollment must be done in each state where you’d like TaxJar to file on your behalf, and we have articles to walk you through enrolling in each state in our Knowledge Base.

Your TaxJar plan comes with 12 AutoFile credits. Learn how to purchase more credits here. 

Helpful resources

Our Knowledge Base is full of informational articles for setting up your TaxJar account, and maintaining sales tax compliance with TaxJar. You'll also find information on TaxJar billing, AutoFile enrollment, and sales tax registration.

TaxJar's sales tax blog is a great place for sellers to find relevant sales tax information. We have information on product taxability, when and how to register for a sales tax permit, and how to file sales tax in each state. You'll also find monthly sales tax due date lists, so you can ensure you file sales tax on time, each month.

If you need assistance from our customer support team, please send an email to support@taxjar.com and our team will be in touch.

Related Articles