Avalara Avatax Applied To Shipping Only. Not Applied To Products.

[smittvms]

I'm a PS newbie trying to activate his first store with Prestashop 1.6.1.4.
 

 

Normal tax configured for Washington State, USA.
Tax rule applied via SQL to all 44,000 products and carriers.

update ps16_product set id_tax_rules_group = 47;
update ps16_product_shop set id_tax_rules_group = 47;
update ps16_carrier_tax_rules_group_shop set id_tax_rules_group = 47;

Add two items to cart.
Standard WA tax (6.5%) calculates properly on products and tax.

1. Installed Avalara 3.5.7 and enabled module.
2. Configured Avalara and got a successful test connection.
3. Disabled site tax system as per Avalara instructions.
4. Verified site is using PHP 5.5+ as per readme.

Refresh cart. Correct location-specific tax (8.8%) is applied to shipping only.

 

Avalara tax is not being applied to products.

 

This is the short version of the story.

I've been picking at this and trying different things for 5 hours.

 

Any suggestions on what I'm missing?

 

 

EDIT: The Avalara readme says
"### Product Tax Codes

Avalara calculates taxes for your products based on an extensive list of tax codes. Unless you are relying on UPC codes, you must manually enter a tax code for each of your products."

On the product edit page, there is no tax code dropdown, but rather an Avalara text box.
The note below the box says, "Tax rules will be handled by Avalara".

What tax code am I supposed to put in that box?

I entered 47, which is the WA-State tax, just to see if that made any difference, but still no tax on this product in the cart after refresh. I removed the 47 and saved, then disabled the Avatax module and enabled standard PS tax. Refreshed cart and standard tax works as expected.

Edited March 18, 2016 by smittvms (see edit history)

[smittvms]

The ##_avalara_taxcodes table had 1334 values, but we have 44,000 skus. It looks like that table is built as people add those items to the cart.

The tax_code column was empty so I checked the 

I logged into the Avalara control panel and saw there were no tax codes lists so I created one and the associated tax rules.

Still no Avalara tax in the shopping cart.

From Avalara help:

Definition: A unique label used to group items (products, services, or charges) by taxability. Example: PC040100 Required: Optional Limitations: If a tax code is not associated with the item, AvaTax assigns a default tax code of U0000000, indicating an unknown tax code.

There is another table ##_avalara_carrier_cache, and the tax rates for shipping appears to be entered there.
As stated before shipping tax is calculated accurately.

However, the ##_avalara_product_cache table is empty.
I would expect values to be entered into that table if Avalara is working properly.

No response from module developer to question submitted 24 hours ago via Prestashop.com.

[nurelm]

Hi Sam,

 

We haven't seen this issue before, and have sent you a note via our support system asking for a few details on the tax code you entered. Hopefully we can find the solution and post an answer here for anyone else who may be encountering the same problem.

 

Thanks

[eric.arnoldy]

I too was having this issue a month or so ago, but now I don't even have tax showing up on my checkout page -> Payment.  Will be curious to see if anything is coming of it.  Since I have a different issues, I'll be posting about that one too - no tax being displayed at all.

[smittvms]

#NuRelm thank you for commenting.

I received this response from NuRelm customer support:

 

Tax rules will be handled by Avalara, but you do have to enter one of Avalara's tax codes for each product from their long list of tax codes.

https://help.avalara.com/000_AvaTax_Calc/000AvaTaxCalc_User_Guide/051_Select_AvaTax_System_Tax_Codes

https://taxcode.avatax.avalara.com/

I went to that those sites and found tax code PC070000 for computer hardware. That's good enough for me.

 

I logged into the Avatax control panel: Organizations > Our company > Tax Codes > Entered a tax code for PC070000.

Then clicked on Tax Rules and verified the three states in which we collect tax were properly connected to PC070000.

 

Next I went into Prestashop and turned off native tax and enabled Avatax.

I then did a DB query to change all the tax codes to match.

UPDATE `ps_avalara_taxcodes` set `tax_code` = 'PC070000';

That updated 44,283 skus.

 

Then I went to the shop and placed an item into the cart.

Again, correct sales tax was calculated on shipping but not on products.

 

Am I missing something in the Avalara account configuration?

and/or

What am I missing in Prestashop?

 

Is there a complete check list providing all the states necessary to make this work including Avatax account config, Prestashop and Product config information?

I'd be glad to help myself if there is documentation.

 

 

I disabled Avatax and enabled native tax and refreshed my shopping cart.
The native tax was calculated as expected.

Edited March 22, 2016 by smittvms (see edit history)

[smittvms]

I've spent most of another day trying to get Avatax to work.

 

I realize the Avalara module is quite popular with a 5,000+ download icon in the Addon system.

http://addons.prestashop.com/en/5040-avalara-avatax.html

I realize the Avalara module is free, but the Avalara service is not free, but it is of no use to me without this module properly working. I have been digging around trying to find an answer, I think it comes down to the overrides the module creates during installation. I think there was a conflict with another extension override, but sorting it out has been very confusing.

I don't expect people to drop everything and tend to my needs, but typically developers respond in 1-2 days.

Below is a log of my attempts to receive support for Avatax:

14 Mar 2016@00:09 Created Forum Question
https://www.prestashop.com/forums/topic/513536-avalara-avatax-applied-to-shipping-only-not-applied-to-products/ 
Responses above.

 

14 Mar 2016@08:38 Prestashop.com - Addon > Contact developer
http://addons.prestashop.com/en/5040-avalara-avatax.html

3/21 @ 2100 = No response

 

17 Mar 2016@23:06 Avalara.com - Account > Support Request

3/22 @ 0700 = Sorry. Not our module. Contact Nurelm.

 

17 Mar 2016@22:22 Prestashop Forum Developer PM Sent
https://www.prestashop.com/forums/user/337625-nurelm/

3/22 @ 0800 Received response

Since Avalara does not own the Prestashop connector, so you will need to contact NuRelm Technical Support for this issue. To escalate an AvaTax issue with NuRelm, please reach out to [email protected] ;(724) 430-0490.
If you are having trouble reaching anyone at NuRelm Technical Support, please reply to this email and reopen this case. I would be glad to submit a ticket for you to NuRelm Support. Please keep in mind that you will usually receive a faster response from non-Avalara Support Teams if you, as the customer, submits a ticket.
3/21 @ 2100 = No response

18 Mar 2016@02:33 Nurelm.com > Submitted Support Request
3/18 Received response saying they would ask the developer to look into it. No followup today.
3/21 @ 700 = Response Nurelm:
Tax rules will be handled by Avalara, but you do have to enter one of Avalara's tax codes for each product from their long list of tax codes.
https://help.avalara.com/000_AvaTax_Calc/000AvaTaxCalc_User_Guide/051_Select_AvaTax_System_Tax_Codes
https://taxcode.avatax.avalara.com/

 

 

23 Mar 2016 After wasting MANY house trying to get Avalara to work I decided to test the alternative.

TaxCloud worked perfectly for me in our old Magento site so I figured it was worth a shot.

 

I purchased the TaxCloud module ($100) 

http://www.presto-changeo.com/en/111-tax-cloud.html

 

Disabled Avatax.

Intalled TaxCloud from Presto-Changeo.com.

Setup took about 30 minutes including merging and uploading override files and setting up my TaxCloud website API key.

I put an item in my cart and the tax was properly calculated.

 

Just to be sure I had given Avalara a fair test, I made one last attempt:

1. Disabled native tax

2. Enabled Avalara

3. Removed TaxCloud override files.

4. Uploaded Avalaratax override files

5. Cleared cache

6. Refreshed Cart

RESULT = NO TAX CALCULATION

 

Reversed the process

1. Disabled Avalaratax

2. Enabled native tax

3. Enabled TaxCloud

4. Removed Avalara overrides

5. Uploaded TaxCloud overrides

6. Cleaned cache

7. Refreshed Cart

RESULT = PERFECT Address-based Sales Tax.

 

 

I'll mark this thread as "Solved" but it's far from it.
At least now I have accurate sales tax thanks to TaxCloud.