Avalara Unveils Comprehensive Beverage Alcohol Compliance Solution for Wineries, Distilleries, Breweries, Importers, and Retailers as Selling Shifts to Ecommerce

Avalara, Inc., a leading provider of cloud-based tax compliance automation for businesses of all sizes, announced the availability of Avalara AvaTax for Beverage Alcohol, a new offering for wineries, distilleries, breweries, importers, and retailers that locates and calculates sales and use tax plus beverage alcohol tax rates with rooftop-level accuracy, and connects to eCommerce or accounting software already in use by customers.

AvaTax for Beverage Alcohol is a central component in the Avalara for Beverage Alcohol suite of products, which provides comprehensive support for beverage alcohol businesses across the compliance life cycle, from licensing and product registrations to tax calculations and returns, helping to reduce noncompliance and audit risk exposure.

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Avalara launches AvaTax for Beverage Alcohol as the industry changes and evolves in real time, with the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating trends that were already in motion prior to tasting rooms, restaurants, and bars shutting down or scaling back significantly. Licensees in all tiers of the industry had to act immediately to weather the massive sales channel realignment from on-premises to off-premises sales, and from a customer experience that transformed nearly overnight from the tasting room to a more virtual, online experience.

A shift to selling via ecommerce was essential, buoyed by state-by-state direct-to-consumer (DTC) legislation broadly allowing wineries, and in some states breweries, distilleries, and retailers, to ship directly to customers. But with these new sales channels to customers come new compliance hurdles and increased risk for businesses operating in the beverage alcohol industry.

With the addition of AvaTax for Beverage Alcohol, Avalara for Beverage Alcohol delivers the industry’s only comprehensive, integrated, and automated compliance solution consisting of software and services, including:

• Avalara Licensing for Beverage Alcohol: Businesses must properly register and maintain state beverage alcohol licenses, or risk revocation of licensure in the state, and potentially at the federal level. Licensing for Beverage Alcohol tracks registration with the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), state departments of revenue (DORs), and Alcohol Beverage Control departments (ABCs).
• Avalara Product Registration for Beverage Alcohol: Secure the right permits in the right places and make sure every label is properly registered at the federal and state levels. Product Registration for Beverage Alcohol allows businesses to outsource interaction with regulatory entities at all levels of government.
• Avalara Returns for Beverage Alcohol: Failure to comply with reporting requirements and tax remittance can put business licensure in jeopardy. With Returns for Beverage Alcohol, Avalara manages the end-to-end returns process on behalf of customers, improving compliance while reducing manual effort.

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“Steady tailwinds continue to push the beverage alcohol space forward, and we should expect continued growth in lockstep with changes in consumer behavior and preference,” said Kevin Permenter, research manager at IDC. “Avalara continues to strategically broaden its beverage alcohol compliance solution set, anticipating the pace of digital transformation, legislative action, aggressive enforcement, and the changing needs of businesses today.”

“The beverage alcohol industry has experienced substantial shifts for several years, first via U.S. Supreme Court and individual states’ decisions and legislation allowing for direct shipping, and second through a pandemic-driven rush to sell online in order to keep the doors open,” said Jeff Carroll, general manager, Beverage Alcohol at Avalara. “These sellers are getting a crash course in online commerce, including the complexity of tax compliance. With today’s announcement, Avalara now offers the only complete solution to address a growing set of compliance challenges and frustrations for this rapidly evolving industry.”

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