1.4 - Configure Your Account

To use AvaTax, you must configure your company and set up your tax profile. You can configure your company on the AvaTax website or by using the API directly.

If you are building a connector that links up to AvaTax, you don’t have to do any work to setup a company. Your customers will log onto AvaTax and follow the company setup steps themselves. No work necessary!

To continue with this developer guide, let’s set up a test company right now. This company will allow us to finish all the test cases within the AvaTax Developer Guide using a company with a known tax profile.

To set up a company quickly, AvaTax provides the CompanyInitialize API call, which does most of the work:

Test Case 1.4.1 - Configure a Company

Setup

Call CompanyInitialize with these values:
  • Name: Developer Guide Company
  • CompanyCode: DEVGUIDE
  • Taxpayer ID number: 12-3456789
  • Address:
    • 2000 Main Street
    • Irvine, CA 92614
  • Contact:
    • Bob Example
    • bob@example.org
    • 714 555 2121

Assertions

  • Company should be created with Bob Example with his relevant contact information:
    • Email as bob@example.org
    • Primary phone number as (714) 555-2121
    • Mobile phone number as (714) 555-1212
  • Company name should be reflected as "Developer Guide"
  • Business is located at 2000 Main Street, Irvine, CA 92614
  • Tax Payer ID is 12-3456789
  • CompanyInitialize: 
    {
  "name": "Developer Guide Company",
  "companyCode": "DEVGUIDE",
  "taxpayerIdNumber": "12-3456789",
  "line1": "2000 Main Street",
  "city": "Irvine",
  "region": "CA",
  "postalCode": "92614",
  "country": "US",
  "firstName": "Bob",
  "lastName": "Example",
  "title": "Owner",
  "email": "bob@example.org",
  "phoneNumber": "714 555-2121",
  "mobileNumber": "714 555-1212"
}


After this API call has completed, you will see that this company, with the companyCode value set to “DEVGUIDE”, is ready for use!

Congratulations! You have successfully initialized your first AvaTax company.