The previous example showed that no exemption certificates were on file for the newly created customer. This example describes how to request a certificate from a customer. Note again that the process varies depending on whether you're integrating into an ecommerce platform or an ERP.

Ecommerce

Ecommerce integrations may want to include the ability for customers to notify the platform of their exemption status during checkout. To make this happen, use the ecommerce SDK in your integration as described earlier in this guide.

Tip

This functionality should only be made available to registered customers. Don’t provide guest checkouts with the option to provide exemption documents.

ERP

Use the CreateCertExpressInvitation API to request documents from your customers. The example below shows how to send a request to your newly created company. This request includes:

The recipient email address
A cover letter to include in the email
The exposure zone for which you want the customer to provide a valid certificate
An exempt reason to prepopulate in the certificate
An email delivery method

After the customer provides an exemption certificate, AvaTax automatically applies that document to the customer record and marks the customer as exempt.

Example

curl
    -X POST
    -H 'Accept: application/json'
    -H 'Authorization: Basic ${btoa(`:`)}'
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json'
    --data {
      "recipient": "alice.smith@example.org",
      "coverLetterTitle": "STANDARD_REQUEST",
      "exposureZones": [
              132
      ],
      "exemptReasons": [
              55
      ],
      "deliveryMethod": "Email"
    }
    'https://sandbox-rest.avatax.com/api/v2/companies/365522/customers/NewExemptCustomer/certexpressinvites'

Use case 3. Request a certificate