We’re excited to announce a major improvement to our Avalara tax provider integration! With our new Avalara Customer Sync, BuildOps now automatically syncs customer records to Avalara before any AR (customer invoice) tax calculation takes place. This ensures tax-exempt customers are correctly identified and not overcharged. No more tax surprises, refund hassles, or compliance risks - just smoother, smarter invoicing for Avalara-connected customers.
Previously, BuildOps passed a simple customerCode (based on the customer's name) to Avalara during invoice tax calculations. However, Avalara requires a properly synced customer record in order to apply tax exemptions correctly. Without this sync:
Tax-exempt customers were incorrectly charged tax
Users had to manually adjust or refund invoices
Missing exemption documentation increased audit risk
Customer trust and experience suffered
Solution
We’ve implemented a robust customer sync process using BuildOps’ event-driven architecture. Now, before any AR invoice is sent to Avalara, BuildOps ensures the customer record is already synced — enabling Avalara to automatically apply exemption certificates and rules.
Key enhancements include:
Event-driven customer sync: Ensures timely and reliable customer record creation in Avalara
New sync tracking table:
TaxProviderSyncEntrycaptures sync state, errors, and actions per customerRetry and error handling: Automatically handles transient sync failures
Improved visibility: UI components now surface sync status for easier troubleshooting
Fewer manual corrections: Less time spent refunding or overriding tax charges
Impacts you will see:
AR invoices correctly reflect tax-exempt status
Less manual work, fewer errors
Happier customers and stronger audit readiness
Note: This enhancement applies to AR (customer invoice) flows only. AP operations and vendor exemptions remain unchanged.
How This Update Solves the Problem
Please make sure to trigger Avalara connection to make sure all the customer records which existed before enabling this feature are successfully synced to Avalara. In order to do so, disable Avalara integration and then re-enable it.
From now on, if you are integrated with Avalara, each customer record will have the Accounting Software Sync Status associated with them.
The new Avalara Customer Code field will be automatically assigned to each customer record on successfully syncing it to Avalara and used as a unique identifier mapping a BuildOps customer record to that generated in Avalara.
The Accounting Settings → Sync Log History screen will acquire a new Avalara tab that shows the status of each customer record sync event. Each customer edit & create event.
Once the customer records are successfully synced to Avalara, you will be able to review them in your Avalara account on the Exemptions → Customers screen. Each customer record synced to Avalara will inherit the Customer name and address fields from BuildOps.
You will be able to add exemption certificates to your customers by clicking the customer record and using the Add certificate button on the certificates tab of the customer record
Once a customer has an exemption certificate associated with them in Avalara, no tax amount will be calculated on the invoices generated for them.
The transaction in Avalara will show the calculation logic with regard to the exemptions applied.
