Case Study: Arlen Ness Motorcycles achieves reduced compliance risk and cost savings with Avalara sales tax automation

Arlen Ness Motorcycles leans into sales tax automation

Arlen Ness Motorcycles, the iconic custom motorcycle brand, faced growing sales‑tax complexity as it expanded—manually filing taxes, updating ERP tax tables, and managing exemption certificates in three‑inch binders. After the Wayfair decision and a nexus footprint spanning multiple states (the company was registered in South Dakota and Florida and about 70% of sales are tax‑exempt), CFO John Kallas determined the manual approach was inefficient, risky, and unsustainable for a lean team.

Arlen Ness implemented Avalara AvaTax, CertCapture and Returns, integrated with Shopify Plus and Sage 100, after a brief data‑cleanup and guided setup. The automation delivered hundreds of hours saved, lower registration costs, improved exemption management, reduced compliance risk across 15 states (10 SST states), and proactive nexus monitoring—allowing the company to scale with greater confidence.

Arlen Ness Motorcycles

John Kalles

Chief Financial Officer