Case Study: JL Marine Systems achieves streamlined sales tax automation and exemption management with Avalara

JL Marine Systems Finds Calm Waters With Sales Tax Automation

JL Marine Systems, a Tampa-based manufacturer of shallow-water anchors and onboard accessories, faced mounting sales tax complexity as transactions, sales channels and nexus obligations grew. The company relied on Everest and manual filings, and a prior Florida audit revealed missing exemption certificates and significant penalties, making the workload unsustainable for the finance team.

JL Marine integrated Avalara AvaTax and CertCapture with Everest and Magento (going live in July 2017) to calculate tax in real time, capture and manage exemption certificates, and automate returns. The change simplified filings and audits, enabled remote access to tax data, saved the finance team 5–10 hours per week, and made adding states and managing exemptions at point of sale much easier.

JL Marine Systems

Jean Treimanis

Chief Financial Officer