Avalara, Inc., a leading provider of cloud-based tax compliance automation for businesses of all sizes, today announced its new integrated plugin for ChatGPT that will allow users to ask the platform to calculate and research sales tax rates based on their location. Avalara is the first tax compliance software provider to work with OpenAI to use its protocol to build an integrated plugin for ChatGPT.

Want to find out how much sales tax should apply to the $150 sneakers you’re selling or buying in Seattle? Just ask ChatGPT and it will leverage the Avalara sales tax calculator plugin to get you the answer (It’s $15.37).      

“Avalara is a pioneer in the world of tax compliance and looks to continually apply new technologies to automate the entire end-to-end tax compliance journey for businesses,” said Vsu Subramanian, SVP of Content Engineering at Avalara. “By leveraging generative AI and launching our plugin for ChatGPT, we continue to blaze trails for tax automation and have created another way to get sales tax information. And we are just getting started with generative AI. Avalara is uniquely positioned with our industry-leading tax compliance platform and comprehensive database of tax rates, rules, and answers to help businesses determine the right rate on transactions.”

How the Avalara ChatGPT plugin works

Businesses and consumers who have ChatGPT Plus accounts can install the Avalara plugin from ChatGPT’s plugin store. Once the plugin is installed, users can ask ChatGPT for sales tax rates by location or to calculate sales tax on a specific sale by location. ChatGPT will choose when to use the plugin based on the question and conversation. Users will also be able to enter further prompts or request additional tax rates or calculations.

Avalara supports OpenAI’s commitment to safely and responsibly developing AI. As such, the Avalara plugin will gradually roll out to ChatGPT users, beginning with ChatGPT Plus subscribers in the U.S. Over time, the plugin will be available to users in other regions.

The launch of the Avalara ChatGPT plugin illustrates Avalara’s commitment to expanding the ways in which we use AI to manage tax content, improve our products, and support customers. In 2020, Avalara launched an AI-powered tax classification tool for Avalara AvaTax customers that allows users to quickly and efficiently classify their products or services to aid in taxability determinations for their U.S. domestic product catalogs. In 2022, Avalara previewed its e-invoicing and returns APIs, which will allow partners to offer their customers the ability to trigger and manage e-invoicing workflows and tax returns from within their applications.

You can access Avalara’s plugin in the ChatGPT Plugin Store.