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Avalara Integration Guide

Connect enterprise applications to Avalara AvaTax through REST APIs, transaction workflows, batch operations, and product-specific authentication.

Avalara integration options at a glance

Avalara AvaTax provides REST APIs for real-time tax calculations, transaction creation, retrieval, commitment, adjustment, company configuration, customers, items, tax codes, addresses, and nexus-related data. Transaction and batch-oriented operations support controlled high-volume processing, although the exact synchronous or asynchronous behavior depends on the endpoint. Legacy SOAP services remain relevant for existing implementations, while new integrations should generally use REST. AvaTax commonly uses HTTPS with Basic Authentication based on an account ID and license key; other Avalara products may use OAuth 2.0 or product-specific credentials. Martini can orchestrate these calls, map tax data, expose a centralized tax API, schedule reconciliation, and handle retries and exceptions.

Integration pointSupported by Avalara?Common use casesHow Martini supports it
REST APIsYesAvaTax REST APIs support tax calculations, transaction creation and retrieval, commits, adjustments, companies, customers, items, tax codes, addresses, nexus configuration, and related tax resources.Martini can consume Avalara REST APIs, generate reusable API assets from definitions where available, map requests and responses, and orchestrate multi-step tax workflows.
SOAP APIsLegacyAvalara has historically exposed SOAP services, which may be required by existing implementations or product-specific dependencies.Martini can consume SOAP services and transform XML responses, but new AvaTax implementations should generally evaluate REST first.
Bulk / async / batch APIsLimitedAvaTax provides transaction and batch-oriented operations for controlled higher-volume processing. Synchronous, asynchronous, polling, and result-retrieval behavior depends on the endpoint.Martini can schedule or queue batch workflows, control throughput, persist checkpoints, poll when required by the endpoint, and handle partial failures.
File / attachment APIsLimitedAvalara compliance products can support document-oriented workflows such as exemption certificate processing, while core AvaTax calculations are primarily JSON and transaction-oriented.Martini can process files or call product-specific document APIs when those capabilities are confirmed for the selected Avalara product.
AuthenticationYesAvaTax commonly uses HTTPS and HTTP Basic Authentication with an Avalara account ID as the username and license key as the password. Other Avalara products may use OAuth 2.0 or product-specific credentials.Martini stores environment-specific credentials as protected configuration or secrets and applies the appropriate authentication scheme per API.
Webhooks / outbound callbacksNot confirmedBroad AvaTax webhook coverage for transaction and configuration changes was not confirmed. Selected Avalara products may provide product-specific notifications or callbacks.Martini can receive webhook-style notifications when the selected Avalara product and event type officially support them; otherwise scheduled retrieval and reconciliation should be used.
Database / analytics accessNot confirmedNo direct customer-database access method was confirmed for Avalara. Integrations should use documented APIs or supported exports.Martini can write retrieved Avalara data to an approved database or analytics destination without requiring direct Avalara database access.

How Avalara exposes data and business events

Avalara REST APIs

AvaTax REST APIs are the primary integration method for new implementations. They support tax calculations, transaction lifecycle operations, master data, tax codes, addresses, companies, customers, items, and related configuration resources.

Martini implementation pattern

Martini implementation pattern: expose or receive an upstream request, validate and normalize the source payload, call the relevant Avalara REST resource using environment-specific credentials, map the response, and return or persist the result.

Implementation sequence

Receive an order, invoice, quote, or reconciliation request
Normalize addresses, company selection, customers, items, and transaction lines
Build the AvaTax REST request
Call the Avalara endpoint over HTTPS
Map tax details and transaction identifiers to the source model
Persist the outcome and correlation identifiers

Avalara SOAP Services

Avalara has historically provided SOAP-based services. SOAP remains relevant for legacy or product-specific implementations, but it is not the preferred default for new AvaTax integrations.

Martini implementation pattern

Martini implementation pattern: consume the required Avalara SOAP operation, transform source data into the expected XML structure, process the response, and preserve SOAP fault details for operational handling.

Implementation sequence

Identify the legacy Avalara SOAP operation
Configure the SOAP endpoint and credentials
Map source data into the required XML request
Submit the SOAP request
Transform the SOAP response or fault into the internal model
Route non-retryable validation faults for correction

Avalara Batch Operations

AvaTax provides transaction and batch-oriented operations for workloads that should not issue one independent request per business event. Exact processing and completion behavior varies by endpoint.

Martini implementation pattern

Martini implementation pattern: collect eligible source transactions, validate and partition them, submit controlled batches, track request or transaction identifiers, and reconcile results with retry and partial-failure handling.

Implementation sequence

Select transactions for the processing window
Validate and partition the batch
Submit the batch through the relevant Avalara operation
Track returned identifiers and processing status
Retry transient failures with controlled backoff
Write successes and exceptions to the reconciliation store

Avalara Product Files and Documents

Avalara compliance products may support document-oriented workflows such as exemption certificate processing. These capabilities should be confirmed for the selected product rather than inferred from the core AvaTax API.

Martini implementation pattern

Martini implementation pattern: receive or retrieve a product-specific document, validate metadata and file type, invoke the documented Avalara document mechanism, and record the resulting status and reference.

Implementation sequence

Confirm the selected product's document endpoint
Receive or retrieve the source document
Validate file metadata and required business fields
Submit the document through the confirmed Avalara mechanism
Store the Avalara reference and processing status
Route rejected or unsupported documents for review

Common Avalara integration patterns

Pattern 1: Calculate tax in real time

When to use this pattern

Use this pattern when a commerce, order, billing, or quoting application needs a tax result before it confirms a transaction. The workflow should normalize addresses and line data, apply company and tax-code rules, and distinguish validation errors from temporary service failures.

Integration direction
Shopify
Martini
Avalara
Example Mapping
Avalara FieldCanonical FieldTarget Field
companyCodecompany.codeCompanyCode
customerCodecustomer.idCustomerCode
shipToAddressdelivery.addressAddresses.ShipTo
lines[].amounttransaction.lines[].netAmountLines[].Amount
Martini implementation pattern

A Martini API receives the source request and starts a workflow that validates required fields, normalizes the origin and destination Addresses, maps Transaction Lines and Items, calls AvaTax, and returns tax details to the calling application. Correlation IDs, timeout handling, and non-retryable validation responses are retained for support.

Martini capabilities used
  • APIs
  • workflows
  • API consumption
  • data mapping
  • business rules
  • error handling

Pattern 2: Synchronize orders to Avalara Transactions

When to use this pattern

Use this pattern when finalized orders, invoices, returns, or credit transactions must be created, committed, adjusted, or voided in Avalara. It is especially important when the source system and Avalara have separate transaction lifecycles.

Integration direction
NetSuite
Martini
Avalara
Example Mapping
Avalara FieldCanonical FieldTarget Field
internalIdsource.transactionIdCode
transactionDatetransaction.dateDate
customercustomer.referenceCustomerCode
item.taxCodeline.taxClassificationLines[].TaxCode
Martini implementation pattern

Martini consumes finalized source transactions, maps them to Avalara Transactions, selects the configured Company, and invokes the appropriate create, commit, adjust, or void operation. A stable source identifier and stored Avalara code make retries idempotent; ambiguous outcomes are reconciled before resubmission.

Martini capabilities used
  • workflows
  • API consumption
  • data mapping
  • business rules
  • scheduled execution
  • error handling

Pattern 3: Reconcile Avalara tax transactions

When to use this pattern

Use this pattern when finance or tax teams need to compare Avalara Transactions with orders, invoices, payments, or returns. It identifies missing transactions, amount mismatches, uncommitted records, unexpected tax differences, and failed requests.

Integration direction
Avalara
Martini
SAP S/4HANA
Example Mapping
Avalara FieldCanonical FieldTarget Field
transactionCodetax.transactionReferenceExternalTaxTransactionId
totalAmounttaxable.transactionTotalInvoiceTotal
totalTaxcalculatedTax.amountTaxAmount
statustax.lifecycleStatusTaxStatus
Martini implementation pattern

A scheduled Martini workflow retrieves paginated Avalara Transactions for a defined period, joins them with the source finance system, applies tolerance and lifecycle rules, and writes exceptions to a database or operational endpoint. Checkpoints, pagination state, and retryable API failures are persisted for repeatable runs.

Martini capabilities used
  • scheduled workflows
  • API consumption
  • pagination handling
  • data mapping
  • business rules
  • database integration
  • monitoring

Pattern 4: Synchronize products and Tax Codes

When to use this pattern

Use this pattern when product or service classifications are managed in an ERP or commerce catalog and need to be aligned with Avalara Items and Tax Codes. Governance is required so that automated synchronization does not overwrite reviewed tax configuration.

Integration direction
Shopify
Martini
Avalara
Example Mapping
Avalara FieldCanonical FieldTarget Field
productIdproduct.idItem.Code
productNameproduct.nameItem.Description
taxCategoryproduct.taxClassificationTaxCode.Code
activeproduct.lifecycleStatusItem.IsActive
Martini implementation pattern

Martini schedules a catalog workflow, validates source classifications, maps approved products to Avalara Items and Tax Codes, and either updates supported resources or produces an exception report for tax administrators. Business rules prevent unmapped or low-confidence classifications from changing managed Avalara configuration.

Martini capabilities used
  • scheduled workflows
  • data mapping
  • validation
  • business rules
  • API consumption
  • error handling

Applications commonly integrated with Avalara

Avalara can be integrated with commerce, ERP, billing, and customer-facing applications that need tax calculation, transaction synchronization, or compliance data exchange. The exact design depends on the Avalara product, the source application, and whether calculations occur during checkout, order processing, invoicing, or reconciliation.

Application Scenario Direction Martini Pattern
Shopify Calculate sales tax during checkout and synchronize completed orders or tax results for reporting and compliance workflows. Shopify → Martini → Avalara Martini receives cart or order data, normalizes addresses and line items, calls the AvaTax REST API, and returns the tax result or stores the transaction response for downstream processing.
Salesforce Calculate tax for Quotes, Orders, or invoices while keeping customer, address, and transaction data aligned with Avalara. Salesforce → Martini → Avalara A Martini workflow consumes Salesforce events or API data, maps customer and transaction fields to Avalara Customers, Addresses, and Transactions, then writes tax results and identifiers back to Salesforce.
NetSuite Apply tax calculation to sales orders, invoices, credit memos, and related financial transactions. NetSuite → Martini → Avalara Martini orchestrates NetSuite and AvaTax API calls, applies company-code and transaction-lifecycle rules, preserves Avalara identifiers, and routes validation or tax exceptions for review.
SAP S/4HANA Apply tax calculation to sales, billing, procurement, and financial processes across companies and jurisdictions. SAP S/4HANA → Martini → Avalara Martini maps SAP billing or order payloads to Avalara Transactions and Transaction Lines, selects the configured Company, and returns calculated tax details with correlation and retry handling.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Calculate tax on orders, invoices, and customer transactions while preserving tax details in the ERP. Microsoft Dynamics 365 → Martini → Avalara A Martini workflow retrieves or receives Dynamics transactions, validates addresses and tax classifications, calls AvaTax, and updates the originating transaction with tax results and status.
WooCommerce Return tax calculations during checkout and synchronize completed orders for compliance processing. WooCommerce → Martini → Avalara Martini exposes or consumes the required commerce API, transforms WooCommerce products and shipping addresses into Avalara line and address models, and returns tax results before order finalization.
Workday Support tax or compliance processing for financial transactions and synchronize relevant business data. Workday → Martini → Avalara Martini consumes Workday transaction data through available APIs or outbound integration endpoints, applies product-specific Avalara mappings, and records responses for reconciliation.
Stripe Apply tax calculation to billing flows and reconcile tax-related transaction data. Stripe → Martini → Avalara Martini receives Stripe billing events or retrieves billing data, maps invoice lines and customer addresses to AvaTax, and returns or stores tax results according to the billing workflow.

How to build a Avalara integration in Martini

Objective

Create separate sandbox and production configurations for Avalara and keep credentials outside workflow logic.

Instructions in Martini

  • Configure the AvaTax endpoint for the target environment
  • Store the account ID and license key as protected Martini secrets
  • Use product-specific OAuth 2.0 or credential settings only when confirmed
  • Keep company codes and other environment-specific values configurable

Objective

Select the execution model that matches the business process and Avalara endpoint behavior.

Instructions in Martini

  • Use a Martini API for real-time tax calculation
  • Use an upstream application event or request for order and invoice processing
  • Use a scheduler for reconciliation, catalog synchronization, or batch work
  • Use a webhook-style trigger only when the selected Avalara product documents the callback

Objective

Receive or retrieve complete source data before constructing the Avalara request.

Instructions in Martini

  • Collect transaction, customer, item, address, company, and tax classification data
  • Retrieve paginated Avalara resources when reconciling or synchronizing
  • Preserve source identifiers and correlation IDs
  • Validate required fields and address quality before submission

Objective

Coordinate the Avalara call, transaction lifecycle, persistence, and downstream response in a maintainable workflow.

Instructions in Martini

  • Build the appropriate AvaTax REST or legacy SOAP request
  • Call Avalara with controlled timeouts and response handling
  • Separate calculation, save, commit, adjust, and void stages where applicable
  • Persist Avalara identifiers and processing status

Objective

Convert application-specific structures into Avalara objects and return usable tax results to the source system.

Instructions in Martini

  • Map source orders or invoices to Transactions and Transaction Lines
  • Map products and classifications to Items and Tax Codes
  • Normalize origin and destination Addresses
  • Transform Avalara tax details into the target application's model

Objective

Enforce company, lifecycle, tax-code, data-quality, and idempotency rules before and after API calls.

Instructions in Martini

  • Select the correct Avalara Company and company code
  • Prevent duplicate submissions using stable source transaction identifiers
  • Separate retryable service failures from validation and configuration errors
  • Require approval or exception handling for ambiguous tax classifications

Common Avalara data objects used in integrations

ObjectTypical UseCommon target systemsMartini handling
TransactionsRepresent sales, purchases, returns, invoices, tax calculations, commitments, adjustments, and related lifecycle operations.Shopify, Salesforce, NetSuite, SAP S/4HANA, Microsoft Dynamics 365, WooCommerce, StripeMartini maps source orders or invoices, applies transaction-lifecycle and idempotency rules, calls AvaTax, and stores transaction codes and response status.
Transaction LinesRepresent individual products or services, quantities, amounts, and tax-relevant line details within a Transaction.Commerce platforms, ERP systems, billing systemsMartini validates quantities and amounts, maps product identifiers and tax classifications, and transforms line-level tax results for the target application.
CompaniesRepresent Avalara company records, company codes, registrations, and tax configuration contexts.ERP systems, finance platforms, administration databasesMartini selects Companies through configuration-driven rules and avoids hard-coding company codes when multiple legal entities or registrations are involved.
CustomersAssociate customer information with Avalara transactions and support customer-specific tax processing.Salesforce, Shopify, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics 365, billing platformsMartini maps customer identifiers and permitted address details, applies data-quality validation, and limits sensitive data in logs.
ItemsRepresent products or services used for taxability and tax-code assignment.ERP product catalogs, Shopify, WooCommerce, commerce and billing platformsMartini synchronizes approved product classifications, applies governance rules, and routes ambiguous or unmapped items for review.
Tax CodesClassify products and services to determine tax treatment.ERP product catalogs, commerce platforms, tax administration workflowsMartini maps source classifications to Avalara Tax Codes and validates changes before updating or reporting configuration.

Authentication and security considerations

Environment-specific credentials

AvaTax commonly uses HTTPS with HTTP Basic Authentication, using the Avalara account ID as the username and license key as the password. Sandbox and production credentials should be separated.

Secrets and product variation

Store account IDs, license keys, OAuth credentials, and other sensitive values in Martini environment configuration or secrets management. Do not generalize the AvaTax credential model to every Avalara product.

Data protection

  • Limit logging of customer addresses, financial amounts, and complete request or response bodies.
  • Mask credentials and personal data in operational logs.
  • Apply access controls and retention policies appropriate to tax and customer information.

Operational considerations for Avalara integrations

Throughput and pagination

High-volume workflows should account for Avalara quotas, rate limits, response latency, batch behavior, and paginated list endpoints. Martini can use controlled scheduling, queue-based processing where appropriate, retries, and backoff.

Idempotency and lifecycle

Preserve a stable source transaction identifier and Avalara transaction code. Define whether each process calculates, saves, commits, adjusts, voids, or refunds a Transaction, and reconcile ambiguous outcomes before retrying.

Data quality and governance

Accurate origin and destination Addresses and deliberate Tax Code governance are essential. Validate required fields and prevent automated synchronization from overwriting manually reviewed classifications without explicit rules.

Testing and change management

Test sandbox and production mappings separately, validate required fields, and review Avalara API versions, endpoint deprecations, and product-specific release notes before changes. Capture HTTP status, Avalara error details, correlation IDs, and transaction identifiers for troubleshooting.

Why use Martini instead of scripts or point-to-point integrations?

Centralized orchestration

Martini coordinates source applications, Avalara APIs, transaction lifecycle operations, reconciliation stores, and downstream systems in explicit workflows rather than scattering tax logic across scripts.

Reusable integration assets

Teams can expose a controlled tax-calculation API, reuse mappings and validation rules, and apply consistent authentication, error handling, retries, and environment configuration across applications.

Maintainable operations

Scheduled workflows, checkpoints, correlation identifiers, pagination handling, and centralized monitoring make batch processing and reconciliation easier to operate than isolated point-to-point code.

Flexible implementation

Martini can consume REST APIs as the default, handle legacy SOAP where required, transform JSON or XML, and apply custom business rules when Avalara product behavior or enterprise requirements differ.

Frequently asked questions

How can Avalara be integrated with enterprise systems?

Avalara can be integrated through AvaTax REST APIs for tax calculation, transaction creation, retrieval, commitment, adjustment, company and master-data operations. Batch-oriented operations support controlled higher-volume processing, while legacy SOAP services may support existing implementations. Authentication and available document or callback capabilities depend on the Avalara product.

Can Martini integrate with Avalara?

Yes. Martini can consume Avalara REST APIs, map enterprise transactions to Avalara Transactions, Transaction Lines, Addresses, Customers, Items, and Tax Codes, expose an API for centralized tax calculation, and run scheduled reconciliation or synchronization workflows. Martini can also consume Avalara SOAP services where a legacy implementation requires them.

Do I need a connector to integrate Avalara with Martini?

No. A dedicated Avalara connector is not required. Martini can integrate using Avalara's documented REST APIs, legacy SOAP services, authentication methods, batch operations, and product-specific file or callback mechanisms where those capabilities are confirmed.

Is there any extra Lonti cost to integrate Avalara with Martini?

Lonti does not charge an additional per-connector or per-vendor fee to integrate Avalara. The integration is subject to the provisioned capacity of the Martini environment. Separate costs may apply from Avalara, cloud infrastructure, or other third-party systems based on subscriptions, usage, and deployment model.

Which Avalara API should a new integration use?

For general tax calculation and transaction processing, AvaTax REST APIs are the primary option for new integrations. SOAP should generally be reserved for existing dependencies or product-specific requirements. GraphQL should not be assumed because no general AvaTax GraphQL API was confirmed.

Does Avalara provide webhooks for transaction events?

Broad AvaTax webhook coverage for every transaction, configuration, or compliance event was not confirmed. Selected Avalara products may provide notifications or callbacks, but event coverage should be verified for the product and event type. Scheduled retrieval and reconciliation are appropriate alternatives.

How does Martini synchronize and reconcile Avalara transactions?

Martini can use scheduled workflows to retrieve paginated Avalara Transactions, compare them with orders, invoices, or payments, and identify missing, mismatched, uncommitted, or failed transactions. Checkpoints, source identifiers, Avalara response identifiers, and tolerance rules support repeatable reconciliation.

How are mapping, duplicates, and errors handled in an Avalara integration?

Martini maps application data into Avalara objects and can normalize addresses, apply tax-code and company rules, and transform returned tax details. Stable source transaction identifiers and stored Avalara codes support idempotent retries. Retryable network or service failures should be separated from non-retryable validation, configuration, and tax-data errors.

Related Martini documentation

APIs

Workflows

Data

Security

Operations

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