2016 Review of Vertex SMB

Potential Weaknesses

• Very small users may find pricing prohibitive

Best Fit: Vertex SMB is a good choice for professional accountants, as well as small to mid-sized businesses that desire a product that will calculate sales and use tax as well as process and file returns. The Preferred Partner Solution; a partnership between CPA.com and Vertex SMB allows accountants to take advantage of one of their premier accountant programs: the Firm Advisor Program or the Firm Referral Program.

Basic System Functions: 4.75 Stars

Vertex SMB, the latest product from industry-leading Vertex Software offers sales and use tax solutions for both small and mid-sized businesses. The product is designed to integrate with leading e-commerce platforms, as well as many popular ERP systems. Vertex SMB can be used as a stand-alone product, or used in conjunction with third party applications, as noted above.

New users have the option to choose from three different options when choosing a service; Access Rate Files, which provides access to tax rates. The second option; Generate Returns Only is for those that want to simply process sales and use tax returns for filing. The third option is Calculate Tax and Generate Returns, which allows users to calculate taxes on all sales and related transactions, as well as generate sales tax returns based on tax calculations.

Cloud based, the product currently offers three service levels: Standard, Professional, and Premium. The Standard version of the product offers users access to easily downloaded rate files, as well as online rate file calculations.   The Professional version of the product offers tax calculations, as well as processing of signature-ready PDF returns and also includes product-specific rules and exemption certificate management. All of these features are accessible through the self-service portal.  

e-Commerce and Automation: 5 Stars

The Premium level of Vertex SMB offers all of the services included in the Professional level, as well as the benefit of return filing and payment remittance capability, providing users with a complete sales and use tax management system, from tax calculation to payment remittance.   Users can opt to simply download current tax rates, or utilize the tax calculation engines to apply accurate tax rates to all processed transactions and prepare and populate tax forms for signature and filing. Rate lookup capability is also included in the product by simply entering an address and zip code. And as a cloud-based product, tax rates and resulting calculations are always accurate and up to date.   The ability to calculate product taxability helps to ensure that all items sold are properly taxed.  

The easily navigated user dashboard offers users an intuitive interface and offers quick access to a selected company, filing period, and state statistics for each state where sales and use tax is payable. Users can also access configuration, calculate taxes, lookup rates, manage tax returns, and reports and settings options directly from the dashboard. The user access function offers the ability to create, view, and manage firm user access, with managers able to setup employees using pre-defined roles to enable or prevent system access. Vertex SMB can also calculate consumer use tax, including any accruals, asset management, inventory removal and purchase orders. Vertex SMB can also file consumer use tax returns as well as sales tax returns.

Reporting Tools: 4.75 Stars

Vertex SMB offers decent reporting capability, with users able to quickly view vital data by accessing reports such as the Configuration Report, Taxability Report, Transaction Report, and Customer Exemption Report. All reports are produced as a CSV file, so they can be easily exported to Excel.

Users can also manage exemption certificates in Vertex SMB, with users able to bulk upload exemption certificates, or simply upload a single certificate as needed. Users can easily manage the certificates in the product as well; setting both effective and expiration dates for each certificate.

Integration: 4.75 Stars

During setup, users can choose to integrate Vertex SMB with a connector, choosing from the list available in the product, which includes SAP, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics AX, and Microsoft Dynamics NAV, as well as Sage 100, Sage 300, Sage 500, Magento, and QuickBooks.

Vertex SMB, in partnership with CPA.com offers professional accounting firms the option to enroll the Firm Advisor Program or the Firm Referral Program. The Firm Advisor Program offers user access to the Accountant Console, which offers complete 24/7 access to client data from anywhere.

Support: 5 Stars

Resources, such as online training, video tutorials, a marketing toolkit, and access to white papers and case studies are available to accountants for a monthly fee. The Firm Referral Program is for accounting firms that are not currently in the market to offer sales and use tax management to clients, but are interested in recommending the product to their clients, which will receive a discount. Any client of an accounting firm that is enrolled in the Firm Referral Program will also receive the first three months of service free, as well as no monthly fees, no return fees, and no invoice transaction fees. Users will also receive five free technical support calls per month, as well as dedicated email and phone support.

Vertex SMB is a solid solution for accounting firms that provide their clients with sales and use tax management as part of their client services programs. The product is also suitable for small to mid-sized businesses that wish to handle sales and use tax management in-house.

Base pricing for accessing tax rate files runs $300 per month. For those looking to just generate returns, professional pricing is also $300 per month for an average of 10 returns filed per month. For those wishing to both calculate sales tax and generate returns base pricing is $350 per month, with additional pricing based on number of sales invoices and returns filed monthly, which may put it out of the reach of the smaller business.   Each contact runs month-to-month, with no long-term contract necessary.

2016 Overall Rating: 4.75 Stars