Melissa Craig from Avalara discusses transforming exemption certificate management with AI, focusing on how AI reshapes the exemption process for finance teams. She explains the impact of regulatory changes, like the South Dakota vs. Wayfair decision, and how AI can automate traditionally manual tasks, reducing audit risks and improving efficiency. The video also explores the importance of modernizing compliance frameworks and integrating AI to enhance business operations.
- Understand how the Supreme Court’s South Dakota v. Wayfair decision expanded sales tax nexus beyond physical presence to include economic activity, significantly increasing exemption certificate compliance requirements for B2B sellers, particularly manufacturers and distributors.
- Recognize how manual exemption certificate processes driven by spreadsheets and email can increase audit exposure, create customer friction, and lead to internal misalignment across sales, tax, finance, and IT.
- See how AI-enabled Exemption Certificate Management (ECM) and AvaTax integration with Sage can automate certificate collection, validation, storage, and renewal, helping reduce administrative effort, limit audit risk, and allow CFOs to manage exemption liability as a measurable business risk rather than a surprise audit issue.