User Guide - Sales Tax Vault

Getting Started

1

Create Your Account

Sign up for a free 7-day trial. No credit card required to get started.

2

Add Your States

Enter where you're registered, your tax IDs, and DOR credentials.

3

Connect & Organize

Connect your tax system (optional), upload documents, and start managing compliance.

Onboarding Wizard

When you first sign up, our guided onboarding wizard walks you through the essential setup steps: adding your company information, your first state registration, and connecting your tax automation system. You can restart the onboarding wizard anytime from Settings.

Dashboard

Your Compliance Command Center

The dashboard gives you a real-time overview of your sales tax compliance status. See at a glance your active jurisdictions, filing schedules, exempt customers, and certificate coverage.

Compliance Summary

View key metrics including total registered states, active certificates, upcoming expirations, and recent filing activity.

Quick Actions

Upload documents, add new states, or request certificates directly from the dashboard.

Notifications

Dismissible banners alert you to important items like trial status, expiring certificates, or pending tasks.

Quick DOR Access

Jump directly to any state's DOR portal with stored credentials just a click away.

Filing & DOR Info

State Registrations

Track all your state sales tax registrations in one place. For each state, store your sales tax ID, registration date, filing frequency, and current status.

How to Add a State Registration

1. Navigate to "Filing & DOR Info" from the sidebar
2. Click "Add State" button
3. Select the state and enter your Tax ID
4. Set your filing frequency (Monthly, Quarterly, Annual)
5. Optionally add your DOR portal credentials
6. Save - the DOR portal URL auto-populates for quick access

Add states manually or import from CSV
Track registration dates and filing frequencies
Quick links to all 50 state DOR login portals
Export filing calendar to Google Calendar or Outlook

DOR Credential Storage

Securely store your Department of Revenue portal login credentials. All credentials are encrypted with AES-256 encryption before storage.

Bank-Level Security

Your DOR credentials are encrypted using AES-256 encryption before being stored. Even our team cannot view your passwords.

Store usernames, passwords, and PINs
Security questions and answers
Copy-to-clipboard buttons for easy access
One-click access to any state portal

Nexus Overview

Track Physical Presence Across States

Beyond economic nexus from sales, physical presence like employees, inventory, or property can trigger sales tax obligations. Track all your physical nexus factors in one place.

Employee Locations

Track where your employees work, whether at an office, home, or on the road. Employee presence often creates nexus.

Inventory Storage

Document where you store inventory, whether your own warehouse or Amazon FBA. Third-party fulfillment creates nexus.

Threshold Monitoring

Track your sales against state economic nexus thresholds. Get alerted when you're approaching registration requirements.

How to Track Locations

1. Navigate to "Nexus Overview" from the sidebar
2. Click "Add Location" to record employee locations, inventory, or property
3. Select the state and specify the nexus type
4. Add details like employee count or start date
5. Review the nexus summary to see which states require registration

Exceptions

Track Compliance Exceptions

Exceptions are non-standard situations requiring documentation.

Document

Record non-standard situations with notes.

Track

Monitor status from open to resolved.

Audit

Every change is logged for defense.

Exemption Certificates

Professional & Agency Plans

Certificate Management

Collect, track, and manage exemption certificates from your customers. Reduce audit risk with complete documentation and automated expiration tracking.

Email Request Workflows

Send branded email requests to customers asking for their exemption certificates. Customize the message and track response status.

Customer Self-Service Portal

Each customer gets a unique, secure link to upload their certificates directly. No login required for them.

AI-Powered Validation

Uploaded certificates are automatically analyzed by AI to check completeness: signatures, dates, exemption types, and state coverage.

Expiration Tracking

Get notified before certificates expire. Schedule automatic reminder emails to customers for renewals.

How AI Certificate Validation Works

When a certificate is uploaded (by you, your customer, or via email), our AI automatically analyzes the document to identify potential issues before they become audit problems.

The AI checks for:

Valid signatures present
Dates filled in and not expired
Exemption reason/type specified
Purchaser information complete
State-specific form requirements
Legibility and document quality

After validation, each certificate shows a status: Valid, Needs Review, or Invalid. You can view the AI's detailed findings and take action on any flagged issues.

Requesting Certificates from Customers

1.
Navigate to Certificates and click "Request from Customer"
2.
Enter customer details: Name, email, and which states you need certificates for
3.
Customize the message (optional) - personalize the email your customer receives
4.
Send the request - customer receives a branded email with a secure upload link
5.
Track status - see pending, viewed, and completed requests. Send reminders as needed.
6.
Auto-validation - when they upload, AI validates immediately and notifies you

Bulk Certificate Upload

Have a folder of existing certificates? Upload them all at once instead of one by one.

1. Go to Certificates and click "Bulk Upload"
2. Drag and drop multiple files or click to select
3. Each file is processed and AI-validated individually
4. Review the results and assign certificates to customers

Supported formats: PDF, JPG, PNG. Maximum 50 files per batch.

Two-Way Certificate Sync

If you use Avalara AvaTax, your exemption certificates can sync automatically between Sales Tax Vault and your tax system.

Certificates uploaded here appear in Avalara
Certificates from Avalara import automatically
Customer exempt status stays synchronized
Avoid duplicate data entry

Document Vault

Secure Document Storage

Store all your compliance documents in one secure location. Registration letters, nexus studies, VDA agreements, correspondence with DORs, and more.

Organize by Type

Categorize documents: Registration Letters, Nexus Studies, VDA Documents, Notice Letters, Tax Returns, and more.

Organize by State

Assign documents to specific states for easy filtering. Find all your California compliance docs in seconds.

Quick Search

Search by filename, type, state, or date range. Find what you need without digging through folders.

Generous Storage

5GB on Essentials, 10GB on Professional and Agency. Plenty of room for years of compliance documents.

How to Upload Documents

1. Navigate to "Documents" from the sidebar
2. Click "Upload" or drag files into the upload area
3. Select the document type and state (optional)
4. Add notes or tags if desired
5. Click Save - your document is encrypted and stored

Email-to-Document

Forward Documents Directly to Your Vault

Get a DOR notice? Receive a registration letter? Just forward it to your personal Sales Tax Vault email address and it's automatically filed.

Your Document Email Address

Forward any compliance documents to:

docs@in.salestaxvault.com

Documents are matched to your account by your sender email address.

AI Document Analysis

Our AI analyzes the attachment to determine document type, extract the relevant state, and categorize it automatically.

Auto-Categorization

Documents are automatically tagged with the correct type (notice, registration, etc.) and assigned to the appropriate state.

Unrecognized Sender Protection

If someone who isn't registered with Sales Tax Vault forwards a document, they'll receive an auto-reply explaining they need an account. Your vault stays secure.

Tax System Integration

Connect Your Tax Automation Platform

Connect your tax automation platform to automatically sync nexus states, filing calendars, and exemption certificates. Eliminate duplicate data entry.

Avalara AvaTax

Full integration available. Sync registrations, filing history, and certificates.

CereTax

Coming soon. Integration in development.

How to Connect Avalara AvaTax

1.
Go to Settings → Integrations
2.
Click "Connect Avalara"
3.
Enter your Account ID and License Key (found in Avalara Admin Console → Settings → License)
4.
Select your company from the dropdown (if you have multiple)
5.
Click "Connect" - initial sync imports up to 3 years of filing history

Full Sync

Imports all historical data including filing history, registrations, and certificates. Run once during initial setup.

Quick Sync

Refreshes recent data only. Run periodically to keep current period data up to date without re-importing everything.

Filing History

When connected to Avalara, your filing history syncs automatically. View past returns, amounts due, payments made, and filing status for each state.

View returns by state and period
See filing status (filed, pending, late)
Track amounts and payment history
Multi-entity support for complex structures

Reports & Scheduling

Professional & Agency Plans

Compliance Reports

Generate detailed reports on your compliance status. Certificate coverage, filing summaries, expiration alerts, and more.

Certificate Coverage

See which customers have valid certificates, which are expiring soon, and which have gaps in coverage.

Filing Status Summary

Overview of all your state filings: what's been filed, what's due, and what's overdue.

Expiration Alerts

List of certificates expiring in the next 30, 60, or 90 days. Stay ahead of renewals.

Export Options

Download reports as PDF or CSV. Share with your team or accountant.

Scheduled Reports

Set up automatic report delivery. Receive compliance summaries in your inbox on a schedule you choose.

How to Schedule a Report

1. Go to Reports from the sidebar
2. Select the report type you want to schedule
3. Click "Schedule" and choose frequency (Daily, Weekly, Monthly)
4. Enter the email addresses to receive the report
5. Save - reports will be delivered automatically on schedule

Daily, weekly, or monthly delivery options
Send to multiple email addresses
Pause or modify schedules anytime
Reports attached as PDF

Tax Rate Lookup

Look Up Sales Tax Rates

Look up sales tax rates for any US location. See the complete breakdown by jurisdiction including SaaS taxability rules.

Search Options

Look up by ZIP code, city and state, or full street address for the most accurate rates.

Rate Breakdown

See state, county, city, and special district rates separately. Understand exactly where the tax goes.

SaaS Taxability

Check whether SaaS and digital products are taxable in each state. Important for software companies.

Jurisdiction Details

View jurisdiction codes and names for each taxing authority in the result.

Rate data is provided by Avalara and updated regularly. For transaction-level tax calculation, connect your tax automation platform.

Activity Log

Track All Account Activity

See a complete timeline of actions taken in your account. Document uploads, certificate requests, status changes, and more are all logged.

What's Logged

Document uploads and downloads
Certificate requests sent and received
State registration changes
Tax system sync events
User logins and settings changes
AI validation results

Filter activity by type, date range, or user. Export for your records.

Security & Two-Factor Authentication

Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

Add an extra layer of security to your account. When enabled, you'll need both your password and a code from your authenticator app to log in.

How to Enable 2FA

1. Go to Settings → Security
2. Click "Enable Two-Factor Authentication"
3. Scan the QR code with your authenticator app (Google Authenticator, Authy, 1Password, etc.)
4. Enter the 6-digit code from your app to verify
5. Save your backup codes somewhere safe (in case you lose your device)

Save Your Backup Codes

When you enable 2FA, you'll receive backup codes. Store these somewhere safe - they're the only way to access your account if you lose your authenticator device.

Audit Log

For compliance and security purposes, we maintain a detailed audit log of all sensitive actions in your account.

Audit Log Tracks:

Login attempts (successful and failed)
Password changes
2FA enable/disable events
DOR credential access
User permission changes
API key creation and usage

Data Security

Encryption at Rest

All sensitive data including DOR credentials are encrypted with AES-256 before storage.

Encryption in Transit

All connections use TLS 1.3 encryption. Your data is protected in transit.

Secure Infrastructure

Hosted on enterprise-grade infrastructure with automated backups and redundancy.

Access Controls

Role-based permissions ensure team members only see what they need.

Subscription & Billing

Manage Your Subscription

View your current plan, upgrade or downgrade, manage payment methods, and download invoices all from your Subscription page.

Upgrade Your Plan

Need certificate management? Upgrade to Professional right from your dashboard. Changes take effect immediately.

Add Entities

Operating multiple companies? Add additional legal entities to track each one's compliance separately.

Billing History

View past invoices and download receipts for your records or expense reports.

Payment Methods

Update your credit card or add a backup payment method. We accept all major cards.

Available Plans

Feature	Essentials	Professional	Agency
State Registrations
DOR Credential Storage
Document Vault	5 GB	10 GB	10 GB
Nexus Overview
Email-to-Document
Certificate Management
AI Certificate Validation
Scheduled Reports
Multi-Client Management

See our pricing page for current rates.

Pro Tips

Dismiss Banners

Click the X on notification banners to dismiss them. They'll reappear on your next login if still relevant.

Quick DOR Access

Use "Open Portal" links to jump directly to each state's login. Credentials show with copy buttons for easy pasting.

Forward Those Notices

Get a DOR notice in email? Forward it to docs@in.salestaxvault.com. AI will analyze and file it automatically.

Bulk Upload Existing Certs

Have a folder of certificates from before Sales Tax Vault? Use bulk upload to import them all at once with AI validation.

Calendar Export

Export your filing deadlines to Google Calendar or Outlook. Never miss a due date with automatic reminders.

Enable 2FA

You're storing sensitive DOR credentials. Enable two-factor authentication for an extra layer of security.