Founded in 2011, Plant Therapy is a leading supplier of essential oils, hemp products, and diffusers. With retail locations in Idaho, an online store supported by the eCommerce platform Miva, transactions collected by Square, and marketplaces on Amazon, Walmart, and eBay, Plant Therapy’s sales tax needs are complex. With TaxJar, Plant Therapy automates sales tax across all of these channels while saving time and money.

With business growth come sales tax challenges

Over the past few years, Plant Therapy has grown their physical and online presence, with millions in annual sales across several states and countries.

Plant Therapy started out small, selling online, and added more marketplaces over time. To stay connected to their customers, the team runs promotions on the company’s website where Miva is connected. There are also live sessions with in-house Certified Aromatherapists, DIYs, and blogs related to the use and education of essential oils. As a result, their loyal customer base has grown in the past few years. From Jan 2019 through Feb 2020, 70% of sales revenue came from repeat customers. To meet demand, the company is expanding product lines to include body care products.

As the business grows, however, so do sales tax implications. Risks — such as not collecting in the right states, not collecting enough tax, or being audited — emerge. And sales tax solutions that take a significant cut per transaction cause headaches rather than alleviating them.

According to Plant Therapy’s senior accountant, when the company started evaluating sales tax solutions to replace their old provider, they turned to TaxJar. TaxJar’s free online resources helped them stay up to date on sales tax news, so it seemed like a natural fit to assess their sales tax automation capabilities.

Saving 50% while preserving first-rate customer experience 

When selecting a sales tax automation solution, Plant Therapy considered price, but also how the solution would affect their customers. They needed software that would integrate with Miva, their eCommerce platform, and offer instant and accurate sales tax calculations. TaxJar integrated seamlessly, and Plant Therapy reported that positive customer experience remained high.

Both TaxJar and Miva allowed for Plant Therapy to continue putting customers first, a value that all three companies share.

According to Plant Therapy, they chose Miva because the software was flexible enough to customize to meet their needs. They chose TaxJar because of price; they saved roughly 50% compared to their prior service.

Working with a sales tax partner, not just a technology solution

As Plant Therapy onboarded with TaxJar, they immediately took advantage of resources and features available to help their business succeed.

According to a senior accountant at Plant Therapy, TaxJar’s state-by-state blogs provided helpful information, making it easy to set up state requirements quickly. TaxJar’s support team was responsive and knowledgeable when questions did arise, and onboarding went smoothly.

The Transactions Insights tool helped Plant Therapy identify states where they were under-collecting sales tax; they were also able to identify states where they were approaching economic nexus and register for a sales tax permit proactively.

Plant Therapy also benefited from TaxJar’s state-by-state information pages when setting up AutoFile for 44 states — the information that was readily available helped the team gather all the necessary documents required for each state. Now, they enjoy automatic sales tax return filing.

Plant Therapy saves 40 hours a month with TaxJar

With a fully automated sales tax compliance partner, the Plant Therapy team can focus on what matters most: growing their flourishing essential oils business.