Resources · Make integration

Avalara AvaTax Make integrationAutomate Avalara AvaTax with Make.

Need your AvaTax transactions and reports outside AvaTax, without code? The Avalara AvaTax Make integration offers 6 modules: 5 actions and 1 search. This page shows how to link your account, build a first scenario and pick the right module.

Try the Avalara AvaTax integration on MakeSee the 6 modules

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What you can automate

What does the Avalara AvaTax Make integration do?

The Avalara AvaTax Make integration lets a Make scenario (the automation you build, a chain of modules) read your AvaTax data: it looks up transactions, lists those of a company and exports document line reports. Each module is one brick of that chain, and nothing requires code.

Pull a document line report into your tools. Initiate Export Document Line Report (Advanced) starts the export, Get a Report Status (Advanced) tells you where it stands, and Download a Report (Advanced) brings the file into the scenario so another app can store or send it.

Review what a company recorded. Search Transactions by Company returns the transactions attached to one company. Without a date, it only looks at the past 30 days, which suits a quick check after a busy sales period.

Answer a question about one sale. When a finance teammate asks about a specific document, Get a Transaction fetches it from its company code, transaction code and document type, and the result can land in a sheet or a message.

What the integration does not do: it has no trigger, so AvaTax never starts a scenario on its own. Make also warns that its documentation for this app is limited. For anything these modules do not cover, you still have Make an API Call. If you are new to the editor, the Make training walks through the basics, and n8n vs Make helps if you are still choosing a tool.

Connect

How do you connect Avalara AvaTax to Make?

  1. 01

    Add an AvaTax module

    In your scenario, add any Avalara AvaTax module, then click Create a connection. A connection is your AvaTax account linked to Make once and reused by every AvaTax module afterwards.

  2. 02

    Name the connection

    Giving the connection a name is optional, but it helps when several AvaTax accounts or companies live in the same Make workspace. Pick something your colleagues will recognize at a glance.

  3. 03

    Authorize and save

    Authorize Make on the AvaTax page that opens, or paste the key AvaTax gives you, depending on what the window asks for. Then click Save, and the module can now list what your account can read.

First scenario

Your first scenario with Avalara AvaTax

GoalWhen the scenario runs, Make starts a document line export in Avalara AvaTax, checks its status and downloads the report.

  1. 01

    Create the scenario

    Open the Scenarios page, create a new scenario and click the + to add your first module. Since AvaTax has no trigger, this first module is an action that runs on a schedule.

  2. 02

    Start the export

    Search for Avalara AvaTax, pick Initiate Export Document Line Report (Advanced), click Create a connection and fill in the fields Make shows once your account is linked.

  3. 03

    Chain the status and the download

    Click the + to add Get a Report Status (Advanced), then Download a Report (Advanced), and map the report ID coming from the previous module into each one.

  4. 04

    Test with Run once

    Click Run once. Make executes the scenario one time and shows the bundles, the items passed from one module to the next, so you can see what each step returned.

  5. 05

    Schedule and switch on

    Open the clock on the first module to set the schedule, every 15 minutes by default, then switch the scenario on. On the Free plan, 15 minutes is also the shortest gap allowed.

Modules

What the Avalara AvaTax modules do

Avalara AvaTax gives you 6 modules. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

Avalara AvaTax1

Download a Report (Advanced)

Action

In Make“Download a report by providing the report ID. This module should be used along with the Initiate Export Document Line Report (Advanced) and the Get Report Status (Advanced) module.”

You get the finished report file inside your scenario, ready to be stored in a drive or attached to an email by the next module. It needs the report ID to know which file to fetch.

When to use it
as the last step of an export, right after Get a Report Status (Advanced).
Watch out
Make designs it to work together with the two other report modules, so map the ID from them.
Avalara AvaTax2

Get a Report Status (Advanced)

Action

In Make“Retrieve a single report by its unique ID number, typically used in conjunction with Initiate Export Document Line Report (Advanced) module.”

This module gives you the current state of one report, found by its unique ID, so the scenario knows what it is dealing with before downloading anything.

When to use it
between the export request and the download, to check the report you just started.
Watch out
it reads one report per ID; map the ID returned by the export module rather than typing it.
Avalara AvaTax3

Get a Transaction

Action

In Make“Get a transaction identified by the company code, transaction code, and document type.”

You receive one precise AvaTax transaction, identified by three values: the company code, the transaction code and the document type. It is the direct route when you already know which document you want.

When to use it
another app hands you a transaction code and you need the matching AvaTax record.
Watch out
all three values must match; if you only know the company, use the search module instead.
Avalara AvaTax4

Initiate Export Document Line Report (Advanced)

Action

In Make“Initiate an ExportDocumentLine report task. Check the status of a report by calling GetReport and passing in the report's id value.”

This action asks AvaTax to prepare an ExportDocumentLine report. Every report export in Make starts here, and it hands back an ID the next two modules use to follow the report and then fetch the file.

When to use it
to open a report chain whose file ends up in another tool.
Watch out
it only starts the task; the file itself comes from Download a Report (Advanced).
Avalara AvaTax5

Make an API Call

Action

In Make“Performs an arbitrary authorized API call.”

With this module, you reach any endpoint of the AvaTax API from your scenario while keeping the same connection. It covers what the five listed modules leave out.

When to use it
you need an AvaTax feature that no other module offers, which matters here since Make says its documentation for this app is limited.
Watch out
you describe the request yourself, so keep the AvaTax API reference open.
Avalara AvaTax6

Search Transactions by Company

Search

In Make“Lists transactions attached to a company. If a date is not specified the query will default to looking at only those transactions with a date in the past 30 days.”

Here you get the list of transactions attached to a company, each one arriving as its own bundle so the next modules handle them one by one.

When to use it
to review or copy what a company recorded over a period, for example into a spreadsheet.
Watch out
without a date, only transactions from the past 30 days come back, and each bundle processed downstream uses operations.
Need help

Need help automating Avalara AvaTax with Make?

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FAQ

Avalara AvaTax and Make: frequently asked questions

01Is the Avalara AvaTax Make integration free?
Yes, the Avalara AvaTax app is a standard Make app, available from the Free plan. That plan has limits: 2 active scenarios, at least 15 minutes between two scheduled runs, 5 minutes of execution at most, files up to 5 MB and 512 MB of data transfer. Paid plans (Core, Pro, Teams and Enterprise) lower the minimum interval to 1 minute and remove the cap on active scenarios. Make counts usage in operations, one module run on one bundle. Your AvaTax subscription is a separate matter that this page does not cover.
02What do you need to connect Avalara AvaTax to Make?
You need an AvaTax account and a Make account. Make's documentation lists no specific prerequisite and no dedicated connection steps for this app, so the generic flow applies: add an AvaTax module, click Create a connection, optionally name it, authorize Make on the AvaTax page or paste the key AvaTax provides, then click Save. That single connection then serves all six AvaTax modules in your scenarios, so you only set it up once.
03Does Avalara AvaTax trigger a Make scenario in real time?
No, the integration has no trigger, scheduled or instant, so AvaTax cannot start a scenario by itself. You still have two ways in. The first is a schedule on the first module: Make runs the scenario every 15 minutes by default, and you can change that from the clock icon. The second is to open the scenario with a trigger from another app, then call an AvaTax module such as Get a Transaction with the data that app provides.
04What if an Avalara AvaTax module is missing in Make?
Use Make an API Call. It calls any endpoint of the AvaTax API with the connection you already set up, which fills the gaps left by the five other modules. This matters for AvaTax because Make states that its documentation for the app is limited, as little public information is available. Also keep in mind that Search Transactions by Company only covers the past 30 days when no date is given, so set a date when you need older records.
05Should you use Make or n8n for Avalara AvaTax?
It depends on the tool your team already uses. On Make, AvaTax offers 6 modules: report export, transaction lookup, a company search and Make an API Call for the rest, all linked through one connection and tested with Run once. Many apps also have an n8n node, so check whether AvaTax has one before choosing. Compare the operations your scenarios will consume and the modules each tool provides for your use case, rather than a general ranking.
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