Former Amazon UK exec to advance Avalara’s compliance automation services in EU

Avalara, Inc., (www.avalara.com), a leading global provider of cloud-based software that delivers a broad array of compliance solutions related to VAT, sales tax and other transactional taxes announced the appointment of Sacha Wilson as Director of Sales & Marketing EMEA. Wilson joins Avalara from Amazon Merchant Services, where he headed the Amazon Payments and Product Ads programmes in the UK.

Wilson brings more than 15 years of international ecommerce and management expertise to the automated tax compliance leader, following previous roles with British Aerospace, Arcelor-Mittal and several web-based start-ups.

“Sacha joins Avalara with a wealth of experience working with some of the world’s largest cross-border retailers; I’m delighted to have him driving our development in European markets,” said Pascal Van Dooren, Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing at Avalara. “His deep industry knowledge will be invaluable in helping our customers efficiently manage what’s traditionally been a daunting and manual transactional tax compliance process.”

Wilson joins Kevin Boland, Vice President of Business Development, in spearheading Avalara’s EMEA team. Boland joined Avalara from Chase Paymentech in 2013 to drive strategic partnerships within the EMEA region.

“European businesses face a range of complexities when managing VAT and other transactional tax compliance, particularly if they are involved in, or planning, cross-border trading,” said Boland. “Avalara helps remove these complexities, simplifying the process in a cost effective manner and with ecommerce-class scale, speed and reliability.”

Together, Boland and Wilson stand ready to help European enterprises manage changes to the EU VAT Place of Supply Rules, which come into effect from 1^st January 2015, with automated compliance services supported by hundreds of pre-built connectors integrating into most major ERP systems, accounting packages and ecommerce shopping carts, as well as POS systems and mobile platforms.

“VAT calculation is often an afterthought for merchants, especially those trading cross-border, but Avalara has the expertise to help European merchants by managing this efficiently and accurately,” said Wilson. “I’m excited to join a leader that helps enterprises focus on growth and expand into international markets by alleviating the worry tied to managing disparate VAT rates and varying country thresholds, particularly ahead of the new rules that take effect in 2015.”

With a European headquarters in London, UK, Avalara’s proven automated tax calculation and compliance services help European enterprises reduce the complexities of managing transactional taxes by delivering end-to-end solutions ranging from registration and calculation to reporting, filing, and remittance, to cross-border VAT.