Migrating to TaxCloud from Avalara or another tax tool (QuickBooks Desktop)

Switching to TaxCloud from Avalara, AvaTax, TaxJar, or another QuickBooks tax integration is straightforward: install TaxCloud, remove the old integration, and verify. These steps apply to any tax tool that registered itself with QuickBooks as an integrated application.

Before you start

• Back up your company file (File → Back Up Company → Create Local Backup). Every step is reversible from this backup.
• Make sure you have admin access to the company file. Single-user mode is easiest for the migration.
• Confirm your TaxCloud account is ready — a QuickBooks connection, an API key, and tax collection enabled for the states where you collect (under Thresholds). (See Set up your TaxCloud account.) If you skip the states, TaxCloud returns $0 for them.
• Note your Avalara tax codes. They don't carry over — you'll re-classify items in TaxCloud (see Assign product tax codes (TICs).

:::warning Do the migration when no one is actively creating invoices. There's a brief window where the old integration is off and TaxCloud isn't yet running.

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Step 1: Install the TaxCloud plugin first

Install and connect the plugin (Install the TaxCloud QuickBooks Plugin and Set up your TaxCloud account) before removing the old one — this minimizes the gap with no tax integration active. Don't save a test invoice yet; the old integration is still active.

Step 2: Disable the previous integration in QuickBooks

1. Edit → Preferences → Integrated Applications → Company Preferences.
2. Select the previous integration's row (for example AvaTax or TaxJar) and click Remove.

Leave QuickBooks' own sales tax turned on — TaxCloud works alongside it. (If the vendor offers an in-app "Disconnect from QuickBooks" button, that works too.)

Step 3: Uninstall the previous integration's program

Removing it in QuickBooks stops the events, but the old integration may still run as a Windows program.

1. Open Settings → Apps → Installed apps (Windows 11) or Control Panel → Programs and Features (Windows 10).
2. Uninstall the previous integration's program (Avalara often installs both a connector and a separate service — remove both).
3. Reboot so any background services fully stop.

Step 4: Deactivate the previous integration's tax items

The old integration left tax items in your Item List (e.g. AVATAX). They're referenced by historical invoices, so don't delete them — inactivate them so they stop appearing in drop-downs.

1. Lists → Item List.
2. Right-click each old tax item → Edit Item.
3. Tick Item is inactive → OK.

:::warning Don't delete these items — deleting one that's referenced by an invoice can corrupt the invoice.

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Step 5: Verify with a test invoice

1. Open QuickBooks. The tray status should read Monitoring… within a minute.
2. Customers → Create Invoices. Pick a Tax customer with a ship-to address in a state where tax collection is enabled, and add a taxable line.
3. Set the TAX dropdown to TaxCloud Tax and click Save & Close.
4. Reopen the invoice from the Customer Center and confirm: a single TaxCloud Sales Tax line with the right amount, no old-integration tax items, and the tax showing on the Balance Sheet under TaxCloud Sales Tax Payable.

Historical data: what changes, what doesn't

The migration doesn't rewrite past invoices — they keep the old integration's tax items, amounts, and posting account. Going forward, new and edited invoices use TaxCloud. Your Item List ends up with both the old (inactive) tax items and TaxCloud's active one; that's expected — don't try to merge them.

If your accountant wants the historical tax on the same account as new TaxCloud tax, that's a one-time journal entry on their schedule, not something the plugin does.

Common gotchas

• The old process is still running after "uninstall." Some un-installers leave a service or scheduled task behind — check Task Manager → Details for the vendor's process.
• Both integrations still listed. After migration, only TaxCloud QuickBooks Plugin should appear under Integrated Applications. If the old one is still there, repeat Step 2.
• Avalara tax codes didn't come across. They don't — re-classify in TaxCloud (Assign product tax codes (TICs).
• TaxCloud returned $0 for a state Avalara taxed. Make sure tax collection is enabled for that state in TaxCloud (under Thresholds).
• The next save still shows the old tax item. Close QuickBooks completely (File → Exit) and reopen — QuickBooks caches its integration list at file-open time.