What is the difference between sales tax and VAT?

Sales tax is the U.S. system where states and localities each set their own rates and rules (creating thousands of distinct tax jurisdictions). VAT (Value Added Tax) is the system used in most other countries — a single national rate applied at each production stage, with businesses collecting tax from customers and remitting the net amount after deducting VAT paid on inputs. Both require complex compliance, but VAT is simpler to administer.

Why do large enterprises use dedicated tax compliance software instead of ERP native tax features?

ERP native tax features often can't keep up with the constant changes in sales tax rates, rules, and product taxability across thousands of U.S. jurisdictions and international VAT systems. Dedicated tax software like Vertex maintains continuously updated tax content databases, provides pre-built integrations with all major ERPs, and handles the complexity of multi-jurisdictional tax returns that ERP native features handle less reliably.

What is indirect tax and why is it complex?

Indirect taxes are consumption taxes collected by businesses on behalf of governments — sales tax, VAT, GST, and excise taxes. Unlike income taxes (paid directly by the entity earning income), indirect taxes are collected at point of sale and remitted to government. Complexity comes from variation — every U.S. state, county, and city may have different rates and product exemptions, requiring sophisticated software to calculate accurately.

Data as of: September 20, 2026

brimindinvest.com / compare / avalara-vs-vertex-taxLIVE

AVLR

Avalara, Inc. · Technology - Tax Compliance Software

N/A

N/A this month

VERSUS

COMPARE

VERX

Vertex, Inc. · Technology - Tax Compliance Software

$11.96

-11.54% this month

Comparison scoreboard

MIXED SETUP

AI Scorei

AVLR N/A

VERX 24.0

1Y Returni

AVLR N/A

VERX -53.35%

Fwd P/Ei

AVLR N/A

VERX 13.18

Target Up.i

AVLR N/A

VERX +27.25%

Op. Margini

AVLR N/A

VERX 3.37%

Metrics last refreshed: 9/20/2026

Quick take

AVLR vs VERX Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside

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AVLR (Avalara) was taken private by Vista Equity Partners in 2022, while VERX (Vertex) is now the primary publicly traded indirect tax compliance software company. Both serve the complex and growing market for automated sales tax and VAT compliance, but Vertex has the public market stage to itself as the only publicly traded pure-play in this category.

AVLR vs VERX highlights the indirect tax compliance software market, with Avalara now private and Vertex as the publicly traded alternative — both serving the growing complexity of multi-jurisdictional sales tax compliance for businesses.

Live analysis · updated 9/20/2026

AVLR and VERX are closely matched — they split the tracked metrics evenly.

Normalized 1Y performance

AVLR

VERX

Not enough data to chart yet.

Recent returns

AVLR

VERX

Analyst price targets & sentiment

Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.

AVLR

Price target data unavailable

N/A

VERX

Price target range

analyst mean$17.15
current price$11.96

+27.3% upside to analyst mean

Who should consider this stock?

Avalara is no longer publicly traded:

Avalara was acquired by Vista Equity Partners in 2022 and is not available for public market investment
For indirect tax compliance software exposure, Vertex (VERX) is the primary publicly traded option
The tax compliance software market continues to grow as economic nexus laws post-Wayfair require more businesses to register and remit sales tax in more states

VERX may suit investors who:

Want the publicly traded indirect tax compliance software company serving mid-market and enterprise customers with automated VAT and sales tax solutions
Value Vertex's deep ERP integrations and enterprise positioning as creating high switching costs with large, established business customers
See tax law complexity growth (more economic nexus requirements, digital services taxes, VAT rule changes) as structural demand drivers for tax compliance automation

Performance & AI score

Performance & AI score
Metric	AVLR	VERX
AI scorei	N/A	24.0
AI ranki	N/A	#3446
Latest closei	N/A	$11.96
1M returni	N/A	-11.54%
6M returni	N/A	-7.00%
1Y returni	N/A	-53.35%

$10,000 invested — hypothetical growth (dividends reinvested)

How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?

$10,000 invested — hypothetical growth (dividends reinvested)
Period	AVLR	VERX
1Y ago	N/A	$4.66K (-53.4%) started 2025-09-18
5Y ago	N/A	$6.25K (-37.5%) started 2021-09-20
10Y ago	N/A	$5K (-50.0%) started 2020-07-29

Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.

Valuation & upside potential

Valuation & upside potential
Metric	AVLR	VERX
Market capi	N/A	$2.19B
Trailing P/Ei	N/A	674.00
Forward P/Ei	N/A	13.18
Price/Salesi	0.79	N/A
EV/Revenuei	N/A	2.93
Analyst targeti	N/A	$17.15
Target upsidei	N/A	+27.25%

Growth, profitability & risk

Growth, profitability & risk
Metric	AVLR	VERX
Revenue growthi	N/A	10.50%
Earnings growthi	N/A	N/A
EPS growthi	N/A	N/A
FCF margini	N/A	+9.00%
Operating margini	N/A	3.37%
Profit margini	N/A	0.45%
ROIC proxyi	N/A	1.46%
Return on equityi	N/A	1.46%
Dividend yieldi	N/A	N/A
Payout ratioi	N/A	0.00%
Dividend growth streaki	N/A	N/A
Betai	0.98	0.81
Debt/equityi	N/A	145.13
Current ratioi	N/A	0.87
Quick ratioi	N/A	0.68

Drawdown & downside risk

Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.

1Y risk snapshot

AVLR max drawdowniN/A

VERX max drawdowni59.21%

AVLR max wkly dropiN/A

VERX max wkly dropi21.19%

5Y risk snapshot

AVLR max drawdowniN/A

VERX max drawdowni82.05%

AVLR max wkly dropiN/A

VERX max wkly dropi30.09%

10Y risk snapshot

AVLR max drawdowniN/A

VERX max drawdowni82.05%

AVLR max wkly dropiN/A

VERX max wkly dropi30.09%

Performance metrics by period

Performance metrics by period
Period	Metric	AVLR	VERX
1Y	Growthi	N/A	-53.35%
	CAGRi	N/A	-53.38%
	Volatilityi	N/A	60.50%
	Sharpe ratioi	N/A	-1.04
	Sortino ratioi	N/A	-1.43
	Max drawdowni	N/A	59.21%
	Current drawdowni	N/A	53.89%
	Avg drawdowni	N/A	37.93%
	Ulcer Indexi	N/A	41.80%
	Max daily dropi	N/A	15.13%
	Max wkly dropi	N/A	21.19%
5Y	Growthi	N/A	-37.55%
	CAGRi	N/A	-9.00%
	Volatilityi	N/A	55.38%
	Sharpe ratioi	N/A	0.02
	Sortino ratioi	N/A	0.03
	Max drawdowni	N/A	82.05%
	Current drawdowni	N/A	79.71%
	Avg drawdowni	N/A	31.22%
	Ulcer Indexi	N/A	40.63%
	Max daily dropi	N/A	18.98%
	Max wkly dropi	N/A	30.09%
10Y	Growthi	N/A	-50.02%
	CAGRi	N/A	-10.68%
	Volatilityi	N/A	55.92%
	Sharpe ratioi	N/A	-0.01
	Sortino ratioi	N/A	-0.01
	Max drawdowni	N/A	82.05%
	Current drawdowni	N/A	79.71%
	Avg drawdowni	N/A	43.96%
	Ulcer Indexi	N/A	49.98%
	Max daily dropi	N/A	19.64%
	Max wkly dropi	N/A	30.09%

AI Prediction Signali

Members only

Next 5 trading days

AVLR

+2.8%BUY

VERX

+1.1%HOLD

Next 30 trading days

AVLR

+6.4%BUY

VERX

+3.2%HOLD

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Business comparison

Business comparison
Category	AVLR	VERX
Company	Avalara, Inc.	Vertex, Inc.
Sector	Technology - Tax Compliance Software	Technology
Industry	N/A	Software - Application
Core business	Avalara provided cloud-based sales tax compliance automation for e-commerce and businesses, calculating state and local sales tax in real-time, managing tax returns across multiple jurisdictions, and handling compliance for VAT in international markets — acquired by Vista Equity Partners in 2022.	Vertex provides enterprise indirect tax software including sales tax calculation, VAT compliance, and tax data analytics — serving mid-market and enterprise companies across retail, manufacturing, financial services, and technology with both cloud and on-premise solutions.
Investor focus	Avalara is no longer publicly traded — it was acquired by Vista Equity Partners in 2022 and taken private. For public tax compliance software investment, Vertex (VERX) is the primary publicly traded alternative.	Investors track Vertex's annual recurring revenue (ARR) growth, cloud solution adoption versus legacy on-premise, net revenue retention, and the company's positioning as the leading publicly traded indirect tax software company following Avalara's privatization.

AVLR strengths

Market-leading cloud sales tax compliance platform used by e-commerce companies, mid-market, and enterprise businesses for automated sales tax calculation and filing
Extensive pre-built integrations with e-commerce platforms (Shopify, Magento), ERP systems (SAP, Oracle), and marketplaces enabled seamless tax calculation at point of sale
International VAT compliance coverage expanded Avalara beyond U.S. sales tax into global indirect tax management

VERX strengths

Enterprise-focused positioning with deep ERP integrations (SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics) serves large company tax compliance needs that require enterprise-grade reliability and customization
Long-established tax content database with tax rules for thousands of jurisdictions globally provides accuracy foundation for tax calculation
Public market position as the primary publicly traded tax compliance software company gives Vertex visibility advantage following Avalara's privatization

Risks to watch — AVLR

Avalara was taken private by Vista Equity Partners in 2022 and is no longer publicly traded
The tax compliance software market continues to grow as economic nexus laws following the Wayfair Supreme Court decision require more businesses to collect state sales tax
Vertex (VERX) is the primary publicly traded company in this space

Risks to watch — VERX

Indirect tax software is a niche but essential market — growth depends on business formation, cross-border e-commerce expansion, and changing tax law complexity
Competition from ERP native tax calculation features in SAP S/4HANA and Oracle Fusion could reduce standalone tax software need for some enterprises
Cloud transition from legacy on-premise Vertex solutions is ongoing — customers on older versions must migrate to maintain competitiveness

Frequently asked questions

Economic nexus laws (triggered by the 2018 South Dakota v. Wayfair Supreme Court decision) require out-of-state businesses to collect and remit sales tax in states where they exceed certain economic thresholds (typically $100K revenue or 200 transactions annually). This dramatically expanded the number of states where most online businesses must collect sales tax, creating urgent demand for automated compliance software.

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