Taxware.

• Position: TAX SOFTWARE - Strategic partnership with First Data Corp. and Avalan Technology Inc.

Taxware, a provider of global transaction tax calculation and compliance solutions and a unit of First Data Corp., has entered into a strategic partnership with Avalara, a leading provider of Web-service based sales tax solutions to the small and mid-size business (SMB) market. The partnership enables Taxware to serve every level of the business market, while providing Avalara customers with access to Taxware's Value-Added Tax (VAT) rates and "taxability" matrix.

While Taxware has historically been focused on Fortune 1000 companies that have demanding transaction tax requirements and use heavyweight enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems developed by Oracle and SAP, Avalara has focused on the SMB market, providing an easy-to-use Web-based sales tax automation solution.

The Avalara solution, AvaTax ST[TM], integrates with the business, accounting and ERP applications widely used by small and mid-size businesses, including Intuit's QuickBooks, Sage Software's MAS 90[R] and MAS 200[R], ACCPAC International's Advantage Series, Epicor's iScala, and Great Plains, Navision[R] and MS Small Business Financials from Microsoft Business Solutions.

As part of the agreement, Avalara's AvaTax ST customers will tap into more advanced capabilities provided by...