Number X vs Avalara

Merchant of Record or Tax Compliance Software?

Businesses expanding internationally eventually run into the same challenge: taxes.

Whether you're selling SaaS subscriptions, AI products, digital downloads or mobile apps, calculating the correct VAT, GST or sales tax quickly becomes far more complicated than simply adding a percentage at checkout. Different jurisdictions apply different tax rates, registration thresholds change over time and reporting requirements vary from country to country.

That is where Avalara often enters the conversation.

The problem is that Avalara and Number X are frequently compared even though they solve completely different problems. Avalara is a tax compliance platform designed to calculate taxes and assist businesses with tax management. Number X is a Merchant of Record that takes responsibility for the entire commercial transaction, including payment processing, tax collection, remittance and compliance.

If your only challenge is calculating taxes, Avalara may be exactly what you need.

If your goal is to simplify the entire process of selling digital products globally, the comparison looks very different.

Avalara is a tax platform

Avalara is one of the world's best-known tax automation providers.

Its primary purpose is to help businesses determine the correct tax amount for a transaction based on factors such as customer location, product type and local tax regulations. It also offers tools for tax reporting, filing and exemption certificate management across multiple jurisdictions.

For companies that already operate their own payment infrastructure, Avalara fits naturally into the technology stack. A merchant processes the payment, Avalara calculates the applicable tax and the merchant remains responsible for collecting, reporting and remitting those taxes in accordance with local regulations.

In other words, Avalara is a specialised tax platform—not a commerce platform.

Number X is a Merchant of Record

Number X approaches the same problem from a completely different direction.

Instead of giving merchants software that calculates tax, Number X becomes the Merchant of Record for every transaction processed through the platform.

That distinction changes everything.

Because Number X is the legal seller, it doesn't simply calculate VAT, GST or sales tax. It also collects those taxes, remits them to the appropriate authorities and assumes much of the compliance responsibility associated with international digital commerce.

The merchant doesn't receive another tool to manage.

Instead, many of the underlying operational responsibilities disappear altogether.

Feature comparison

Avalara still requires the rest of your payments stack

One of the biggest misconceptions is that tax calculation solves international commerce, but it doesn't.

Even after integrating Avalara, businesses still need to decide how payments will be processed, which acquiring partners to use, how subscriptions will be managed, how chargebacks will be handled and who will take responsibility for VAT registrations and compliance across multiple jurisdictions.

A typical implementation might still include:

• A payment processor or PSP.
• A payment gateway.
• Subscription billing software.
• Fraud prevention tools.
• Avalara for tax calculation.
• Internal finance teams managing registrations and compliance.

Avalara solves one important piece of the puzzle, but it remains just that—one piece.

Number X replaces multiple providers

The Merchant of Record model is designed to eliminate much of that complexity.

Instead of integrating separate products for payments, tax calculation and compliance, businesses work with a single platform responsible for the commercial transaction from checkout through settlement.

That includes:

• Payment processing.
• Merchant of Record services.
• VAT, GST and sales tax management.
• Tax collection.
• Tax remittance.
• International compliance.
• Chargeback management.
• Global payment methods.

Rather than giving merchants another system to maintain, Number X removes entire operational workflows from the business.

Which businesses should choose Avalara?

Avalara is an excellent solution for businesses that:

• Already have an established payments infrastructure.
• Process payments themselves.
• Want to remain the merchant of record.
• Need enterprise-grade tax calculation and filing tools.
• Have internal finance and tax teams managing compliance.

For those organisations, Avalara provides sophisticated tax automation without changing how the business operates commercially.

Which businesses should choose Number X?

Number X is designed for businesses that want to avoid building that infrastructure themselves.

Instead of calculating taxes while leaving every other responsibility with the merchant, Number X manages the broader commercial transaction through its Merchant of Record model.

That makes it particularly attractive for SaaS companies, AI platforms, mobile applications, game studios and other digital businesses that want to expand internationally without assembling separate providers for payments, tax, compliance and operational management.

Tax calculation is only one step in selling globally

Calculating the correct VAT or sales tax is undeniably important, but it represents only one stage of an international transaction.

Someone still has to process the payment, act as the legal seller, collect the tax, remit it to the appropriate authorities, manage chargebacks and satisfy the compliance requirements that accompany cross-border digital commerce.

Avalara gives merchants powerful software to calculate and manage taxes while leaving those broader responsibilities in their hands.

Number X takes a different approach. As a Merchant of Record, it combines payment processing, tax management and compliance into a single end-to-end commerce platform, allowing businesses to focus on growing their products rather than managing the operational complexity behind every international sale.