Welcome to Numeral! Our team is looking forward to working with you. We know the struggle is real when it comes to sales tax, but once you get through the onboarding process with us, it’ll be smooth sailing!
Sales tax is complex, so our team is big on client education. When you understand the essentials, we’re able to provide you with better support and a seamless transition—giving you peace of mind and more time to focus on your business.
Onboarding Table of Contents
The order and timeline of these steps may vary depending on your circumstances, but our team is committed to working with you to get everything up and running as quickly as possible. We suggest reading each section in full before getting started.
Review Onboarding Email from Our Team
Once you have committed to Numeral, you will receive an onboarding email from our team that outlines exactly what you need to complete before we start to file and register for your company. You can also find all your action items in your Numeral Dashboard.
💡 Your primary point of contact throughout the onboarding process will be onboarding@numeralhq.com
Set Up Your Numeral Dashboard
Your dashboard is the central hub for managing your sales tax obligations. During this step, we’ll help you configure your dashboard to fit your business’s unique needs. You will be able to upload pertinent company details directly to your profile. This includes critical business information like the legal name of your company, your employer identification number (EIN), the type of business (e.g. Sole Proprietorship, LLC, etc.), the banking account you would like to use for tax remittance, and other important details that are essential to the tax preparation process. Our team will need all of this information to register your company in the appropriate states.
Sync Essential Platforms
To streamline your sales tax management, we’ll integrate your existing e-commerce platforms with Numeral. This ensures all your sales data is consolidated in one place. This phase involves granting Numeral administrative access to the e-commerce platforms you use to process sales. This includes platforms like Shopify, Amazon, Walmart, and Ebay. If you do not currently utilize one of these platforms, our team can coordinate manual data transfers in place of more traditional synchronizations.
Shopify Access: This is one of the more prevalent platforms our clients use. Our team needs a collaborator code to request Shopify partner access. You can find your collaborator request code and review requests in Settings > Users and Permissions > Collaborators > Once there, you should find a 4-digit collaborator code.
Participate in a Nexus Study
Nexus determines where your business has a tax obligation and can be triggered two ways:
Physical Presence: Where your employees or brick and mortar stores are located and 3rd party logistics can trigger physical nexus.
Economic Thresholds: Gross revenue and/or number of transactions can trigger economic nexus.
Once our team has access to the right platforms, we will send you a complete Nexus study for review. This will include a report with your tax liabilities and a list of the states you need to register in.
Configure Your USPS Virtual Mailbox
While a lot of tax communication occurs online, there is still a significant amount of mail that Numeral will need access to in order to register your accounts and monitor individual filings. To ensure we can access critical items like state notices, you will need to set up a virtual mailbox through USPS.
What is the USPS 1583 Form?
The PS 1583 Form gives Numeral permission to accept and handle mail under your or your business’s name. We are legally required to have a signed copy of this form on file to ensure that a real person or entity is linked to a Stable mailbox. Additional information about this form can be found on the Stable support page here.
Why Do I Need to Set Up a Virtual Mailbox?
To ensure compliance with sales tax from your first day of liability, it is essential to complete the USPS form in advance. The registration requests you place in the Numeral dashboard will only be processed once the form is filled out.
If you choose not to set up the virtual mailbox, please inform our onboarding team in advance. In this case, you will be responsible for forwarding any mail you receive to us. Without the virtual mailbox, we will be unable to create your online sales tax accounts or file on your behalf. Additionally, any state notices you receive must be forwarded to our team at help@numeralhq.com to ensure we are informed of any important communications from the states.
Do I Need to Make a Payment to Set Up the Virtual Mailbox?
No, you do not need to make any payment to set up your virtual mailbox! This service is already included as part of your Numeral subscription.
Register/Transfer Your Tax Accounts
Whether you’re setting up new accounts or transferring existing ones, this step ensures that all your state and local tax accounts are properly registered and ready to go. Once you review your Nexus study, you will select which states Numeral will register in on your behalf and which states have existing accounts/credentials that must be transferred to our administrative team.
This is found under the action item “Manage your sales tax registrations” or under the Nexus tab in the left sidebar in your Numeral dashboard. Be sure to take a look at this information before adding your credentials to the Numeral dashboard.
A quick note regarding Account Transfers: If you have an existing sales tax account and/or are already filing and paying taxes in a particular state, you will need to transfer your login credentials to Numeral. Some of the state portals have 2 factor authentication enforced, so a Numeral email address will need to be added to the portals. This ensures our team can start filing on your behalf.
Onboarding FAQs
What happens if my nexus status changes?
If your nexus status changes—in other words, you no longer have a physical nexus (such as employees, third-party logistics [3PL] providers, or brick-and-mortar stores) and you have not reached economic thresholds (typically based on sales revenue or the number of transactions)—you may choose to deregister from those states. However, if you anticipate reaching nexus in that state again in the future, it may be beneficial to maintain your account rather than deregistering. Consult with our team to evaluate the pros and cons of this decision.
What happens if I initiate the transfer process for a state where I no longer have nexus?
If our study indicates you no longer have nexus in a particular state after initiating the transfer process, then all we need to do is ensure compliance with your final filing before deregistering. You will need to contact the state offices to request deregistration. To speed up this process, our team put together complete list of state contact numbers.
Once you have completed the deregistration process, please inform our team so we can cancel the transfer request for those states and inform our filing team.
Do I need an Employer Identification Number (EIN) if I am a sole proprietor?
If you are a sole proprietor, you don’t require an Employer Identification Number (EIN) according to IRS regulations, as you can use your SSN as your taxpayer identification number. Besides this, since you are not an incorporated entity, you don’t need to have Articles of Incorporation, unless you decide to convert your business to a limited liability company (LLC) or corporation.
Generally speaking, to start a state registration, you will need a seller’s permit.
Is the onboarding process different for international clients?
There is some documentation that you will need to provide during your onboarding with Numeral, so we’re able to start filing on your behalf:
Identification: States will ask for identification for a responsible party or officer of your company. Generally speaking, for international clients, most of the states require a passport as a form of identification, however, if your ID is not 8 digits long, it will not be accepted, and you might need to provide an international license.
Employer Identification Number (EIN): The EIN is a nine-digit number assigned by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Your EIN is used to identify tax accounts associated with your business. Unfortunately we cannot register you in states until you are assigned an EIN. If you do not have an EIN, please let our team know.
Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN): States require companies to have a responsible party during the registration process for a sales tax license, to do so, they will ask for a SSN (Social Security Number) or an ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number). As an International company, the responsible party or officer might not have an SSN, since this is an unique number assigned to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or temporary working residents. Therefore, you may obtain an ITIN through one of our partners, just let our team know about this. If you are not ready to get started with the ITIN process,we can still register you in states, but some states will require that we send over paper registrations instead of registering you online. Therefore, it might take longer to be registered in those states.
Where can I find the state portals Numeral uses?
Here is a list of state websites Numeral uses to file taxes. Note that some states have older portals that have since migrated to a new website.
How do I see what’s included in my nexus study?
Each state has their own economic requirements for remote out-of-state sellers. In addition to physical presence (employees, 3PL, etc.), states typically have a dollar and/or transaction threshold to reach nexus. These thresholds are visible within your nexus tab in your Numeral account.