A few months ago in a national newspaper (Wall Street Journal? NY
Times?) there was an article about dot com companies didn't calculate
sales tax because the computations were too ambiguous, rapidly
changing, and/or complex.  Amazon.com was featured in the article.

There was a company identified which develops software that calculates
sales tax for use on web sites and withon other software applications.
What is the name of this company?

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Clarification of Question by chriso_312-ga on 22 Dec 2003 16:49 PST

This is the article.  Can you please access the article in full, and
let me know the identity of the company offering the tax rate
service/software. Thank you.

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Request for Question Clarification by jackburton-ga on 24 Dec 2003 04:17 PST

This appears to be the full article: 
http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:YfLl4OlCyxIJ:www.theproduct.com/6m105/readings/fall03/amazon_tax.pdf+%22involve+installing+some+new+modules+of+accounting+software%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
  
I couldn't access the Wall Street Journal version on the WSJ.com site,
as I do not have a subscription, but the identity of the software
company is not stated in the article.
  
I have emailed the journalist to see if he knows.

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Request for Question Clarification by aht-ga on 24 Dec 2003 09:13 PST

chriso_312-ga:

If the article that jackburton-ga references is the article you are
referring to, then in that article it states that the software is from
the Taxware division of Velosant LP, located in Boston. You can find
out more about Taxware and its sales tax solution at:

http://www.velosant.com/products/taxware/index.html

They are indeed the world leaders in providing highly detailed sales
tax calculations that can be used by e-commerce operators as well as
traditional brick and mortar national/multi-national chains with
centralized financial systems.

If this is the company you are looking for, then jackburton-ga
deserves the credit for locating the full-text of the article.

Regards,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher

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Clarification of Question by chriso_312-ga on 25 Dec 2003 03:58 PST

Yes, this is the company - thank you very much !

Oh, so it is "Taxware"! ...Thanks for pointing that out, "aht"!
  
I guess I did'nt read the article clearly enough.
  
When it said ... "No, says Amazon, it can't use Taxware because the
company won't indemnify Amazon against errors...
[..]
In the end, the big, wrenching change that Amazon frets about will
merely involve installing some new modules of accounting software on
its mainframes."
  
...i assumed the "new modules" were not to do with Taxware, (I know
very little about this sort of thing), but as this answers your
question "chriso_312", then I am happy to take credit!
    
  
Merry Xmas to you both!
    
JACKBURTON-ga

Thank you for the timely answer & complete information!

I think the article you're referring to, might be: "Slick, Deft Amazon
Becomes All Thumbs When Handling Taxes", by Lee Gomes, from the Wall
Street Journal (10/06).
  
 
From the Washing Post website:
   
"Gomes spends a fair amount of time attacking some of Amazon's other
arguments against the Internet sales tax, but concludes on a simple
note: "In the end, the big, wrenching change that Amazon frets about
will merely involve installing some new modules of accounting software
on its mainframes. Funny how these hip New Economy companies can whine
for Old Economy tax loopholes and special treatment with the best of
them."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A50872-2003Oct6?language=printer
(see "Amazon's Tax Avoidance Program", last paragraph)
  
I'm sure another researcher will be able to verify the article and the
software company you're referring to.

Thank you for the 5-star rating and the tip. Glad you got the info you were after :)