VSCO is a photo & video editing and sharing platform that combines premium quality presets & tools, thoughtful curation, and a diverse community of creative professionals. 

At first sold only on app stores such as the Apple App Store or Google Play, VSCO didn’t need to worry about setting up sales tax collection and filing. But as they grew and expanded to their own web store and taking payments via online payment processing, collecting and filing sales tax became a pressing reality.

At first, Controller Jacqueline Teixeira and her small but mighty accounting team took on sales tax themselves in their two nexus states. 

“Sales tax is tedious,” says Teixeira. “Each state is different, each website is different, and every jurisdiction handles sales tax differently. Then there’s managing all of the notices.” 

But as they went from sales tax nexus in 2 states to 22 states, the tedium and complication of sales tax–not to mention income tax, licensing, franchise tax and other associated administrative work–challenged the team, who were already at capacity before adding sales tax to their plates. 

That’s when VSCO turned to Hands Off Sales Tax (HOST). 

“Our team had no capacity, and we are not experts in sales tax,” Texeira recalled. “So one of our vendors referred us to HOST.”

HOST not only helps to file VSCO’s sales tax returns, but also supports the management of any state correspondence. One great feature is that HOST sends a monthly report highlighting any issues that may need extra diligence from the VSCO team. And as their business continues to grow, HOST provides resources to help VSCO ensure that VSCO gets registered and is compliant in new nexus states. 

Teixeira explained that now instead of her team spending hours handling sales tax filings in twenty-five states, she spends five minutes per month double checking HOST’s report. 

“[With HOST] we no longer have to think about sales tax,” said Texeira. “And that’s exactly what we were looking for.”