How Kintsugi's Sales Tax Platform Revolutionizes Businesses

Who is Whatashort?

Whatashort is a short film platform based in the United Arab Emirates that aims to celebrate and showcase indie filmmakers from all over the world. Launched as a bridge between filmmakers and audiences, they curate award-winning shorts and foster a vibrant community for creative storytelling. With a growing international audience, Whatashort needed an automation system to help them keep up with the demands of managing the sales tax for their digital products. Their success made them realize that manually handling tax rates, jurisdictional rules, and compliance was unsustainable, especially as they expanded into new regions.

Initially, Whatashort tried out more known sales tax automation software solutions like TaxJar, Avalara, and Vertex. While these platforms offered a range of great features, their implementation and integration processes were just too time-consuming, and the need for constant support became a roadblock to their ambitions. Seeking a solution that combined simplicity and efficiency, they decided to switch to Kintsugi. Their platform’s ease of use, Shopify integrations, and powerful automation tools made it the perfect match, enabling them to focus better on storytelling rather than compliance headaches.

Streamlining Sales Tax is Harder than it Sounds

As Whatashort expanded their reach, managing their compliance became a growing burden. With their sales spanning multiple jurisdictions, tracking the different sales tax rates required more time and resources than they actually had. Not to mention, the manual processes they had in place to calculate, file, and report taxes were inefficient and error-prone. They realized that in order to keep up with their sales tax obligations, they needed to automate.

However, finding the right sales tax platform was not without its challenges. Platforms like TaxJar and Avalara offered comprehensive features, but the lack of intuitiveness created unnecessarily steep learning curves, making it difficult to implement without extensive technical support. They also lacked the flexibility needed to handle their unique tax requirements across multiple jurisdictions. Frustrated by these limitations, Whatashort began searching for a different solution, one that was actually user-friendly, scalable, and capable of providing for their growing needs.

Kintsugi’s Intuitive Platform Makes it Easy

Whatashort discovered Kintsugi while looking through dedicated Reddit threads for sales tax management software specific to Shopify business owners. Impressed by Kintsugi’s reputation for easy onboarding and accuracy, it stood out as an alternative to the overly complicated tools they had tried before. Unlike other platforms that require significant technical support and time-consuming setup, Kintsugi offered a streamlined onboarding process that immediately appealed to Whatashort’s needs.

What ultimately convinced them to switch to Kintsugi was its user-friendly interface and ability to handle multi-jurisdictional compliance with minimal effort. The automation capabilities addressed their need for accurate, real-time tax rate calculations and effortless filings, and the smooth Shopify integration eliminated the frustration they experienced with other tools. With Kintsugi, Whatashort found a solution that saved both time and effort, allowing them to confidently focus on growing their community of filmmakers and enthusiasts.

Why Whatashort Made the Switch to Kintsugi

• Time Savings: Manual tax calculations and filings had become a major time sink for Whatashort's small team. By switching to Kintsugi, they were able to automate these processes, reducing their compliance workload by at least 80%. This freed up valuable time to focus on core activities like expanding their platform and building partnerships.
• Seamless Integration: Previous platforms required extensive setup and ongoing technical support, which disrupted daily operations. Kintsugi’s smooth Shopify integration eliminated these barriers, providing a plug-and-play experience. The platform automatically syncs sales data, calculates tax rates, and files returns without the need for manual intervention.

• Enhanced Accuracy and Compliance: Previous solutions' tax filing errors created risks of penalties and additional stress. Kintsugi’s proprietary features ensure real-time tax rate calculations and jurisdictional accuracy, significantly reducing the chances of mistakes. This level of precision has been critical for Whatashort as they expand into new regions.

Growing Together with Confidence

Whatashort views Kintsugi as a transformative solution that has fundamentally changed how they approach sales tax management. Unlike other platforms, which felt overly complex, Kintsugi’s proprietary features—Kinsugisheets, Kintsugiintelligence, and Kintsugimail—have made compliance a worry-free process. These tools have saved countless hours and instilled confidence in their ability to meet compliance obligations, even as their business continues to grow. For them, Kintsugi represents a partner that evolves with them, simplifying an essential aspect of their operations while allowing them to stay focused on their mission.

Encouraged by their experience, Whatashort recommends Kintsugi to businesses facing similar challenges in managing sales tax. Whether a company is scaling globally or simply looking to streamline compliance, Kintsugi offers the simplicity, efficiency, and reliability that other platforms have failed to deliver. By making the switch, businesses can eliminate the headaches of sales tax management and redirect their energy toward growth and innovation. For Whatashort, Kintsugi has become more than just a sales tax platform—it’s a cornerstone of their operational strategy, and they encourage others to embrace the same solution to unlock their full potential.

About Kintsugi

Based in San Francisco and founded in 2022, Kintsugi is dedicated to taking the stress out of sales tax compliance. Our platform automates the entire process, delivering high performance, reliability, and flexibility as your business scales.

Kintsugi is secure, encrypted, GDPR-compliant, and SOC 2 Type II certified, adhering to the highest standards for security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy.

Learn more about Kintsugi’s platform and integrations here