United States
ERP and accounting software for US businesses
US GAAP reporting, state and local sales tax, and multi-entity accounting in one system. No federal e-invoicing mandate, so this page does not pretend otherwise.
Compliance summary
Not mandated- Tax authority
- State revenue departments; SEC and FASB for reporting
- E-invoicing
- No federal mandate. B2G invoicing and voluntary networks only
- VAT rate
- State sales tax
- Currency
- USD
Last reviewed . Rates and deadlines change — confirm the current position with the authority above before you act on it.
What your invoice must carry
What actually governs a US invoice
-
There is no national VAT
The United States has no value added tax. Sales tax is imposed by states and, in most of them, by counties, cities and special districts as well, and it is charged on the final retail sale rather than at each stage. A system built around a single national rate has nothing to attach that rate to here.
-
Nexus decides whether you must collect at all
A seller collects tax in a state where it has nexus, which may arise from physical presence or, since the 2018 Supreme Court decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, from economic activity above thresholds each state sets for itself. Those thresholds and their measurement periods differ by state, so the obligation has to be assessed state by state.
-
Destination sourcing and thousands of rates
Most states source a sale to the delivery address, so the correct rate depends on the buyer location down to the local jurisdiction, and ZIP codes do not map cleanly to tax jurisdictions. Exemptions add another layer: resale and manufacturing exemptions, and product rules under which the same item is taxable in one state and not in another.
-
Reporting is US GAAP, not IFRS
Domestic filers report under US GAAP as set by the FASB, not IFRS. For a group with operations in both the Gulf and the United States this is the single largest structural difference, and it starts at the transaction level rather than at consolidation.
We will not manufacture urgency that does not exist
Most of the market pages on this site are built around a compliance deadline, because in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and much of MENA there genuinely is one. The United States has no federal e-invoicing mandate. Federal suppliers have long-standing electronic invoicing arrangements with the agencies they sell to, and voluntary interoperability work continues in the private sector, but no general requirement applies to an ordinary business.
So the American argument for changing systems is not a legal deadline. It is the ordinary one: fewer places for the same number to be entered, a ledger that closes without a week of reconciliation, and tax that is computed once. If a vendor tells you the United States is about to mandate e-invoicing, ask them to name the statute.
Sales tax is a data problem, not a rate problem
The hard part of US sales tax is not applying a percentage. It is determining, for each line of each sale, whether tax is due at all, in which jurisdiction, at which combined rate, and whether the item or the buyer is exempt. That determination depends on where the seller has nexus, where the goods are delivered, what the item is, and what exemption documentation is on file.
What a system owes you is therefore narrower and more useful than a rate table: tax determined at line level and stored with the transaction, exemption certificates held against the customer with their expiry dates, and returns that can be traced back to the individual sales that produced each figure. Many US businesses pair their ERP with a specialist tax determination service for the rate lookup itself, and an honest system is one that integrates with that cleanly rather than claiming to replace it.
Multi-entity, multi-state, multi-currency
US groups are usually several legal entities before they are large, often across several states and sometimes across borders. That makes intercompany transactions, elimination on consolidation, and a shared chart of accounts routine requirements rather than advanced ones. Where a US entity sits under a Gulf parent, the same underlying transactions must serve US GAAP reporting locally and the parent framework on consolidation.
Skyline Nexus records every transaction in its original currency with the rate applied, carries branch and entity as dimensions on the posting rather than deriving them in a report, and keeps the subledgers reconciled to their control accounts. What it does not do is make a filing decision for you. Nexus determination, exemption validity and the reporting framework you file under are questions for your tax adviser and your auditor.
Common questions
Is e-invoicing mandatory in the United States?
No. The United States has no federal e-invoicing mandate. Federal suppliers have long-standing electronic invoicing arrangements with the agencies they sell to, and voluntary interoperability work continues in the private sector, but no general requirement applies to an ordinary business. If a vendor tells you the United States is about to mandate e-invoicing, ask them to name the statute.
Does the United States have VAT?
No. The United States has no value added tax. Sales tax is imposed by states and, in most of them, by counties, cities and special districts as well, and it is charged on the final retail sale rather than at each stage. A system built around a single national rate has nothing to attach that rate to here.
What is sales tax nexus?
A seller collects tax in a state where it has nexus, which may arise from physical presence or, since the 2018 Supreme Court decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, from economic activity above thresholds each state sets for itself. Those thresholds and their measurement periods differ by state, so the obligation has to be assessed state by state.
Do US companies report under IFRS?
Domestic filers report under US GAAP as set by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, not IFRS. For a group with operations in both the Gulf and the United States that is the single largest structural difference, and it starts at the transaction level rather than at consolidation.
Do we still need a sales tax determination service alongside an ERP?
Many US businesses pair their ERP with a specialist tax determination service for the rate lookup itself, and an honest system integrates with that cleanly rather than claiming to replace it. What the ERP owes you is narrower and more useful: tax determined at line level and stored with the transaction, exemption certificates held against the customer with their expiry dates, and returns traceable back to the individual sales that produced each figure.
Rates, regimes and deadlines in this summary change, and many countries are actively legislating on e-invoicing. This is general information, not tax or legal advice — confirm the current position with the authority named above or with your tax adviser before you rely on it.
Markets
Modules
Free tools
Talk to us about your business
Tell us what you run and we will come back with a straight answer about fit, timeline and price.