How Kintsugi, Vertex, and CPA.com are redefining what businesses should expect from sales tax automation

The Profitability Problem in CAS and SALT Practices

Your Client Advisory Services (CAS) or State and Local Tax (SALT) practice should be profitable and sustainable, especially in today’s economic environment. Multi-state nexus complexity is exploding, clients need help, and advisory demand has never been higher. But here's what's actually happening: sales tax work is eating your margins alive.

Right now, most CAS and SALT teams spend hours on manual registrations, CSV uploads, reconciliations, and filing prep, all of which is low-value work that doesn't scale. Teams are stuck in state portals instead of having strategic conversations with clients, and many firms are either turning away business because they lack capacity, or hiring more people and watching profit per partner stay flat.

The old, big-name enterprise solutions don't work for most practices—they're expensive, complex, and still require manual work. Meanwhile, doing it in-house means your highest-paid staff are doing the lowest-value tasks.

Kintsugi CEO Pujun Bhatnagar sat down with CPA.com’s Senior Director of CAS Professional Services, Kim Blascoe, CPA; and Bradd Wildstein, VP of Global Channel Sales at Vertex, to discuss the unique challenges facing CAS and SALT practices today. 

"Sales tax has quietly become the single biggest operational risk for growing businesses globally," explained Pujun Bhatnagar, Kintsugi CEO and co-founder. That risk can pose an opportunity for CAS and SALT firms, but only if they’re able to deliver the service profitably. 

Here's what changes when firms automate the compliance execution and focus their teams on actual advisory: you can manage 3x more sales tax clients per advisor, charge premium fees for strategic work, and turn sales tax from a margin killer into a profit center. That's what this partnership makes possible.

Key challenges facing CAS/SALT today:

• Manual compliance work that doesn't scale 

• Low-value tasks consuming high-cost resources

• Limited capacity forcing you to turn away business

• Clients expecting strategic advice but paying for data entry

• Patchwork solutions creating gaps, errors, and liability risk

A Partnership That Delivers Trust and Innovation

Kintsugi has partnered with Vertex and CPA.com to bring together the best of both worlds: Vertex brings over a decade of enterprise-grade tax calculation expertise trusted by the world's largest companies. Kintsugi brings modern AI-powered automation without the enterprise price tag or six-month implementation timeline. CPA.com helps organizations unlock new revenue streams at scale.

"We've made a strategic decision and an investment in Kintsugi to offer AI-powered tax compliance,” said Bradd Wildstein. “This innovation is allowing firms to grow their service lines and provide more consultative services." 

The result is a multifaceted platform that shows where clients have exposure before it becomes a problem, automates the entire compliance lifecycle, and delivers total visibility, for smarter decision-making. For the first time, you don't have to choose between accuracy and accessibility.

The Paradigm Shift: From Compliance to Advisory

The accounting profession is experiencing a fundamental shift. Historically, state and local tax was a necessary evil: a reactive compliance function that firms handled only after problems arose. But that's changing. 

"SALT is becoming a meaningful advisory accelerant, especially when it's supported by integrated workflows and automation,” said CPA.com’s Kim Blescoe. "SALT insights like nexus, transaction exposure, and growth-related tax implications are most valuable when they're surfaced early." 

By leveraging AI-powered technology, firms can ensure sales tax is accurately collected while enhancing their connection to clients through advisory services. It's about taking advantage of this shift rather than being overwhelmed by it.

The new advisory model:

• SALT embedded in ongoing conversations, not downstream events

• Proactive exposure monitoring creates advisory opportunities

• Technology handles compliance; you provide strategic counsel

• Firms compete with larger practices without building SALT teams

The Hidden Costs of Manual Compliance

The average business filing in 15 states manually spends 8-12 hours per month on sales tax. That's $7,200-$10,800 annually just in labor. Add in nexus research, registrations, notice responses, and reconciliation, and you're looking at 150-200 hours per year—$11,250-$15,000 in labor costs.

Then layer in penalties ($400), underpayment fees ($500), overpayments never recovered ($1,200), and error reconciliation ($1,500). Add opportunity cost—controller time lost to strategic work ($8,000) and founder time lost to revenue generation ($15,000).

Total annual cost of manual compliance: $38,100.

One firm leader, Abir Syed, CPA, CFO and co-founder of UpCounting, spoke about his firm’s partnership with Kintsugi. 

"I actually don't go into the platform very much myself just because I don't really need to. Everything's just handled."

What the Partnership Delivers

Traditional solutions force firms to piece together multiple vendors. Each handoff is a place where things fall through the cracks. The Kintsugi and Vertex platform handles the entire lifecycle: real-time nexus monitoring across 50 states and 100+ countries, automated registrations, accurate calculations powered by Vertex's engine, automated filing and remittance, VDA support for back taxes, and audit-ready recordkeeping.

"By collaborating with Kintsugi and utilizing their AI-powered technology, we're empowering firms to ensure sales tax is accurately collected, and then enhance their connection to clients through advisory services,” said Bradd Wildstein.

Built for Firms

For accounting firms, the platform delivers real leverage. "What Kintsugi and Vertex have put together really levels the playing field for small to medium-sized firms," said Pujun Bhatnagar.

The platform lets you manage dozens or hundreds of clients without adding headcount, with all clients living on one dashboard. The platform centers on visibility into pending registrations, filings, and tasks. 

"Instead of having reactive conversations about SALT,” Pujun added. “You now have always-updating nexus studies and can have proactive conversations." 

UpCounting’s CFO Abir Syed captured the impact: "The support is fantastic. It's been easy to set up and easy to keep it rolling... The smartest thing you can do is figure out opportunities to take stuff off your plate and focus on the things that make you good." 

What you get:

• Enterprise accuracy without enterprise costs or complexity

• Manage 100+ clients from one dashboard

• Clear pricing with margin control—you decide how to bill

• Real-time exposure monitoring included free

The Advisory Opportunity

With data flowing automatically, you see in real time where clients have nexus and can have proactive conversations about compliance. This creates advisory leads, reduces audit risk, and keeps your firm at the center of the relationship.

Once compliance is automated, you focus on strategic work: nexus strategy for expansion, entity structuring, exposure assessments before funding rounds, cash flow forecasting, and audit defense. 

Final Takeaways

Sales tax compliance will never be exciting. But it doesn't have to be overwhelming, and it shouldn't prevent you from advising clients on their biggest growth opportunities.

The Kintsugi, Vertex, and CPA.com partnership delivers enterprise-level accuracy without enterprise costs or complexity. You get AI-powered automation that shows exposure before it becomes a problem. You get end-to-end compliance with clear pricing and responsive support.

As one firm owner noted, reducing complexity wherever possible has been the best way to scale successfully. Advisory is the future—a connected ecosystem where advisory, compliance, and tax automation work together seamlessly.