Being strapped for cash in a crisis is a painful situation. Thankfully, Acima helps shoppers get what they need when they need it by offering lease options at thousands of stores in person and online. Customers can shop easily from their mobile app with flexible lease to own options on furniture, electronics, and even car repairs. They’ve opened up opportunities for people across the country to have access to the items they want and need without getting tangled up in credit.
The combination of mobile shopper and approved local businesses has given Acima the ability to rapidly grow into new markets with fewer obstacles along the way. However, managing sales tax compliance for a growing business presents its own challenges. Without consistent oversights, Acima was collecting more problems than solutions, including audits, unpaid sales, and increasing liabilities.
“Sales tax across all 50 states is so niche, building in-house means the impossible task of finding and hiring true sales tax experts, and living with the risk that they can leave your employ at any time, taking domain knowledge with them and leaving you in a lurch.”
-Nate Heward | former CFO | Acima
One of the biggest problems that companies face with managing sales tax compliance is a lack of customer support. Whether you are relying on software support teams or an outsourcing team, businesses are often left high and dry, looking for a more confident source of support.
Acima was in such a situation. Their sales tax software couldn’t keep up with their growth and their customer service requests went unanswered. Unfortunately, the longer their problems went unchecked, the larger they became.
Knowing things were becoming increasingly problematic, the Acima team started looking for alternatives that could meet their needs. They came across Peisner Johnson, who stepped in immediately to slow the compounding problems caused by their lack of compliance.
“Peisner is a Godsend. We were always fully automated via API with realtime rates and third-party file and pay, that was the easy find. The complete service…that is the unicorn find.”
-Nate Heward | former CFO | Acima
When Peisner Johnson partnered with Acima in February 2019, they were given the green light to tackle the growing problem of non-compliance and sales tax liabilities. They registered them in all the states and jurisdictions where they met economic nexus, including those they hadn’t even realized were missing their sales tax responsibilities.
Thankfully, the Peisner Johnson team knew exactly what to do to reduce liabilities and save the Acima team hundreds of thousands of dollars. They were able to get them compliant in over 240 state and local jurisdictions in the US and Canada!
One of the most significant advantages to the Peisner Johnson-Acima partnership was the ability of the sales tax team to integrate into Acima’s internal teams and processes. They coached team members on how to use and optimize their existing software so it better met their needs.
Even more importantly, the Peisner Johnson team operated like a trusted team member who regularly checked in and answered questions. Acima confidently handed off all sales tax responsibilities to Peisner Johnson so they could turn their teams’ focus on growth and customer support.
By December 2020, Acima had reached $1.25 billion in revenue and was acquired by Rent-A-Center for $1.65 billion. Peisner Johnson had become so indispensable to Acima’s success that they were brought on to manage sales tax compliance for Rent-A-Center’s over 2,000 locations, as well.
