Clete Werts

The through-line

Werts keeps returning to a single observation: sales tax touches nearly every business, and almost nobody involved wants to handle it. Clients "don't know sales tax, and they don't want to know sales tax," and there is "kind of a fear of of how do I deal with sales tax?" [1]. Accountants and bookkeepers often do not want to know it either, yet the client relationship still sits with them. His answer is to build the compliance function as a managed service that absorbs the whole job rather than a tool that hands the work back, and to slot that service in behind whichever party the client already trusts [1].

On why sales tax needs to be managed, not just calculated

Werts frames the scope of the problem as end to end rather than a calculation engine: ZAMP was started "to automate and manage sales tax for businesses," covering "calculations all the way to filing to notice management to registrations," with a dedicated research team addressing product taxability, meaning how different products or services are taxed [1]. He sees the market as universal, spanning "wholesale to direct to consumer," which is why he positions the service at accountants and CPAs as a way to address their clients' needs rather than only at end businesses [1].

The differentiator he names is accountability for results. "We own the outcome. So it's not just about giving information, but we own the execution and the actual outcome" [1]. In practice that means the registration is done right, the filing is on time, and details like early filing discounts are managed on the client's behalf. He puts it flatly: "We're not just here to help you. We're here to execute and make sure that we own we own the result" [1].

On partnering with tax professionals

Werts describes two deliberately different models, chosen by what matters most to the firm. The first is a straight referral partnership: the accountant sends the client over, ZAMP's sales team understands the requirements and signs them up, and the client is taken care of directly [1]. The second is a white-label service, which he says has gained "a ton of traction with this over the last couple years" [1]. There, the firm keeps the relationship and the support role while ZAMP performs calculation, registration, nexus monitoring and filing on the back end, and, as he puts it, "the clients don't know we exist" [1].

He is clear that these are not mutually exclusive. Some partners do both, deciding case by case based on complexity and the platforms a client is on [1]. The white-label route he characterises as the option for a firm that wants to "set up a sales tax practice within your organization," offering the service without having to build the expertise [1].

Takeaways

• Sales tax is close to universal across business models, from wholesale to direct to consumer, which makes it a compliance need that touches almost every client [1].
• The service scope Werts describes runs from calculation and registration through nexus monitoring, filing and notice management, plus research into product taxability [1].
• His stated differentiator is ownership of the result: "we own the execution and the actual outcome," including on-time filing and early filing discounts [1].
• Firms can either refer clients directly to ZAMP or use a white-label arrangement where ZAMP executes in the background and the accountant keeps the client relationship and support role [1].
• Some partners use both models, choosing between them based on client complexity and the platforms involved [1].
• Werts sees both clients and their accountants avoiding sales tax out of unfamiliarity and fear, which is the gap the managed-service model is designed to fill [1].