The Challenge:

Understanding the taxability of a multi-product bundled offering across all states

BODi, formerly Beachbody, has worked with TaxConnex since 2009 and prior to that worked with TaxConnex’s Founder’s previous company, Tax Partners. When founder, Robert Dumas, started TaxConnex in 2009, BODi, faced a substantial registration project. They needed to ensure they were registered in all the right states across a new entity and that the registrations were complete and accurate. Additionally, BODi needed a trusted partner to file all of the applicable state and local sales tax returns.

Over the years, BODi’s needs have changed and one of the key challenges BODi regularly faces consists of understanding the taxability of their ever-growing product offerings across their 4 entities. BODi is an expansive company that sells a mixture of products including supplements, streaming content, recipes, meal plans, meal replacement shakes and more. Because their products offer bundled pricing, and some items may be taxable while others are not, the question of taxability is quite complex.

BODi’s current sales tax compliance process must account for an abundance of state and local sales tax returns as well as understanding the nuances of taxability across the US and Canada.

“When you’re managing so many returns a month, across all the states and in Canada, there is a lot to keep up with to ensure all returns are filed and paid in a timely fashion,” explained Zerai Bahta, BODi’s Executive Director of Indirect Tax. “Small mistakes can happen with the amount of manual filing we have, but [our practitioner] doesn’t make those little mistakes. I’d give TaxConnex a 100% performance score.”

Why TaxConnex? 

Accurate. Honest. Efficient

“What sets TaxConnex apart for me is their responsiveness,” said Katie Amiri, BODi’s Senior Director of Indirect Tax, “I’ve never worked with someone as responsive to our needs as TaxConnex.”

Managing 4 entities across two countries with differing taxability rules in most states can be quite the burden for anyone to manage successfully, but BODi relies on TaxConnex because of their honesty, accuracy and reliability.

“I have been with 7-10 companies before BODi, and notices are always one of the greatest concerns for a company. It’s normal to receive 5+ notices a month,” explained Zerai, “but with TaxConnex we don’t have that. I can easily count the direct notices we’ve received over the last 5 years.”

The Results:

TaxConnex manages all of the state and local sales tax filings across multiple entities spanning both the US and Canada. Furthermore, BODi has TaxConnex conduct a taxability review of their products periodically. This ensures they stay on top of changing taxability rules and are able to adjust their processes, proactively, if needed.

“In comparison to other service providers we work with, TaxConnex is the most thorough and responsive. They are quick to address concerns and we aren’t having to send reminders to look at what we send them.” said Amiri. “We feel like a priority and that we truly have a partner in the process.”

As a longtime client of TaxConnex, BODi has witnessed TaxConnex’s evolution. Each practitioner that has worked as an extension of BODi’s team has maintained a high-level of service and responsiveness for them.

The practitioner – client partnership is a large part of why clients turn to TaxConnex. As a service provider rather than solely automated software, TaxConnex provides a human aspect to ensure questions are answered and filings are managed timely and accurately.

“It’s a great value for our company to be invested with TaxConnex,” explained Bahta. “You can find tax partners in a lot of places but every year we remind ourselves that the value we get from TaxConnex for what we pay is worth it.”

About BODi

BODi, formerly known as Beachbody, is headquartered in Southern California. BODi is a leading digital fitness, nutrition, and mindset subscription company with over two decades of creating innovative content and nutritional supplements designed to support and enrich strong health esteem. The Beachbody Company, Inc. is the parent company of BODi. For more information, please visit TheBeachbodyCompany.com.

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