How Numeral is Automating Sales Tax Compliance

E-commerce tax platform eliminates manual work with Browserbase's AI-powered browser automation

---

Numeral has transformed sales tax compliance for e-commerce businesses by automating the tedious process of managing state tax portals. Using Browserbase and Stagehand, Numeral is eliminating days of manual scripting work while building reliable automation across dozens of different government systems. They’re only just beginning.

The sales tax challenge

E-commerce businesses selling across multiple states face a compliance nightmare. Each state has different tax rules, rates, and filing requirements. Companies must maintain active registrations in every state where they have tax obligations, file returns on varying schedules, and navigate dozens of unique government portals.

Before Numeral, businesses relied on accountants to manually handle each state's requirements - or worse, didn't realize they had compliance issues at all. Those who tried to stay compliant spent hours logging into different portals, checking for updates, and filing returns.

"Sales tax can be different for different items, and different states have different rules and regulations," explains Watson, an engineer from the Numeral team. "We're helping companies work through all that with a white-glove service that keeps their compliance to just five minutes a month."

Numeral's automation challenge

Numeral set out to automate the entire sales tax compliance workflow. Each state has its own unique portal with different login flows, two-factor authentication methods, and filing processes.

The Numeral team needed to:

• Verify client credentials across 48 different state portals
• Handle diverse two-factor authentication systems
• Add Numeral as an authorized user for notifications
• Automate tax filing submissions

Initially, they explored building these automations with Playwright scripts. But the complexity quickly became apparent - each portal would require extensive custom code to handle its unique quirks and authentication flows.

Enter → Browserbase and Stagehand

Browserbase's AI-powered automation changed everything. Instead of writing complex scripts for each state portal, Numeral could use natural language prompts to navigate these systems.

"Having the AI capabilities now with Stagehand definitely made it a lot easier. We're writing less code to achieve more," Watson notes. "Creating the Browserbase and Stagehand automation saved days worth of work that would have been manual Playwright scripting."

The migration proved transformative:

• Natural language automation: Instead of specifying DOM selectors, Numeral uses prompts to navigate portals
• Easier maintenance: AI adapts to DOM changes without code updates
• Built-in resilience: Handles authentication flows and portal variations automatically

Why Browserbase stood out

While evaluating options, Browserbase distinguished itself through exceptional support and ease of implementation.

"The excellent customer service and how responsive you guys were to any issues really made you stand out. We had an issue come up late Friday night and you resolved it that evening."

The combination of powerful technology and responsive support sealed the deal. Numeral could focus on building their product instead of wrestling with browser infrastructure.

Scaling tax automation nationwide

Today, Numeral is systematically automating state tax portals across the country. They've started with implementations and will be expanding rapidly.

The impact so far:

• Development time saved: Days of manual scripting work eliminated per portal
• Maintenance simplified: AI-powered automation adapts to portal changes
• Team focus: Engineers building product features instead of maintaining scripts
• Customer experience: Reliable automation replacing error-prone manual processes

"We're hoping to have a bunch of it automated by the end of this year. It's super promising right now," Watson shares.

Numeral's success demonstrates how modern browser automation can tackle even the most complex, regulated workflows. By choosing Browserbase, they transformed a manual process into reliable automation that scales.

---

Ready to automate your tax compliance workflows? Start with Browserbase