Research Initiative 2026 · Reclaiming margin, SALES & USE Tax CLARITY

Help identify the gap between use-tax-silent overcharges and speed at B2B checkout

We’re interviewing business owners and CFOs at small and mid-size businesses that buy from other B2B companies, about how they manage tax exemption certificates on online B2B portals: manual vs automated validation, audit risk, and checkout friction. In return, you’ll receive your choice of reward and early access to an anonymized “2026 State of B2B Use-Tax Online Journey” white paper.

Time commitment: a 30-minute research interview, scheduled at your convenience.

Choose your reward

  • $25 digital gift card (Direct Reward)

  • $250 credit toward TaxCSA professional services (Strategic Credit)

  • Access to the anonymized “2026 State of B2B Portal – sales and use tax journew” white paper (Intel)

You’ll select one option when we confirm your interview slot.

What we’re exploring

  • Current tax-exempt procurement cash leakage or "silent overcharges"

  • Manual vs automated certificate validation

  • Internal controls, audit readiness, and risk tolerances

  • Pain points for other CFOs and Business Owners

  • Wish‑list capabilities for future portal and checkout tools to impact EBITDA

All findings are aggregated and anonymized. No company or individual will be named in research outputs.

Research analysis to map real-world processes, no sales pitch. TaxCSA is sponsoring the research. Your feedback directly impacts the understanding of current capabilities and gaps for B2B sales and use tax-exemption. Participants will receive an anonymized summary of findings and peer benchmarks.

Who we’re looking to interview

Leaders responsible for B2B portal tax compliance

We are seeking a select group of Owners, CFOs, and VPs of Finance who oversee companies with significant B2B procurement activity. Ideal participants are small and mid-size businesses that manage online purchases and where vendor-applied sales tax is a recurring cost of doing business.

You’re a strong fit if

If you’re unsure whether you’re a fit, you can still submit the form—we’ll confirm eligibility before scheduling.

  • Your company frequently purchases raw materials, heavy equipment, or inventory from a diverse online vendor base

  • You operate or purchase in at least one U.S. state or across multiple state lines, creating a high volume of varying exemption requirements

  • You are interested in reducing the "back-and-forth" between your purchasing team and your vendors' credit departments

  • You want to ensure that if an audit occurred today, your "Use Tax" accruals and exemption documentation would stand up to scrutiny without manual cleanup

  • You’re at a small or mid-size company

Why your perspective matters

Most research on tax compliance focuses on large enterprises. We’re intentionally centering small and mid-size businesses that:

Your input will directly influence how next‑generation tools provide frictionless B2B checkout for organizations like yours.

  • Understand The EBITDA Impact: As a decision-maker, you understand how "Silent Overcharges" (paying sales tax when you shouldn't) act as a direct leakage of net profit

  • Your insights will help us define journeys to determine if your procurement process is creating a use tax liability or how can your team to handle 10x the volume of vendors without adding tax or administrative staff

  • Juggle manual workarounds across teams

  • Benchmarking: learn how other companies are empowering their buyers to get tax right the first time

How it works

Simple, confidential, and built around your schedule

We keep the process lightweight for you while ensuring we capture enough detail to make the insights genuinely useful for the SME community.

Step 1

Share a few details

Use the form below to tell us about your business, your B2B online purchases journey, and a few filter questions We’ll use this only to confirm eligibility and segment insights.

Step 2

Join a 30–min interview

We’ll schedule a video call at a time that suits you. A research consultant will walk through your current tax-exempt process, systems, and pain points—no prep work required.

Step 3

Receive your reward & insights

After the interview is complete, you’ll choose your reward (gift card or TaxCSA credit), and we’ll share the anonymized 2026 white paper as soon as it’s published.

Participant rewards

Select the reward that best fits your priorities

Every qualified participant who completes an interview receives one of the options below, plus the anonymized 2026 white paper for benchmarking your team and processes.

Option 1 · Direct Reward

$25 digital gift card

A straightforward thank‑you for your time. Delivered electronically after you complete the interview + processing time, with flexible redemption options.

Best for: leaders who prefer a simple, personal incentive.

Option 2 · Strategic Credit

$250 TaxCSA services credit

Apply this sponsored credit toward TaxCSA professional services or 1 hour of consulting — https://www.taxcsa.com/services.

Best for: Teams planning to improve tax‑exempt workflows or prepare for audits in the next 12–18 months.

Intel

2026 State of B2B Portal white paper

All participants receive an anonymized report aggregating insights across the cohort, including benchmarks on certificate collection, automation, and risk posture.

Best for: Leaders who value external benchmarks and want to see how their team compares to peer SMEs or their broader industry segment.

You’ll confirm your preferred reward at the end of the session.

Anonymized, practitioner‑led research

Interviews are conducted by experienced researchers. We focus on workflows, decisions, and outcomes—not sensitive financials or customer lists.

  • Your company name and individual identity will not appear in any published materials
  • Findings are aggregated across multiple participants before sharing
  • You can decline to answer any question during the conversation
  • We’re happy to sign your NDA upon request before the session

If you have compliance or legal review steps, you can indicate that in the form and we’ll coordinate accordingly.

About the sponsors

DragonflyAI Consulting is focused on customer experience, process optimization, and value-driven solutions for SMEs.

TaxCSA is a specialized tax consultancy that partners with growing businesses on exemption certificate strategy, state and local tax, and audit readiness.

Together, we’re using this research to better serve SMEs and enterprises dealing with real‑world tax‑exempt complexity.

Note: This initiative is exploratory and non‑sales. You will not be pitched software or services during the research conversation.

Register your interest for a 2026 research interview

Share a few details about you and your organization. We’ll follow up within 2 business days to confirm eligibility and schedule your session.

What we’ll ask about

  • Your company ops, team, and internal stakeholders

  • How tax‑exempt purchases are made, and how check out is working today

  • How you validate and store certificates

  • Where manual work is slowing teams or causing risk

  • How you evaluate or use automation and tax engines

We will not ask for confidential customer names, exact revenue by state, or other information you’re not comfortable sharing.

Have multiple colleagues who should join? Mention that in the form, and we’ll coordinate a joint or follow‑up session.

Questions about the 2026 research initiative

If you don’t see your question here, share it in the form and we’ll respond before finalizing your participation.

Is this a sales call in disguise?

No. This initiative is dedicated to research. The session is structured as a guided interview with a research consultant, not a product demonstration. You will not be asked to buy software or services during the call. If you later want to learn more about tal Checkout or TaxCSA, that can be scheduled separately.

How will my data be used?

Your responses will be combined with insights from other small and mid-size businesses to identify trends, challenges, and best practices. Any published materials (such as the 2026 State of B2B Portal white paper) will only include aggregated and anonymized data. We will not attribute quotes, metrics, or examples to you or your company without explicit written permission.

Who should attend from our side?

We recommend the person most responsible for tax‑exempt compliance in your B2B channel, typically in tax, accounting, finance, or eCommerce/revenue operations. If your process spans multiple teams, we welcome a joint session (for example, tax + eCommerce + IT). You can indicate this in the form so we schedule enough time.

What if we’re early in our tax‑exempt journey?

That’s valuable input. We want to hear from organizations at all stages—from managing everything in spreadsheets and email, to those that have implemented tax engines and automated certificate validation. Understanding where you are today and where you hope to go is a key part of the research.

Can we participate if we’re outside the U.S.?

Yes, especially if you sell into the U.S. or Canada, or operate a global B2B portal that has to account for different tax and exemption regimes. In the form, indicate your key markets so we can balance the cohort across regions.