(NBBJ) - Filing reports and paying taxes and fees for shipping wine directly to consumers across the country can take hours of staff time a month, but a new service from a software company powering the direct-shipping workflows of many North Coast wine producers claims to have cut that time to minutes by automating much of the process.

Colorado-based ShipCompliant on Wednesday launched AutoFile, designed to automatically file reports and submit payments to state governments.

For eight years since the landmark Granholm ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court opened the potential of direct wine shipping nationwide, the company has offered compliance reporting software tools, but until now it was up to the winery user to manually print reports or enter data into state websites then write or request checks for the 40 states that now allow shipping wine directly to consumers.

AutoFile is designed to link electronically with state computer systems or send paper reports. The winery gets a month-end email with a list of reports to be filed and payments made, allowing details to be corrected if situations changed after the time the order was placed, such as a consumer picking it up at the winery rather than having it delivered to another state.