Success Story - Carpenter Co.

Challenge

Covering 60 worldwide locations, Carpenter Co.’s three-person tax team was no stranger to pressure—but their legacy tax software pushed them to the limit. The team relied heavily on offline Excel workpapers, manually keying apportionment and taxable income data into a system that limited access to one user at a time. If two or three team members tried to work on the same entity for different states, one had to wait—creating constant bottlenecks and long nights. As a result, state filings lagged four to six weeks behind the federal return, collaboration was nearly impossible, and every cycle demanded tedious validation checks just to trust the numbers.

Disconnected processes also created major pain points in international and provision work. Separate spreadsheets for foreign entities and annualized rather than actual data at provision time led to inconsistencies and extra re-entry between systems. Manual tie-outs between returns and provision delayed every review and left the team unsure their results were accurate until the very end.

As Stephanie Jones, Manager, N.A. Income Tax, explained, “We spent so much time just making sure the numbers were right, we had no confidence until the very end—and by then, we were already behind.”

Solution

Carpenter implemented CSC Corptax^® Domestic Compliance and U.S. International Compliance, Provision, and Office to replace spreadsheets and disconnected systems with a single, integrated platform. The software immediately enabled real-time collaboration, automated data flow between compliance and provision, and end-to-end transparency across all entities.

With guidance from CSC Corptax^® Professional Services, the team configured the system to their specific needs—building knowledge to manage and enhance their environment independently long after go-live.

Using Corptax Office, they rebuilt their foreign tax packages so data for Forms 5471, 8858, and 8865 flowed directly into Corptax, automatically populating calculations across entities. They also took an innovative step—leveraging Corptax U.S. International Compliance to perform international provision calculations. Using the same data and mappings, they produced reports directly from the compliance module, giving reviewers and auditors full transparency and confidence in results, while cutting review time dramatically.

They further enhanced efficiency by updating provision mappings to accept actuals rather than estimates, ending the need to reenter data between systems. Built-in citations and diagnostics simplified internal and external reviews. When auditors questioned R&D apportionment, the team pulled the regulatory reference directly from Corptax to validate the result.

Trial balances and apportionment data now map smoothly between compliance and provision, creating consistent, audit-ready reports and eliminating manual reconciliation.

An added bonus: Corptax Professional Services and Corptax Support team members were always available to reinforce the team’s success, providing same-day assistance and often identifying additional time-savers along the way.

“Everyone at Corptax was so responsive and we love the system. The software is totally logical and works exactly how you’d expect. It’s helped us in so many ways!” said Jones.

Results

The CFO praised the team’s accuracy and speed following a standout filing season. Automation and connected workflows transformed Carpenter’s process from stressful and reactive to fast, assured, and controlled—combining real-time collaboration, automated calculations, and integrated data to:

• Cut filing time from ~6 weeks to a few days. Carpenter filed their federal return before October 15 and ~30 state returns a few days later—something unthinkable before Corptax.

• Boost collaboration and confidence. All users now work in Corptax simultaneously, filing faster and reviewing together with complete trust in results.

• Achieve accuracy across every entity. Automated templates now push data straight from foreign packages into returns, complete with diagnostics and authoritative references.

• Resolve audit questions in minutes vs. days. Built-in transparency and immediate data access let the team confirm calculations instantly and respond to auditors and internal stakeholders quickly.

• Eliminate rekeying and reconciliations. Shared data between compliance and provision ensures consistency and accuracy across every entity.

• Free time for strategic work. With automation handling prep and tie-outs, the team focuses on acquisitions, audits, and executive analysis.

• Build a scalable, future-ready platform. System automation and integrated data built a solid foundation for their upcoming BEPS and Pillar 2 implementation.

Mid-season, Carpenter’s new system faced an unexpected stress test: a major acquisition added 30 new returns just before the filing deadline as one team member prepared to take a temporary leave. Thanks to Corptax automation and shared access, the remaining team filed every new return on time without adding outside help. The experience proved how scalable and resilient their new environment had become, even under extraordinary pressure.

As Stephanie Jones sums up, “This season felt completely different. We filed so much faster and finally had time to focus on analysis and improvement instead of just keeping up.”