EPAM Systems is a U.S. headquartered multinational and NYSE listed technology company specializing in digital platform engineering, software development, and product design. Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Newtown, Pennsylvania, EPAM serves clients across more than 50 countries around North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
For a US stock-listed multinational like EPAM Systems, Pillar Two compliance did not begin with the first GIR filing deadline. It began more than a year earlier, when quarterly reporting obligations required the tax team to calculate and disclose expected top-up tax exposure well before any return was due. By the time FY2024 filings came around, the team was managing GIR, QDMTT and other filing obligations across roughly 27 countries.
The challenge: filing requirements were still taking shape
Laszlo Icsu, Senior Director, Head of Tax Europe, APAC & CEE at EPAM Systems, had a clear picture of what the OECD framework required and where the data needed to come from, primarily CbCR reporting and local financial statements for QDMTT entities.
The real challenge was that filing infrastructure in individual countries was still being built while the deadline approached. Hungary, EPAM’s designated filing location for the GIR, released its API protocols and filing gateway only a few weeks before the deadline. There was also a scope challenge before there was a filing challenge. As Pillar Two requirements continued to develop across jurisdictions, two months out from the deadline, EPAM’s tax team did not yet have a full picture of how many jurisdictions it needed to report in, or which filing types applied where.
“
Without that structured view across all the countries, I would have felt lost in the updates and the details. Twenty-seven countries is not something I could have tracked on my own.
Laszlo Icsu
Senior Director, Head of Tax Europe, APAC & CEE, EPAM Systems
”
Orbitax: A trusted starting point for a new compliance obligation
EPAM’s relationship with Orbitax predates its Pillar Two work by several years, starting with Orbitax’s International Tax Research solution and later expanding to Entity Management. GIR and CbC compliance became the newest layer on a platform the tax team already relied on. That continuity mattered heading into Pillar Two. Rather than building a new system to handle GIR and QDMTT filing, EPAM extended a platform already embedded in its reporting processes.
To close the scope gap, the team used XatBot, Orbitax’s built-in AI copilot, to build an initial view of its global filing obligations, surfacing which countries required a GIR, a QDMTT return, or both, ahead of the compliance push.
“
Two months before filing, I wasn’t even aware of how many countries we needed to report in. I used the Orbitax XatBot AI function to build a dashboard just to understand what we were actually facing for FY2024.
Laszlo Icsu
Senior Director, Head of Tax Europe, APAC & CEE, EPAM Systems
”
From scope mapping to filing execution
With obligations mapped, the work shifted to execution, tracking form status and keeping pace with a compliance landscape that kept moving throughout the season. Orbitax’s structured, jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction filing forms library gave the team one place to see which forms had been prepared, which were outstanding, and which needed attention, across all 27 countries at once.
For jurisdictions where machine-to-machine transmission was already live, EPAM could complete the full local filing workflow within Orbitax, preparing, validating, and submitting returns directly from the platform to the relevant tax authority. This helped maintain a centralized view of the filing process.
Orbitax XatBot AI also supported the team’s technical validation process during GIR preparation. Before submission, EPAM ran XML schema validation checks to identify any issues within the return. The platform’s validation panel provided a detailed list of errors, and the ‘Go to Field’ button allowed them to navigate directly to the affected field, making it easier to locate and correct issues.
For additional guidance, EPAM used the Ask XatBot button directly from the validation panel. XatBot provided explanations of the error, additional background on the issue, and guidance on potential resolutions. Together, the validation tools and AI-assisted support helped simplify a highly technical review process and accelerate preparation for submission.
“
When I built the GIR and needed to validate it before filing, I could ask the XatBot AI to explain what the validation was checking and how to resolve any issues. In most cases that was genuinely useful.
Laszlo Icsu
Senior Director, Head of Tax Europe, APAC & CEE, EPAM Systems
”
The outcome: nearly all filings completed, with extensions still open
By the time of the interview, EPAM had completed nearly all FY2024 Pillar Two filings due across 27 countries, including GIRs, QDMTT returns, zero-liability returns, and notifications, with only jurisdictions subject to official deadline extensions still open..
What EPAM’s filing season demonstrates
EPAM’s experience shows what a platform built for the full scope of Pillar Two compliance looks like in practice, not just for calculation, but for the operational reality of tracking dozens of jurisdictions with different forms, different technical requirements, and different timelines in the same filing season.
A single, structured filing library made a 27-country season trackable instead of chaotic. XatBot closed a scope and visibility gap before the team had even finished mapping its obligations, and continued to support the team through XML validation once returns were ready to file. And an existing platform relationship, built over several years across research, entity management, and now Pillar Two and CbC compliance, meant EPAM extended a system it already trusted rather than adopting something new under deadline pressure.
The team’s own advice for others heading into their first full Pillar Two filing season reflects that experience directly.
“
My main suggestion is to start well before the deadline, and to actually understand what you’re facing. I started on the data and the top-up tax calculations about a year and a half before the filing itself, and that gave us enough lead time.
Laszlo Icsu
Senior Director, Head of Tax Europe, APAC & CEE, EPAM Systems
”
How Orbitax supports Pillar Two filings
The Orbitax International Tax Platform provides end-to-end support for the Pillar Two compliance lifecycle, from calculations and GIR population through XML validation and filing tracking across every jurisdiction in scope. Current capabilities include 169 Pillar Two forms across jurisdictions worldwide, a centralized filing library with real-time status tracking, built-in XML schema validation aligned to OECD and jurisdiction-specific requirements, and XatBot, a built-in AI copilot available throughout the platform to help tax teams scope obligations, interpret validation results, and stay oriented across a multi-country filing season.
Interested to learn more?
If you would like to explore how Orbitax can support your Pillar Two compliance efforts, please contact us using the details below:
Jeroen van Asch
Global Head of Sales & Partnerships
+31 6 42213812