Federal Tax Research for Beginners

I. INTRODUCTION

Tax Research depends largely on two main tax loose-leaf services: CCH's Standard Federal Tax Reporter and RIA's United States Tax Reporter. Each of these services provide the current statutory and regulatory language of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) and IRS regulations, as well as explanations, analysis, and case annotations. These two services will generally be the place to start any tax research.

II. INTERNAL REVENUE CODE (IRC): 26 U.S.C.

Prior to 1939, the tax laws of the U.S. were set forth in "Revenue Acts". Beginning with the Revenue Act of 1913, every few years another Revenue Act was passed that superseded its predecessor, reenacting provisions still in effect and amending or adding provisions as needed.

In 1939, Congress passed the Internal Revenue Code of 1939, containing the statutes of the U.S. relating exclusively to internal revenue. Since 1939 the tax laws have been recodified twice: in 1954 and again in 1986. When doing tax research you need to know which IRC you should be checking.

There are several "parallel tables" available to check through the three codifications to see if a certain provision has changed sections. Both the CCH and RIA services have tables in their "Code" volumes.

{Research tip: The version of the IRC you will need to consult will depend on when the original controversy occurred; e.g., if you are involved in litigation arising from a tax matter which occured in 1985, the controlling law would be the 1954 code.}

III. REGULATIONS: 26 C.F.R.

IRS regulations are published first in the Federal Register (initially as proposed regulations and later in final form). These regulations are codified annually in Title 26 of the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.). Final and temporary regulations are issued as Treasury Decisions (T.D.'s). Each T.D. begins with a preamble, which provides discussion of the regulations and will often discuss the reason for any changes from the previous versions. The preamble also included the name and phone number of the IRS contact for further information. The preambles to the final and proposed regulations are important sources of regulatory intent.

Sometimes a proposed regulation will be issued simultaneously with a temporary regulation; this allows the IRS to gather comments, etc., at the same time as giving the practitioner guidance. The temporary regulations constitute authority and should be treated as such.

Sources of Regulations
1. CFR (Official)

chapter 1: Income Tax
chapter 301: Procedure & Administration
chapter 601: IRS Procedural Rules

2. Looseleaf Services (Unofficial)

• CCH Standard Federal Tax Reporter, NYUL KR50 A125

• RIA United States Tax Reporter, NYUL KR50 A12 1992 (Duplicate copies of both services shelved at B2 RESERVE)

3. Cumulative Bulletin: final and temporary regulations (T.D.'s).

IV. ADMINISTRATIVE MATERIAL

The Internal Revenue Bulletin (IRB) is a weekly publication of the IRS. It is cumulated bi-annually in the Cumulative Bulletin (CB). It generally consists of 2 vols./year except in years where there has been major tax legislation, when they may publish additional volumes which contain legislative history materials. The CB includes Treasury Decisions, Revenue Rulings, Revenue Procedures, and other notices. Finding lists are found in front of each volume. NYUL KR51 A148

A. Official Published Documents

1. Treasury Decisions: T.D.'s are first issued as proposed and final regulations in the Federal Register and are codified at 26 CFR. T.D.'s are also published in the IRB/CB. They are issued by the Secretary of the Treasury. Preambles to the regulations provide textual discussion as to why they are considered necessary.

2. Revenue Rulings: Issued by the IRS (not Sectary of Treasury) these rulings do not have force or effect of regulations, but provide precedents and illustrate the current position of the IRS. These rulings are not published in proposed form. Published in: Internal Revenue Bulletin, Cumulative Bulletin

3. Revenue Procedures: Also published by the IRS, they are directive in nature. Published in: Internal Revenue Bulletin, Cumulative Bulletin

4. Announcements, Information Releases, Notices, Delegation Orders, IRS Acquiescence and Nonacquiescence: When the IRS loses an issue in Tax Court, the IRS Commissioner has the option of agreeing or disagreeing with the Court's decision. Acquiescence/Nonacquiescence will often indicate the Commissioner's intention to appeal. Every Tax Court case should be cite checked to see if there has been an Acq./Nonacq. Published in: Internal Revenue Bulletin, Cumulative Bulletin (not all)

B. Official Internal Documents

1. Private Letter Rulings (PLR's or LTR's) & Technical Advice Memorandums (TAM's): Private Letter Rulings are a written response to a taxpayer, pre-audit in nature, by the IRS National Office interpreting a specific set of facts. Letter rulings are given file numbers (e.g., Doc. 9511022), of which the first two digits indicate the year, the next two the week of issuance and the remaining numbers indicate the order of issuance for the particular week.

Technical Advice Memoranda (TAM's) use the same numbering system, but contain advice or guidance from the IRS National Office to an IRS District Director Appeals Officer, usually as part of an audit situation.

Letter rulings and Technical Advice Memoranda released prior to mid-March 1977, when texts of letter rulings became available through commercial publishers (beginning with PLR 77711001) are only available online or at the IRS. Published in: CCH IRS Letter Ruling Reporter; NYUL KR51 A165

LEXIS & WESTLAW (must use for pre-1977 LR's)

2. GCM's, AOD's, & TM's

GCM: General Counsel Memoranda, issued by the IRS Office of Chief Counsel for reasoning and authority underlying Revenue Rulings.

AOD: Action on Decision, a legal memo prepared by IRS counsel to indicate whether IRS Commissioner should acquiesce or not acquiesce in a Tax Court decision.

TM: Transmittal Memo., prepared to accompany published regulations. (Some discussion is also reflected in the published preamble to the regulation).

Published in:- CCH IRS Positions Reporter (NYU does not own)

LEXIS & WESTLAW (must use for pre-1981 material)

3. Internal Revenue Manual

A cumbersome compilation of instructions promulgated by the IRS for guidance of its employees. There are 13 major divisions, called "Parts", of the Manual. Nine of these "Parts" are published by a commercial vendor, most of the rest are available either online or at the IRS. Parts I, V-XI are published in the CCH Internal Revenue Manual Administration volumes, Part IV (Audit & Investigation) is published in the CCH Internal Revenue Manual Audit volumes.

Published in:

CCH Internal Revenue Manual NYUL KR53 7C55 I5

LEXIS

V. CASE LAW

A. OFFICIAL REPORTERS: Concurrent jurisdiction lies with the U.S. District Courts, U.S. Claims Court, and the U.S. Tax Court. If the claim is filed at the District or Claims court, the disputed tax must be paid first. If the claim is filed at the Tax Court, the disputed tax does not have to be paid first. District and Tax Court cases are appealed to the Court of Appeals. Claims court cases are appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Published in:

• a) Board of Tax Appeals (BTA) {Predates Tax Court; precedes Tax Court Reports}

• b) Tax Court Reports (T.C.)

• c) Federal Reporter, Federal Supplement

B. UNOFFICIAL REPORTERS: Tax Court Memoranda Decisions are not published officially but are available through CCH and RIA Tax Court services. The AFTR (RIA) and USTC (CCH) are merely reprints of published federal tax cases.

Published in:

• a) Board of Tax Appeals Memoranda Decisions (P-H/RIA)

• b) Tax Court Memoranda Decisions (CCH & RIA)

• c) American Federal Tax Reports (P-H/RIA) (AFTR, AFTR2d)

• d) U.S. Tax Cases - USTC (CCH)

VI. SECONDARY MATERIALS

A. CITATORS

Shepard's and RIA (formerly P-H) use syllabus numbers (i.e., head notes) to indicate issues addressed by later cases and letter symbols (e.g., "r" for reversed) to indicate judicial commentary; CCH does not. Both CCH and RIA are arranged by taxpayer name in alphabetical order, Shepard's follows its traditional format of reporter citations.

B. LOOSE LEAF SERVICES, ENCYCLOPEDIAS & TREATISES

1. Code Approach

• CCH Standard Federal Tax Reporter

• RIA U.S. Tax Reporter

• USCA/USCS - Title 26

• BNA Tax Management Portfolios - Code Section Index

2. Topical Approach/General Reference Treatises

• BNA Tax Management Portfolios
  B2 RESERVE KF6289 .A1 T35U

• Little, Brown Tax Practice Series
  B2 RESERVE KF6297 .A45L5

• Mertens, Law of Federal Income Taxation
  B2 RESERVE NYUL KR53 M36 L2

• CCH Federal Tax Service
  B2 RESERVE NYUL KR50 A1217

• Bittker & Lokken, Federal Taxation of Income, Estates & Gifts
  B2 RESERVE NYUL KR53 B47 E3 1989

3. Special Subject Treatises

C. PERIODICAL INDEXES

• Federal Tax Articles (CCH)
  NYUL KR52 A1 C65 F3

• Index to Federal Tax Articles (WG&L)
  NYUL KR53 G523 I6

D. CURRENT AWARENESS

These daily and weekly newsletters are an important source of current information for the tax practitioner. They report on and analyze current developments in federal and state tax including regulations, legislation, policies, agency releases, court decisions, etc.

1. Daily Newsletters

• a) Daily Tax Report (BNA) : available separately as part of the Daily Executive Report B2 RESERVE NYUL KR52 B76 D2

• b) Highlights & Documents (Tax Analysts)

2. Weekly Newsletters

• a) Tax Notes (Tax Analysts) B2 RESERVE NYUL KR52 T2776

• b) Newsletters from the Loose leaf Services (e.g., "Taxes on Parade" from the CCH Standard Federal Tax Reports.

3. Periodicals (Selected titles)

• Tax Law Review (NYU School of Law)
  NYUL KR52 T275

• Taxes, the Tax Magazine (CCH)
  NYUL KR52 T29

• Journal of Taxation (WG&L)
  NYUL KR52 J67

• Tax Lawyer (Georgetown Univ. Law School/ABA)
  NYUL KR52 T277

• Florida Tax Review
  NYUL KR52 F56

VII. ONLINE/CD-ROM SERVICES

A. ONLINE SERVICES: Refer to subject-specific research guides published by vendors.

• WESTLAW

• LEXIS

B. CD-ROM PRODUCTS

1. Services available at NYU Law Library:

a) RIA On point

• Federal Tax Coordinator 2d

• Federal Tax Handbook

• Internal Revenue Code

• Federal Tax Regulations

• Weekly Alert

• Master Topic Index

• IRS Rulings (current only)

• Estate Gift Tax Tables

• 1993 Revenue Reconciliation Act & Committee Reports

• Tax Treaties

b) RIA State & Local Taxes

2. Other Services:

• a) CCH Standard Federal Tax Reports

• b) CCH Internal Revenue Manual

• c) BNA Tax Management Portfolios

Prepared by Jay A. Shuman, Reference Librarian, New York University Law Library.

{Adapted from The Process of Legal Research: Tax Research; A Training Program Held in Celebration of the National Legal Research Teach-In, April 17-23, 1994; West Publishing Corporation}