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SmartRelate for CCH
(March 19, 2004)

SmartRelate is an indispensable tool for state tax research. Recently released on lexis.com, SmartRelate offers a series of links to relevant sources at the top of each affected document, allowing you to move seamlessly between your target document in CCH state tax reporters and related primary and analytical sources. With SmartRelate, instead of simply linking documents by their citation, CCH editors have skillfully selected which documents are actually related to each other regardless of their citation number. So now you'll have more relevant documents to review as you research.

Among the linked sources you will find on-point:

• CCH explanations

• Statutes

• Regulations

• Committee Reports

• Current developments (also called "cases and rulings")

• Related topics ("TopicConnect") (TopicConnect sources include pertinent documents within the state you are researching, as well as documents from other states.) 

Here's a sample scenario: 

Suppose you want to find an explanation of California's personal income tax law dealing with credit for taxes paid to another state by a California resident.  From there, you'd like to find related statutes. 

SOURCE:  CCH State Tax Reporter Explanations & Annotations (E-TOC format)  
PATH:  Tax Research Tasks page > Tax Publishers > CCH > State Taxes > CCH State Tax Reporters Compilations > CCH California State Tax Reporter Explanations & Annotations
ALTERNATE PATH:  Legal Tab > Secondary Legal > CCH > Taxation-State > State Tax Reporter by State > California > CCH California State Tax Reporter Explanations & Annotations

Drill down the E-TOC as follows:    

• Income Taxes, Personal

• Credits

• Credits for Taxes Paid Another State by Resident

• CCH EXPLANATION P 15-350

From CCH EXPLANATION P 15-350, you will see the following SmartRelate links at the top of the document:  Statutes, Regulations, CCH Explanations, Cases and Rulings and TopicConnect.   

Select Statutes.  You'll see the related statutes listed at the top of the report that's generated. 

Important Note:  No matter which link is selected, the same SmartRelate report is generated.  As a result, you will get the same complete report of related statutes, regulations, CCH explanations, cases & rulings from any given link.  The exception is with TopicConnect, which generates a separate report.

To return to CCH EXPLANATION P 15-350, simply click the back button or History.