A. U.S. Federal Tax
A lot of U.S. tax information is now free on the Internet - check out the IRS Web Site and the ABA's Tax Law Index. Also, most tax-related materials are available on Lexis, Westlaw (and WestlawTax), various CD-ROMs (e.g., from CCH) and the fee-based subscription databases: RIA's CheckPoint, CCH's Intelliconnect and Tax Analysts' Federal Research Library.
Court Opinions: In addition to being published with all the other opinions of each particular court, tax-related judicial opinions are collected on Westlaw (FTX-CS) back to 1789, the Federal Research Library back to 1913 and Checkpoint. See also "United States Tax Court."
Looseleaf Services: Leading tax looseleaf services include RIA's Federal Tax Coordinator and the CCH Standard Federal Tax Reporter. The RIA service is organized by subject, while the CCH is organized by IRC Section. The RIA service is available electronically on Checkpoint, while the CCH is on Lexis (CCH;CCHTAX) and the Intelliconnect.
CCH also publishes an Estate and Gift Tax Reporter and an Excise Tax Reporter, each available as a looseleaf or on Intelliconnect.
Legislation: Most Federal tax legislation is available through the general sources (see "Federal Bills," "Public Laws," "Federal Legislative History," etc. You generally can keep track of tax legislation by following or searching the tax news (see below).
The Internal Revenue Code is sold as a separate title, but you'll also find it as Title 26 in all versions of the United States Code (see "United States Code") and through the electronic tax databases (Lexis, Westlaw, Intelliconnect, Checkpont and the Federal Reserch Library). See also "Internal Revenue Code and Regulations."
Legislative History: The legislative history of Federal tax laws is similar to the legislative history of tax laws. See the entry on
"Federal Legislative History" for general information. In addition, you can find tax legislative history materials published in the following sets in larger the law libraries:
- Seidman's Legislative History of Federal Income Tax Laws, 1938-1861 (The Lawbook Exchange);
- Seidman's Legislative History of Federal Income and Excess Profits Tax Laws, 1953-1939 (Prentice Hall);
- A Guide and Analytical Index to the Internal Revenue Acts of the United States, 1909-1950 (W.S. Hein & Co.);
- Legislative History of Federal Income and Excess Profits Tax Laws, 1953-1939 (Prentice Hall);
- Internal Revenue Acts: Text and Legislative History (West) from 1954 on; and
- Tax Management -- Primary Sources (BNA) from 1969 on.
In addition, Lexis offers a database of tax bills, laws and selected Congressional Reports going back to 1954 (FEDTAX;LEGIS). The Westlaw equivalent goes back to 1948 (FTX-LH), with a special file for the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (FTX-TRA86). RIA's CheckPoint has Congressional reports back to the 104th Congress. Tax Analysts' Federal Research Library has legislative history materials back 1981.
For more information, see the "Legislative History" section of "Internal Revenue Code and Regulations."
News: The best daily U.S. Federal tax news sources are (1) Tax Analysts' Tax Notes Today, available from Tax Analysts and Lexis (TAXANA;TNT), and (2) BNA's Daily Tax Report, available from BNA and Lexis (FEDTAX;BNADTR).
TNT also has an International tax news edition, available from Tax Analysts and Lexis (TAXRIA;TNI), and an edition for U.S. state & local taxes, also available from Tax Analysts and Lexis (TAXRIA;STN).
Free tax news is available from a number of sources including BNA, CCH and Deloitte .
Regulations: See the separate entry for "Internal Revenue Service."
B. U.S. State & Local Tax
The best source for state tax materials is probably the state's CCH State Tax Reporter, which will include statutes, regs, agency pronouncements, etc. The Reporter will also include the tax laws for the state's larger cities. CCH State Tax Reporters are available on Intelliconnect and Lexis. Much of the same material is available on Westlaw and CheckPoint, if you have a subscription for the state in question.
Tax Notes Today has a state version (paper, Lexis and Tax Analysts).
CCH publishes the State Tax Review, which covers current and pending legislative and regulatory developments in all states and D.C.
Links to state revenue departments are available through Dennis Schmidt's Tax and Accounting Sites Directory. Links to online forms, tax, codes, etc. are also posted in the Tax and Accounting Sites Directory. See also the entries for individual cities.
C. International and Foreign Tax
Key resources for researching international/foreign tax issues include:
- Foreign Tax and Trade Briefs (Matthew Bender) by Walter H. Diamond summarizes the tax laws of most foreign countries.
- Chapter 8 of Introduction to International Business Law: Legal Transactions in a Global Economy has a good "Basic Guide" to the materials available in English for various regions and countries.
- The "Foreign Income" pamphlets in BNA's Tax Management Portfolio series provide substantial analysis of the tax systems of over 30 countries. The title of these portfolios begins "Business Operations in ____" (see "Tax Management Portfolio Series (BNA's)").
- Worldwide Tax Rates and Answers from give you national and local tax rates for foreign countries, "as well as current tax forms and instructions translated into English and up-to-date answers to the most frequently encountered tax questions for a variety of countries" (quoted from a CCH marketing brochure); available by subscription through Intelliconnect.
- The subscription-based World Wide Tax Law Service available through Checkpoint) provides English translations of the tax and business-related laws of most countries.
Tax news and primary tax law materials for most countries is available in the Tax Notes International database through Tax Analysts and Lexis.
Treaties: See "Treaties - U.S." or "Treaties - Foreign."
