Guide to Federal Tax Rules and Regulations:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Research Tips
2. Primary Sources
Rules and Regulations:
a. Treasury Regulations
b. IRS Documents
Administrative Decisions:
Private Letter Rulings.
Case Law.
3. Secondary Sources
a. Looseleaf Services and Treatises
b. Legal Periodicals
c. Newsletters (Recent Developments)
Online Legal Research
1. Subscription Services
a. CCH Tax Research Network
b. Lexis
c. Westlaw
2. Government Websites (free)
a. Treasury Department
b. IRS
c. U.S. Tax Court
d. U.S. Courts
e. Government Printing Office
Other Research and Tax Guides
Introduction to Federal Tax Research
Tax research will generally include the use of both primary and secondary sources. Though
primary sources come from legal repositories that cover all three branches of government and
include the Constitution, statutes, U.S. Treasury regulations, Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”)
documents, and case law, we will focus only on administrative law here. Secondary sources
(including looseleaf services, treatises, legal periodicals, and newsletters) explain primary
sources. The sections below will describe primary and secondary sources relating to federal tax
research, where each source can be found, and the relative weight and precedential value granted
to each source.
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1. Research Tips
Since the volume of information relating to federal tax law is so massive, here are some quick
tips on where to begin your search. Please note that all the terms and sources referred to in this
section will be discussed in more detail in the applicable sections below.
1) If you are looking for a specific Code section, regulation, or IRS document and have the
citation, go to one of the online services such as CCH Tax Research Network, Lexis, or Westlaw
and skim the index, get a document by citation, or conduct a simple terms and connector search
in the appropriate database. (See Online Legal Research, 1. Subscription Services below).
2) If you are having trouble understanding a specific Code section, go to one of the looseleaf
services which will give you detailed explanations of the Code section and refer you to other
explanatory sources such as Treasury regulations, IRS documents and cases. (See Secondary
Sources, 1. Looseleaf Services and Treatises below).
3) If you are concerned about how new or proposed tax legislation can affect a specific area of
law, go to one of the many tax newsletters or legal periodicals that are available. In these
newsletters, you will find the text or summary of the new or proposed legislation, legislative
history and/or status of the legislation, and a discussion and analysis by experts in the field about
the potential application and effect of the new or proposed legislation. (See Secondary Sources,
2. Legal Periodicals and 3. Newsletters below).
When reviewing, analyzing, or applying the different sources, keep in mind that some sources
carry more weight than others, even among primary sources. The value of a particular source
depends on what you are using the source for and who the source will be reviewed by or
submitted to. Both the Treasury Department and IRS recognize a hierarchy of sources as do the
Courts. Certain holdings are considered binding precedent and must be followed while others
are considered persuasive. The way in which a source is issued can also determine its relevance.
Primary Sources
Administrative Law
The Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department has the authority and responsibility to administer
the internal revenue laws. I.R.C. § 7801. The Secretary of Treasury has delegated much of this
authority to the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS is a branch of the
Treasury Department, and the Commissioner is the head of the IRS.
The Treasury Department and the IRS issue many different types of rules, regulations and
statements of position. The precedential value of these different types of statements varies, as
does the formality with which they are adopted. The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized by
the IRC to prescribe rules and regulations to enforce the Code. I.R.C. § 7805(a). Although the
Secretary of Treasury has delegated much of his authority under the Code to the Commissioner
of Internal Revenue, the Secretary of Treasury (rather than the Commissioner) actually issues
most of the regulations under the IRC.
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a. Treasury Regulations. There are two types of Treasury regulations governing federal tax
matters: 1) interpretive and 2) legislative.
1) Interpretive regulations. Section 7805(a) directs the Secretary of Treasury “or his delegate” to
“prescribe all needful rules and regulations for the enforcement” of the Code. Regulations issued
under such authority are known as “interpretive” regulations. The purpose of interpretive
regulations is to clarify the language of the Code as passed by Congress.
2) Legislative regulations. In addition to the authority granted under section 7805(a), authority
to issue regulations is often contained in specific sections of the Code. When regulations are
issued under such specific authorization, they are “legislative” or “substantive” regulations that
have the full force and effect of law.
Regulations are generally issued in proposed form before they are published in final form and
become law. The Treasury Department issues these proposed regulations as Notices of Proposed
Rulemaking in the Federal Register. Interested parties are given 30 days to submit objections or
suggestions. Depending on the type and amount of comments to the proposed regulation, after a
certain period of time, it will either be withdrawn and issued in final form or amended and
reissued as a new proposed regulation. In general, proposed regulations are not law. However,
they are considered substantial authority because they indicate the Treasury Department’s
thinking with respect to certain areas of the Code.
Temporary regulations are sometimes issued to provide immediate guidance in an area where the
tax law has been changed. These regulations have the same force and effect as final regulations
even though they were not subject to comment period before becoming law. Temporary
regulations expire 3 years after issuance. In general, a temporary regulation is issued
simultaneously as a temporary regulation and proposed regulation so that it can go through the
comment process.
Final regulations are issued after the proposed regulations have gone through the comment
period. They are the most authoritative of administrative rules because they are issued with the
formal approval of the Secretary of Treasury. These regulations are binding on the Treasury
Department and the IRS. Regulations initially appear in the Federal Register (as Treasury
Decisions) and are later codified as regulations in Title 26 of the Code of Federal Regulations
(“CFR”). The CFR section numbers for many regulations will correspond directly with the IRC
section they interpret. However, many CFR section numbers do not have a corresponding IRC
section number because they relate to administrative issues not addressed in legislation.
b. IRS Documents.
1) Revenue ruling. A revenue ruling issued by the National Office of the IRS expresses an
official interpretation of the tax law. Published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin (discussed
below), it is the conclusion of the IRS on how the law is applied to a specific set of facts.
Revenue rulings are intended to fill gaps not covered by specific IRC sections or regulations.
Revenue rulings, though not as authoritative as Treasury regulations, are the Commissioner’s
interpretation of the law as it relates to a given set of facts and the IRS is bound by it.
2) Revenue procedure. A revenue procedure is an official statement of procedure from the IRS
that addresses the administration of tax laws. Though revenue procedures have less force and
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effect than Treasury regulations, they are binding on the IRS and may be relied upon by
taxpayers. Revenue procedures are published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin (discussed
below).
3) Notices. The IRS issues notices to provide guidance before revenue rulings and regulations
are available. These notices are intended to be relied upon by taxpayers to the same extent as a
revenue ruling or revenue procedure and may, in fact, later become a revenue ruling or
regulation. Notices are published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin (discussed below).
4) Announcements. Announcements alert taxpayers to a variety of information but are
somewhat less formal than revenue rulings, revenue procedures, and notices. Announcements
can be used to summarize new tax law or to publicize procedural matters. Announcements are
authoritative and may be relied upon by taxpayers. Announcements are published in the Internal
Revenue Bulletin (discussed below).
5) General Counsel memorandum (“GCM”). GCMs are internal memos prepared in connection
with the review of proposed PLRs, proposed technical advice memos, and proposed revenue
rulings. These memos analyze the legal issues involved in making recommendations and they
have no precedential value.
6) Technical advice memoranda (“TAMs”). A TAM is issued by the National Office of the IRS
in response to a request for ruling about a specific transaction. TAMs are initiated by IRS field
auditors when questions arise during the course of an audit. They are different from PLRs in that
they are after-the-fact rulings. TAMs are directed only to the taxpayer it addresses, have no
precedential value, and may not be cited as precedent.
7) Technical memoranda. Technical memoranda are the internal documents prepared in
connection with proposed Treasury regulations that summarize the proposed rule, provide
background information, identify controversial legal or policy questions, and discuss reasons for
the approach taken. A technical memoranda has no precedential value.
Though not a decision, per se, a Private letter ruling (“PLR”) is different than regular agency
rulings. A PLR is a written statement issued to individual and corporate taxpayers and outlines
the tax consequences of proposed transactions. The Tax Reform Act of 1976 requires disclosure
of these letters (and the IRS charges a fee for the issuance of a PLR). PLRs are used to spot
trends in the IRS practice and have no precedential value.
When an IRS document is “binding,” that means that the IRS will not take any negative action
against a taxpayer or impose any type of penalty on a taxpayer for engaging in the type of
conduct or transaction described in the IRS document. The IRS documents discussed above can
be found through looseleaf services and newsletters discussed below as well as via searches
conducted in the online subscription services discussed below. The IRB (from July 2003 to
present) is available on the IRS website (www.irs.gov) by searching for “Internal Revenue
Bulletin.”
Internal Revenue Bulletin (“IRB”). The IRB is the official weekly publication of the IRS.
Documents published in the IRB include revenue rulings, revenue procedures, notices,
announcements, and Treasury Decisions. Every 6 months, the IRB is bound into a permanent
Cumulative Bulletin. Items printed in the IRB can be cited as precedent and the IRS considers
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itself bound by them in its dealings with taxpayers whose facts are the same as those discussed in
the documents. The degree of deference they receive from the courts is mixed.
2. Judicial
Case Law. Though tax matters can be appealed both in district courts and in specialized courts,
this guide will only explain the mechanisms beyond the US Tax Court.
1) U.S. Tax Court. The U.S. Tax Court specializes in tax issues. Many taxpayers choose to file
in the Tax Court because it is the only federal court with jurisdiction over tax matters that does
not require prepayment of the alleged tax due. However, no jury trials are available in the Tax
Court. Proceedings before the Tax Court may be conducted with or without a trial. The court
consists of 19 judges who are tax law experts. After hearing a case, the judge submits the
findings of fact and a written opinion to the chief judge. If, in the opinion of the chief judge, a
case contains an unusual point of law or one in which considerable disagreement exists among
the judges of the Tax Court, the chief judge may assign the case for review by other Tax Court
judges or even the full Tax Court. The majority opinion is entered as the final decision of the
Tax Court. If the chief judge decides that a review is not necessary, the original decision will
stand. Tax Court decisions are issued as regular, memorandum, or small claims division
decisions. A Tax Court regular decision generally involves a new or significant question
regarding the tax law. Memorandum opinions generally involve areas of tax law that have been
established and only require a distinction of the facts of the case. Nevertheless, memorandum
decisions do have value as precedent.
When the Tax Court issues a regular decision in favor of a taxpayer and contrary to the IRS’s
position, the IRS may choose to issue internal memos indicating whether it accepts the court’s
decision. An acquiescence indicates that the IRS will not continue pursuing the position it took
in the litigation. A nonacquiescence indicates that the IRS intends to continue following its
position from before the litigation (i.e. the IRS will continue to litigate the issue if it comes up
for a different taxpayer). Acquiescences and nonacquiescences are published in the IRB and the
Cumulative Bulletin, usually in the form of a revenue ruling.
Regular decisions of the Tax Court are published by the Government Printing Office (GPO) in
the United States Tax Court Reports (T.C.). Memorandum decisions are published by CCH
(formerly Commerce Clearing House) in its Tax Court Memorandum Decisions (T.C.M.) series
and RIA (formerly Research Institute of America) makes them available as RIA TC
Memorandum Decisions (RIA TC Memo).
Secondary Sources
1. Looseleaf Services and Treatises
Annotated Services. The Standard Federal Tax Reporter, published by CCH, and the United
States Tax Reporter, published by RIA, are two of the most popular annotated services that deal
with federal income taxation. The information in these services is grouped by Code section. The
two looseleaf services are organized similarly and include the following for each Code section:
• text of the Code section;
• excerpts of related legislative history;
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•
•
•
•
text of related Treasury regulations;
brief explanations of the Code section;
table of topics for which there is an interpretive case or revenue ruling;
brief description of each interpretive case or revenue ruling, followed
by the citation to that authority.
Each service contains a detailed index that refers to potentially relevant authority. After reading
the “about this” service tab or “how to use” this service tab, the index is a good place to start
your search. Using the index, skim until you locate a relevant term or phrase for your search
purposes. Then, locate the corresponding volume and paragraph number. Alternatively, you can
locate a volume by skimming the topics listed on the outside binding.
The Standard Federal Tax Reporter can be found in print form on Open Reserves at KF6285
.S73 and is available online at CCH Tax Research Network. The United States Tax Reporter can
be found in print form on Open Reserve at KF6285 .P74 and is available online through
Westlaw.
Topical Services. Several tax research services are organized by topic. One of the benefits of
this type of service is that they contain very detailed and thorough editorial discussions of tax
topics. In addition, these services include examples that are helpful to understanding the law.
Three popular topical services are:
• RIA’s Federal Tax Coordinator;
• CCH’s Federal Tax Service; and
• Tax Management Portfolios published by the Bureau of National
Affairs (BNA).
Federal Tax Coordinator can be found in print form on Open Reserve at KF6285 .R4 and is
available online at Westlaw. It contains references to primary law throughout the narrative text.
There are three ways to begin using this reporter—through the index, through major topic
groupings, and when using the electronic version, through an electronic search. Using the index,
skim until you locate a relevant term or phrase for your search purposes. Then, locate the
corresponding volume and paragraph number. In print, each bound volume discusses a major
topic. When searching by topic, you can scan the binders until you locate a relevant topic and
skim the table of contents in that binder until you find relevant information. Online, conduct
traditional terms and connectors searches.
Federal Tax Service is available online through the CCH Tax Research Network. The Federal
Tax Service is organized by major topics. CCH provides detailed explanations and analysis of
each topic and provides references through footnotes. To access the service, after logging onto
the CCH Tax Research Network, click on the Federal Tax Service link under the Federal tab.
Tax Management Portfolios can be found in print form on Closed Reserves at KF6289.A1 T35.
BNA consists of individual “portfolios” covering a wide selection of tax topics and Code
Sections. Although every Code Section does not have a corresponding portfolio, most Code
sections are covered by at least one portfolio. Using the Tax Management Portfolio Index, locate
the specific topic you are looking for and identify the portfolio number or using FULLPAC, scan
through the available portfolios. The Tax Management Portfolio Index contains three individual
indexes: keyword, Code section, and major topic. Each portfolio contains: table of contents (an
index for the individual portfolio), detailed analysis (providing history or background of the topic
being discussed), worksheets (sample problems and answers, flow charts, etc.), and bibliography
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(list of sources of information on the topic(s) covered in the portfolio including relevant articles
or books).
Treatises. There are many treatises available. They are generally written by renowned experts
in the field and go into great detail about the topic, explaining the history, theory, and logic of
the law. Several treatises on specific tax topics that are well-respected by tax practitioners
include:
• Warren, Gorham & Lamont’s Federal Income Taxation of
Corporations and Shareholders, by Bittker and Eustice;
• Partnership Taxation, by Willis, Pennell, and Postlewaite; and
• Matthew Bender’s Federal Income Taxation of Corporations Filing
Consolidated Returns, by Dubroff, et al.
Federal Income Taxation of Corporations and Shareholders can be found on Open Reserve at
KF6464 .B5 and is available online through Westlaw. Partnership Taxation can be found in the
Stacks at KF6452 .W55. Federal Income Taxation of Corporations Filing Consolidated Returns
can be found in the Stacks at KF6499.C58 F42 and is available online through Lexis.
2. Legal Periodicals
Commentary on particular tax issues can be found in various legal periodicals. These periodicals
include student-edited law reviews, publications that focus on a broad range of tax topics, and
publications that specialize in particular areas of taxation. Below is a sampling of periodicals
from the various categories:
• Akron Tax Journal – A student edited periodical available on Lexis
and Westlaw;
• International Taxation Journal – Published by Warren, Gorham &
Lamont, it’s a specialized tax journal and available on Westlaw
(WGL-TAXJ);
• Journal of Taxation – Published by Warren, Gorham & Lamont, it
features topics in a variety of tax areas such as corporations; estates,
trusts and gifts; exempt institutions; and partnerships available on
Westlaw (WGL-TAXJ);
• Tax Adviser – Published monthly by the AICPA; it’s a popular tax
journal for general practitioners and is available on Lexis;
• The Tax Lawyer – Published by the American Bar Association, it’s
available on Lexis and Westlaw;
• Taxation for Accountants – Published by Warren, Gorham & Lamont,
it’s a popular tax journal for general practitioners and available on
Westlaw (WGL-TAXJ).
To locate articles in the above journals, you can look in the cumulative indexes of the journals
themselves or look at other indexes, such as CCH’s Federal Tax Articles. CCH’s Federal Tax
Articles includes a topical index, a Code section index, and an author’s index and can be found in
Compact Shelving at KF6285 .F39. Alternatively, articles can be found by performing keyword
searches through an online service such as Lexis or Westlaw under Legal Resource Index (also
available through FULLPAC subscription databases) or Index to Legal Periodicals (also
available through FULLPAC subscription databases). Some of the articles and/or journals
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mentioned above are available through Hein Online (available through FULLPAC subscription
databases).
3. Newsletters (Recent Developments)
Tax newsletters are excellent sources of tax information dealing with recent developments. They
are also helpful for those wanting to keep up-to-date with potential changes in the tax law.
Tax Notes Today and Tax Notes – Two newsletters by Tax Analysts (www.tax.com). Tax Notes
Today is a daily newsletter and Tax Notes is a weekly newsletter. They include digests of
revenue rulings and procedures, other IRS documents, court decisions, and briefs and petitions.
They summarize committee reports, testimony at hearings, bills, and statements in Congressional
Record. They also contain information about public hearings on regulations and commentaries
analyzing proposed and enacted legislation. Tax Notes is available in print form on Closed
Reserve at KF6272 .T39 and can also be accessed online through Lexis.
Daily Tax Report – Published by BNA, this newsletter provides detailed reports on legislative,
regulatory, and tax legal developments, both nationwide and worldwide. It includes news
reports in addition to full texts or digests of primary source material. This newsletter is available
in print on Closed Reserve at KF6289.A1 D3.
Federal Tax Day and Federal Tax Weekly – These are CCH’s daily and weekly newsletters
available online through CCH Tax Research Network. CCH includes links to primary source
material discussed in the newsletters as well as links to other CCH publications, including
Standard Federal Tax Reporter.
Online Legal Research
1. Subscription Services
The biggest difference between the various subscription services lies in the content of each
service. Although they all provide the primary sources described above, the various services
differ in the types and amounts of secondary sources and commentary available. Services such
as Lexis and Westlaw license their content from other providers whereas CCH Tax Research
Network includes its annotated service, Standard Federal Tax Reporter, and its topical service,
Federal Tax Service. Which source you use will likely depend on which source is available to
you.
a. CCH Tax Research Network. (available through http://tax.cch.com)
CCH Tax Research Network includes: all primary tax law sources; annotated services such as
the Standard Federal Tax Reporter, topical services such as Federal Tax Service; several
treatises, including Taxes—The Tax Magazine; and newsletters such as Federal Tax Day,
Federal Tax Weekly, and CCH taxTracker News.
Most of the source information relating to federal taxes will be located under the Federal tab.
You can perform keyword searches, though it is probably more efficient to use the index system
and narrow down to the topic you are looking for. The Standard Federal Tax Reporter is a good
place to start. For each section of the Code, it will give you the text of the Code, legislative
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history, final regulations relating to that section of the Code, CCH’s explanations and
annotations, as well as current developments, if any. Using the “Previous” or “Next” links
allows you to see nearby sections as if you were paging through the print version of the reporter.
b. Lexis. (www.lexis.com or www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool/)
Between Lexis and Westlaw, Lexis is the preferred research service of tax practitioners because
it contains more source information. Lexis includes: all primary tax law sources; annotated
services such as the Standard Federal Tax Reporter; topical services such as the Federal Tax
Service and BNA Tax Management portfolios; several treatises, specialized tax journals, and law
reviews; and newsletters such as Tax Notes Today, Tax Notes, and other specialized newsletters.
(Note: Some of the sources described above are not available to those logging on using our
subscriptions.)
A good way to start your search is to go to the Research Tasks tab and select Tax under Area of
Law. This is a way to quickly access primary tax information as well as news, treatises, and
analytical materials. The Tax Research Task Page has convenient search forms and content
links. The Tax Source Guide link describes each source and the kinds of information contained
in that set of source materials.
Another way of getting to the tax-related source materials is to select: Area of Law - By Topic
and then selecting the Taxation link. This page includes links to the various primary and
secondary source materials available in Lexis. You can also add a Taxation tab that brings you
directly to the main tax source materials page. Before conducting a terms and connectors search,
it would probably be best to scan the online index to figure out the area of tax law you are
dealing with and narrowing down to the topic you are looking for. Search Advisor can also be
useful in helping to narrow down to the specific tax issue you are researching.
Lexis has published several guides specifically discussing tax law research on Lexis. Speak to
your local Lexis representative or call the practitioner’s hotline to get copies of such guides.
c. Westlaw. (www.westlaw.com or http://lawschool.westlaw.com/)
Westlaw includes: all primary tax law sources; annotated services such as the United States Tax
Reporter; topical services such as the Federal Tax Coordinator; several treatises (including the
Warren, Gorham & Lamont series), specialized tax journals and law reviews; and other
specialized newsletters.
For those who do not know what is available in Westlaw, you can add a Tax tab by going to the
MyWestlaw link. The Tax tab organizes the various tax-related databases by source type and tax
area. Alternatively, you can go to the Directory link and access the Tax link under Topical
Index. This will bring you to a listing of databases including both primary and secondary
sources. In this way, you can narrow your search down to the most applicable databases. By
clicking on the information symbol (i) next to each database, you can get more information about
what is contained in the database. Once you choose a database, you would conduct the standard
terms and connector searches.
The IDEN database is a good place to start if you know what you are looking for but cannot
figure out which database it is located in. Type in the title of what you are looking for and the
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search will retrieve whatever databases have that information. Two databases that are good to
search when looking for articles and journals would be: the Index to Legal Periodicals (ILP) and
the Legal Resource Index (LRI).
2. Government Websites (free)
a.
Treasury Department. (www.treas.gov)
The Office of Tax Policy page
(www.treas.gov/taxpolicy) provides Treasury testimony at congressional hearings and the Office
of Tax Analysis (www.treas.gov/ota) includes reports on tax policy issues.
b. IRS. (www.irs.gov) The IRS site contains tax forms and publications, Internal Revenue
Bulletins, the Internal Revenue Manual, and other IRS releases.
c. U.S. Tax Court. (www.ustaxcourt.gov) This site provides the text of Regular, Memorandum,
and Summary Opinions. Searches by judge, date, case name, and opinion type can be conducted.
Regular and Memorandum Opinions are available from September 25, 1995, and Summary
Opinions are available from January 1, 2001.
d. U.S. Courts. (www.uscourts.gov) This site provides links to the individual courts (i.e.
District Courts, Courts of Appeal, and Supreme Court).
e. Government Printing Office. (www.access.gpo.gov) This site provides text of, or links to,
documents generated by all branches of the federal government. Many documents come in PDF
format, allowing you to cite using the original pagination.
Other Research and Tax Guides
The following research guides have more detailed discussions about the sources described above,
additional sources, and research strategies:
• Federal Tax Research, by Gail L. Richmond and
• Tax Research Techniques, by Robert Gardner.
Several publishers provide one-volume summaries of the Federal tax laws. Master Tax Guide is
the most well-known. Both CCH and RIA publish a Master Tax Guide annually. It is a softcover book containing useful information including information on basic tax topics. The guide
also offers quick reference to current year tax tables, depreciation tables, standard deduction
amounts, etc. CCH’s Master Tax Guide is also available through the CCH Tax Research
Network.
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