Tax Research Process
- Establish the facts
- Understand the tax transaction
- Try the 5W and H method: who, what, where, when, why, and how
- Identify the issues
- Use to formulate the tax research questions
- Locate authority
- Utilize various search methods to find sources
- Evaluate authority
- Try the 5W and H method to evaluate resources
- Remember: Primary sources have more authority than secondary
- Develop conclusions and recommendations
- Communicate recommendations
- State the issue as a question.
- Identify keywords.
- Construct a computer research query.
- Select a database and execute the search.
- Interpret and refine the search.
- Keyword
- Citation (code section, case name, etc.)
- Table of Contents
- Date range
- Index
Primary Sources (Original Pronouncements)
Statutory Sources
- U.S. Constitution - source of federal tax laws
- Tax Treaties - agreements negotiated between countries concerning the treatment of entities subject to tax in both countries
- Internal Revenue Code - collection of laws that have been passed by Congress and incorporated in Title 26 of the United States Code.
Administrative Sources
- Treasury Regulations - constitute the IRS's and, thereby, the Treasury's official interpretation of the Internal Revenue Code
- Revenue Rulings - official pronouncements of the National Office of the IRS; deals with the application of the Code and Regulations to a specific factual situation
- Revenue Procedures - internal practice and procedures of the IRS in the administration of tax laws; constitute the IRS's way of releasing information
- Other Written Determinations
- Miscellaneous IRS Publications
Judicial Sources
- Supreme Court
- Courts of Appeals
- District Courts
- U.S. Court of Federal Claims
- Tax Court
- Tax Court, Small Cases Division
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Review of Tax Research Materials (IRS)Short document; an overview of sources of tax law authority from the IRS.
Secondary Sources (Interpretations of Primary Authority)
- Tax Services - coordinated sets of reference materials that organize the tax authority into a usable format
- Annotated - organized by Internal Revenue Code section number
- Topical - divide tax law into transactions and related subject matter with underlying tax principles as an organizing format
- Tax Citators - tool through which a tax researcher can learn the history of a case or ruling and evaluate the strengths of its holdings
- Tax Treatises - agreements negotiated between countries concerning the treatment of entities subject to tax in both countries
- Tax Journals
- Tax Newsletters
- Tax Textbooks