Lindy, a tax intern, is beginning her first tax research case for her employer. Her manager has given her a basic understanding of the facts and has identified the basic research question. Lindy is now ready to begin searching for relevant tax authorities. Describe the different types of research tools available to help a tax researcher locate relevant authority and identify which type may be especially useful for Lindy.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Tax services aid the researcher in identifying relevant authorities. There are two basic types of tax services: annotated tax services and topical tax services. Annotated tax services are arranged by code section, i.e., for each code section, an annotated service includes the code section, a listing of the code section history, copies of congressional committee reports that explain changes to the code section, a copy of all the regulations issued for the specific code section, the service's "unofficial" explanation of the code section, and brief summaries (called annotations) of relevant court cases, revenue rulings, revenue procedures, letter rulings, etc., that address issues specific to the code section. Two examples of annotated tax services are Commerce Clearing House's (CCH) Standard Federal Tax Reporter and RIA's United States Tax Reporter.  

Topical tax services are arranged by topic (e.g., taxable forms of income, tax-exempt income, trade or business expenses, etc.). For each topic, the services identify tax issues that relate to the topic, and then explain and cite authorities relevant to the issue (code sections, regulations, court cases, revenue rulings, etc.). Beginning tax researchers (like Lindy) often prefer topical services, as they generally are easier to read. Some examples of topical federal tax services include BNA's Tax Management Portfolios, CCH's Tax Research Consultant, and RIA's Federal Tax Coordinator.