Chapter 6
Tax Services and
Periodicals
William A. Raabe, Gerald E. Whittenburg, &
Debra L. Sanders
Copyright ©2006 Thomson South-Western, Mason, Ohio
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Annotated Tax Services
• Sometimes called “Compilations”
• Organized by Code section
• Contain
– The editor’s explanation of the Code section
– Recent committee reports
– Treasury Regulations
– Annotations of related court cases &
administrative rulings
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Topical Tax Services
• Organized by subject matter
– Integrates Code & primary sources with the
secondary sources & editorial commentary
• Topics covered, type & depth of analysis vary
by service
• Variety of indexes & finding tables
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Electronic Tax Services
• The tax services on the internet update the
material daily or continuously
• The subscription services (i.e., RIA, CCH,
BNA, etc.) are more comprehensive
• The free internet services provide only
basic research ability
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Approaching the Research Problem
• Formulate the question
• Other issues will likely be identified during the
research process
• The initial questions may change and new
questions formed
• Choose relevant key words to begin the
search in the tax services
• Judgment is required in most tax decisions
because the law is often imprecise
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Approaching the Research Problem
Read the primary documents which are the
authoritative sources
– Do not rely solely on the annotations
(summaries) to form a decision
• Annotations are the editors’ explanations
• Annotations cannot be cited, only the primary
(original) sources can be cited in tax research
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Accessing Electronic Tax Information
• Understand which database should be used and
how to enter keywords or terms
• Present search results in order of relevance or by
database sources
• Begin with editorial material if unfamiliar with topic
– Usually has hyperlinks to primary authority
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Identify relevant authority
Check authority with citator
Carefully read and evaluate authority
Ascertain optimum treatment for item in question
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RIA Checkpoint
• Internet tax service
– Full range of products (databases) available
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All primary authority (Code, Regs, Cases, etc.)
Federal Tax Coordinator 2d
United States Tax Reports
Citator 2nd Series
WG&L journals and textbooks
IRS publications
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RIA Checkpoint Opening Screen
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RIA Checkpoint
• Be sure to limit the search only to those
databases pertinent to the research
question
– If not limited, too many irrelevant documents
may be retrieved
• Three ways to initiate a search:
– Keyword search
– Cite search
– Contents search
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RIA - Keyword Search
• Three steps:
1. Enter your keywords in the search box
2. Select one or more databases
3. Click “Search”
• Be sure to identify the “best” keywords
– This comes with experience
• Try to limit the retrieved documents to those
relevant to your tax question by:
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Refining the search keywords and terms used
Selecting more databases
Unselecting databases no longer relevant
Using additional search options (see next slide)
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RIA - Keyword Search:
Search Options
• Boolean Connectors
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Use to select the order of the keywords
Search for phrases
Set proximity searching
See next slide for RIA’s Boolean connectors
• Thesaurus can be applied to key words
• Can choose from recent key word searches
• Date restrictions can be applied
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RIA Checkpoint Boolean Connectors
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RIA - Contents Search
• Use computerized tax services same way
as published (paper) services
• Two Methods:
1. Table of contents search
• Similar to scanning binders of published services
2. Index search
• Alphabetical search by topic
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RIA - Contents Search
• Table of Contents (TOC) Search
– Click on the TOC
– Click on the relevant topic
– Keep clicking to “drill down” through the TOC
to find a document
– Very effective if the researcher knows where
the relevant material can be found
– A keyword search can easily be performed
– See a TOC example on next slide
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RIA Checkpoint Federal Tax Coordinator 2nd Table of Contents
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RIA - Contents Search
• Index search
– Federal Indexes contains an index for each
database:
• Federal Tax Coordinator 2d Topic Index
• Code Arranged Annotations & Explanations (USTR)
Topic Index
• RIA’s Federal Tax Handbook Topic Index
• Return Guide Indexes
• Current Code Topic Index
• Final & Temporary Regulations Topic Index
• Proposed Regulations Topic Index
– May also perform a keyword search on indexes
• Similar to TOC keyword search, but restricted to the
index entries
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RIA - Cite search
• Citation Search can be used if you know the
document needed
• Types of Documents Available in Cite Search:
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Code & Regulations
Code History
Cases (AFTR 2d, TC, TC Memo, etc.)
Revenue Rulings, Private Letter Rulings, IRB
IRS Publications, Circular 230
Revenue Procedures, AOD’s, TAM’s
Others
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RIA - Cite search
• Code Search
– Enter Code section number
– Leads to the actual Code section
– Which contains leads to:
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Explanations & annotations
Links to FTC topics
Regulations & committee reports
Code History
WG&L treatises
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RIA - Cite search
• Case Search
– Name of the case
– The case’s citation
• Enter the citation in the templates provided
– Links to editorial material appear
• Neither the Cite nor Code search will likely pull
up ALL relevant documents related to an issue
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CCH Tax Research NetWork
• Internet tax service
– Similar to RIA with a full range of products
available including:
• Research Consultant (topical service )
• Standard Federal Tax Service (annotated
service)
• and Master Tax Guide
• Searches available:
– Keyword search
– Cite and contents search
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CCH Tax Research Network Federal Opening Screen
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CCH Search Options
• Keyword search
– Allows search by all terms (default), any term,
exact phrase, Boolean connectors, dates
– Documents retrieved:
• Are sorted by relevance (default)
• Researcher may select other sorting methods
– Thesaurus applied to key words (default)
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CCH Search Options
• Cite and Contents Search
– Citation search
• May use Code section or other primary source
citations such as cases, rulings, regs, etc.
– Cannot cite search by case name
• Results link to editorial material
– Table of Contents Search
• “Drill down” is similar to RIA
– Index Search
• Topical index database contains an index for
several databases
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Tax Periodicals
• Tax articles are very useful to
– Learn new approaches to a tax problem
– Look for guidance in solving complex tax
problems
– Read about new tax law
• Well-written articles cite the original tax
sources a tax researcher can use
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Tax Periodicals
Citing articles in professional tax research is
limited to two situations:
(1) if the researcher is referring to the author’s
analysis and conclusions as stated in an
article; or
(2) if the researcher cannot find any controlling
primary sources of law and a secondary
source addresses the issues.
• Tax articles are now being cited more
frequently in case opinions than in the
past.
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Tax Periodicals: Citation
Standard form to cite a printed tax article:
Acceptable form of citing an internet tax article:
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Tax Periodicals
• Types of Periodicals
– Annual proceedings from conferences
– Scholarly reviews:
• Law reviews
• Academic journals
– Professional journals
– Newsletters
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Tax Periodicals
Selected Tax Newsletters
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