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Transcript of Certification workshop tax research
Tax ResearchMark Popielarski – Spring 2013
Overview
• Structure & Sources of Tax Law
• Tax Reporters & Electronic Tax Research
Sources of Tax Law – Statutory Authority
• Title 26 U.S.C. (also known as Internal Revenue Code)
• Three major versions:• 1939
• 1954
• 1986
• Current I.R.C. is the 1986 version – frequently updated
Sources of Tax Law - Courts
• U.S. Supreme Court, Courts of Appeals, District Courts, Court of Federal Claims, and U.S. Tax Court rule on Federal Tax matters
• U.S. Tax Court issues three types of decisions:• “Regular” decisions – novel legal issue (precedential)
• Memorandum decisions – applying established tax law to specific facts (authoritative, but less so)
• Summary Decisions – covers small cases (not precedential)
Sources of Tax Law – Agencies
• Treasury Department • Agency charged by Congress with collecting and administering
the Federal tax system
• Internal Revenue Service (IRS)• Part of Treasury Department, most tax authority delegated to IRS
Regulations
• Treasury Regulations• Proposed
• Initial version of regulation submitted for public review and comment (no precedential value)
• Temporary
• Issued when pressing need for regulation on a particular issue—currently issued temporary regulations expire after three years if not replaced with final version (poses legal authority)
• Final
• Official enactment which carries legal authority
Regulations (cont.)
• Treasury Regulations fall into three categories:• Legislative
• IRS creates substantive tax regulations as authorized by law
• Interpretive
• Used to fill-in gaps in tax law—explains IRS’ understanding of IRC
• Procedural
• Addresses the mechanics of tax collection—for example filing tax returns
Publication of Regulations
• Proposed, Temporary, and Final Regulations published in Federal Register (FR) and Internal Revenue Bulletin (IRB)• Temporary and Final Regulations published in the FR & IRB are
known as Treasury Decisions (TD)
• Tax regulations are codified in Title 26 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)
IRS Rulemaking and Pronouncements
• IRS creates and publishes numerous items related to tax law
• Some carry force of law while others have no legal authority
• Important to know which is which when interpreting and applying tax law
• Examples of important IRS material follows
IRS Rulemaking and Pronouncements (cont.)
• Revenue Ruling (Rev. Rul.)• IRS interprets law based on specific factual scenario—authoritative for all
taxpayers so long as still valid
• Revenue Procedure (Rev. Proc.)• Addresses specific technical procedures—authoritative for all taxpayers
• Private Letter Ruling• Individual taxpayer requests IRS opinion on tax consequences of
prospective transaction—only binding on IRS for specific requesting taxpayer
IRS Rulemaking and Pronouncements (cont.)
• Internal Revenue Manual• Issued to IRS personnel to manage organization and provide guidance
regarding taxpayer matters
• Not mandatory or binding on IRS, but helps tax professionals understand the IRS’ current mindset
• Forms, Form Instructions, and Publications• Instruments issued for benefit of taxpayers to help understand tax issues and
prepare returns
• Possess no legal authority—taxpayers cannot claim reliance and use them at their own risk!
IRS Publications
• Internal Revenue Bulletin (IRB) • Weekly IRS publication used to keep the public about current and
upcoming tax matters
• Regulations, Rules, and other tax material published in IRB
• Cumulative Bulletin (CB)• Biannual compilation of IRBs
• Forms & Publications• Taxpayer guidance issued by IRS
Tax Publications – RIA
• RIA owned by Thompson Reuters (Westlaw)
• RIA Checkpoint electronic database• United States Tax Reporter
• Federal Tax Coordinator 2d
• American Federal Tax Reports
• Warren, Gorham, & Lamont (WG&L) publications
Tax Publications – RIA (cont.)
• United States Tax Reporter• Arranged chronologically by I.R.C. number
• Contains:
• Code Section
• Committee Reports
• Final and Temporary Regulations
• Proposed Regulations
• Explanations
• Annotations
Tax Publications – RIA (cont.)
• Federal Tax Coordinator 2d• Topically organized—all discussion about an issue located in one
place
• Avoids using overly technical language
• American Federal Tax Reports• Collection/publication of tax-related cases, continuously updated
with bound versions of previous years
Tax Publications – RIA (cont.)
• Warren, Gorham, & Lamont (WG&L)• Publisher of numerous tax treatises
• Important names to know in tax:
• Bittker
• Eustice
• Lokken
• Select WG&L treatises available on Westlaw
Tax Publications – CCH
• Electronic platform – CCH IntelliConnect
• Standard Federal Tax Reporter – Comparable to U.S. Tax Reporter• Organized by Code
• Only covers Income Tax, separate series for other tax areas
• Federal Estate and Gift Tax Reporter
• Federal Excise Tax Reporter
Tax Publications – CCH (cont.)
• U.S. Tax Cases• Tax Decisions from Federal Courts
• U.S. Supreme Court, Courts of Appeals, District Courts, and Court of Federal Claims
• Tax Court Reporter• Contains Decisions of the Tax Court
Tax Publications - BNA
• Available as standalone product or as part of Bloomberg Law
• Tax Management Series• Current awareness publications
• Portfolios
• Topic specific publication used for researching specific tax issues
Conclusion
• Attorneys encounter tax issues in numerous practice areas
• Tax law constantly changing so maintaining current awareness important
• Many different sources for tax law and guidance
• RIA, CCH, and BNA major sources for tax material