Federal Income Tax Law: Home

Researching federal income tax law involves using a variety of sources and can be approached using various methods. Legal Research by tax practioners should, include becoming familiar with the Internal Revenue Code to the extent of at least being able to locate relevant code sections. After obtaining the appropriate code section, it is important to be able to find any corresponding treasury regulations that have been issued for the particular code section for further guidance. Case law can interpret the code, and administrative decisions can also be helpful but vary with respect to authority depending on the type of document. Documents that are intended for release to the public, such as Revenue Rulings or Revenue Procedures, are usually binding whereas documents that are available because of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) are usually non authoritative. Those researching in the area of tax law may find itmore useful to use secondary sources such as treatises, handbooks, and practice guides in order to get an overview of a specialized area of tax. However, tax practitioners must be able to master using the primary sources including the code, regulations, case law, rulings and procedures, and administrative decisions in order to effectively research federal income tax law.