Skip to Main Content

Tax Research

Guide to laws and information on Federal tax law issues.

Getting Started on a Tax Research Issue:

Once you define your issue and know what you intend to research, you may want to begin with a secondary source, both for an overview of the topic and for references to the primary authorities. 

 

1.   Begin with a secondary source for background, such as one of the following : 

 

a.    Federal Tax Coordinator (similar to an encyclopedia)

(available on Checkpoint or in Westlaw (database ID: RIA-FTC))

 

b.    A tax treatise, such as:

1).  Boris I. Bittker and Lawrence Lokken. Federal Taxation of Income, Estates and Gifts. (Rev. 3d ed. 2005).
Call number: KF6369 .B57 2005
   Location: Reserve

   Online: WESTLAW; WGL-IEG
   Available in NYLS Library

2).  Consult Tax Treatises Tab for additional treatises or

3).  Search Treatises by Topic - TAXATION or OPAC for additional treatises.

 

 

c.    A BNA Tax Management portfolio

        The portfolios are monographs on various tax topics available electronically or in print.  Consult the BNA Tax Management Portfolios Tab for more information.

 

 

 

 

d.    Journal articles

 

 

 

          Consult the Tax Journals Tab for more information.

 

 

 

 

2.    After reviewing the sources, examine references to useful primary sources.

 

 

 

 

3.    Use citators to update authorities.