Chapter 7 Copyright ©2006 Thomson South-Western, Mason, Ohio William A. Raabe, Gerald E. Whittenburg, & Debra L. Sanders Legal Services and Internet Sites

Tax Analysts A nonprofit entity organized to provide literary forums for the discussion of taxation Federal Research Library –Basic service – many primary sources –Editorial service called “Federal Tax Baedeker” –Complete service contains PLR’s, FSA’s, etc. Keyword and citation searches can be used State Research Library available OneDisc: CD-ROM and DVD versions

Tax Analysts Influential set of newsletters that provide analysis & explanations of the law : –Tax Notes Today (TNT) Updated continuously throughout the day –Tax Notes (weekly) –State Tax Today –Worldwide Tax Daily –Others

Mertens Service Mertens Law of Federal Income Taxation –Published by West Group –Available on CD-ROM or through Westlaw Three main components 1. Mertens Treatise – a comprehensive topical service 2. Mertens Rulings – the Cumulative Bulletin 3. Mertens Current Tax Highlights – current developments

Mertens Service Includes Code Commentary –Contextual explanation of Code “Snapshot” version of prior years’ Code, Regs, & Rulings Very useful - facilitates analysis of evolution of a law

Mertens Footnotes

Bittker and Lokken Service Federal Taxation of Income, Estates & Gifts –Published by Warren, Gorham & Lamont An affiliate of West Less comprehensive (5 volumes) & more conceptual than other services Considered to be a leading tax authority Good starting point to obtain an initial grasp of a topic

BNA Portfolios (1 of 3) BNA Tax Management Portfolios Bureau of National Affairs –Over 400 portfolios divided into 4 series: U.S. Income Tax Estates, Gifts, and Trusts Foreign Income State –Quite vast but not truly comprehensive –Favorite research tool of many practitioners

BNA Portfolios (2 of 3) Tax Management Portfolios (continued) –Each contains: Brief overview Table of contents Detailed Analysis –Comprehensive examination of a topic Working Papers –Includes primary sources & filled-in tax forms Bibliography and References –Contains extensive listing of primary & secondary sources

BNA Portfolios (3 of 3) News Reports –BNA Daily Tax Report (DTR) –TaxCore Web-based Full-text primary sources –Federal, state and local –Weekly Report More in-depth than the DTR

Internet Sites Most primary tax source documents are accessible free of charge The Federal Government has numerous sites (see next slide) One useful site with many tax links is:

Selected Primary Source Internet Sites

Web Sites for Commercial Tax Services