1. © 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password- protected website for classroom use. Chapter 16 Tax Research Murphy & Higgins, Concepts in Federal Taxation, 2010 edition

2. 16-2 © 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password- protected website for classroom use. Introduction Tax research - process by which the tax consequences of a completed or proposed transaction are determined Tax treatment must be based on some supporting authority Tax research is simply the means by which these authoritative pronouncements are located, evaluated and applied to specific set of facts

3. 16-3 © 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password- protected website for classroom use. Tax Authorities There are two classes of tax authorities Primary Authoritative law and writings of the three branches of the federal government: legislative, executive, and judicial Secondary Supporting materials which provide interpretation of the primary authorities

4. 16-4 © 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password- protected website for classroom use. Primary Authorities: Legislative U.S. Constitution Article 1, Section 7 Sixteenth Amendment Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code) Statutory language Legislative intent Tax treaties

5. 16-5 © 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password- protected website for classroom use. How a Bill Becomes Law House Ways & Means Committee Senate Finance Committee House of Representatives Senate Joint Conference Committee President

6. 16-6 © 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password- protected website for classroom use. Primary Authorities: Administrative Sources Treasury Regulations Interpretive versus Legislative Proposed, temporary, and final Revenue Rulings and Procedures Acquiescence and Non-acquiescence Letter Rulings Before or after the action Other IRS Pronouncements Memorandums Notices, announcements, publications, instructions

7. 16-7 © 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password- protected website for classroom use. Primary Authorities: Judicial U.S. Supreme Court U.S. Courts of Appeals U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit U.S. Tax Court U.S. District Court U.S. Court of Federal Claims Small claims division of U.S. Tax Court Trial level Appellate level

8. 16-8 © 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password- protected website for classroom use. Citations to Primary Authorities References made to a primary authority should include a full citation Examples are Internal Revenue Code - Sec. 108 Treasury Regulation Reg. - Sec. 1.61-12 Revenue Ruling - Rev. Rul. 54-56, 1954-2 C.B. 108 U.S. Tax Court Case - Julian S. Danenberg, 73 T.C. 370 (1979)

9. 16-9 © 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password- protected website for classroom use. Secondary Authorities: Tax Services Tax services fall into two categories Services with limited editorial discussion but many short interpretive comments CCH’s Standard Federal Tax Reporter RIA’s United States Tax Reporter

10. 16-10 © 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password- protected website for classroom use. Secondary Authorities: Tax Services Services with extensive editorial discussion and interpretation of the law RIA’s Federal Tax Coordinator 2d BNA’s Tax Management Portfolios Merten’s Law of Federal Income Taxation

11. 16-11 © 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password- protected website for classroom use. Secondary Authorities: Others Computer assistance tools are used to speed research LEXIS & WESTLAW Internet access CD-ROM Citators are used to determine the history of a judicial decision Tax Periodicals are used to keep up with current developments

12. 16-12 © 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password- protected website for classroom use. Computer-Assisted Tax Research (CATR) To reduce costs and improve efficiency, tax practitioners have shifted their use of tax services printed on paper to CATR tools Citators Tax Periodicals

13. 16-13 © 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password- protected website for classroom use. Tax Compliance versus Tax Planning Establish the Facts and Determine the Issues Locate the Relevant Authorities Assess the Importance of the Authorities Code and Regulations Pronouncements Court Decisions

14. 16-14 © 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password- protected website for classroom use. Tax Compliance versus Tax Planning Reach Conclusions, Make Recommendations, and Communicate the Results