Researching Tax Law
1. (1) Conclusions reached by examiners must reflect correct
application of the law, regulations, court cases, revenue rulings,
etc. Examiners must correctly determine the meaning of
statutory provisions and not adopt strained interpretations.
2. (2) The federal tax system is constantly changing. Examiners
must keep well informed about the ever-growing body of tax
authorities and advances in the management and storage of
information.
3. (3) Income tax law is too complex for examiners to immediately
perceive its ramifications and provisions in all examinations. In
the words of Supreme Court Justice Jackson, "No other branch
of the law touches human activities at so many points. It can
never be made simple."
4. (4) This section focuses on researching federal tax law,
evaluating the significance of various authorities, and
supporting conclusions reached with appropriate citations. The
profiles of various tax authorities in this chapter are intended to
help examiners become familiar with the most common, but by
no means all, sources or available research techniques. (IRS
4.10.7.2 (01-01-2006))
I find this section truly describes what tax law research is. The tax
laws are a revolving door of changes and keeping up on it all is
difficult. Using secondary resources to your benefit will help you keep
up with the changes in code. To sum it up, as a researcher, you must
choose your resources carefully and make sure they are a trustworthy
source. Also, you cannot base your own interpretation solely on a
secondary source's interpretation. You must also read the primary
source (tax code) and decipher it on your own. Using other resources
is helpful, but you shouldn't 100% rely on them to be the most
accurate.
Committee reports are helpful to reference during research because
they often describe the intent Congress has behind the tax law or law
changes and this can be a useful tool for examiners and researchers
to understand and apply the law correctly. These reports typically
include the reasons for a tax law being proposed and that is key for
knowing how to apply a law to real life situations.
References:
Committee Reports, IRM § 4.10.7.2.2)
NYU Law (2023, July 12). Federal Tax Research: Committee Reports.
New York University Law Library. Retrieved on August 3, 2023 from,
https://nyulaw.libguides.com/federaltax
