Goodson Law Library

A. Standard Treatises

The following selected titles are useful for topical overviews of tax issues generally, or in specific areas of taxation. Some of the works are very scholarly, some practical, and others provide more general overviews. These materials should be used as a starting point to understand the issues and to collect references for further research.

Bittker & Lokken. Federal Taxation of Income, Estates and Gifts, 3d ed. 5 vols. (KF 6335 .B57 & online in Westlaw).
This treatise is the recommended starting point for all types of tax questions. Boris Bittker is also the co-author of several other treatises on more specific areas (see below).

Federal Tax Coordinator (RIA), 2d ed. (online in Thomson Reuters Checkpoint & Westlaw).
This comprehensive tax service, which is designed for the non-specialist but with detail and breadth of coverage, is organized by topic (rather than Internal Revenue Code section) and reads more like a treatise. This is a good resource if you do not know where to start, or if you suspect that more than one code section applies to your problem because it discusses the interrelationship of sections. Extensive tables are provided by code section, regulation, and case name. (The print equivalent of this title is no longer updated at the Library, although it is available in Superseded Tax KF6285 .F435. A similar service, Standard Federal Tax Reporter, is also no longer received in print at the library, although historical volumes are available in Superseded Tax KF6285 .C67 (1947-2005) and online in HeinOnline's Standard Federal Tax Reporter (1917-1985) library.)

Federal Taxation (in American Jurisprudence 2d).
For treatment of taxation by a legal encyclopedia, American Jurisprudence 2d (Reference KF154 .A42 & online in Westlaw, Lexis & Nexis Uni) includes multiple volumes on federal taxation. These sections are updated annually to reflect changes.

2017 Tax Legislation: Tax Cuts and Jobs Act: Law, Explanation, and Analysis (KF6276.62017 .T55 2017). An explanation and overview of the sweeping changes to federal tax law enacted by Congress in late 2017.

WG&L Tax Dictionary (Reference KF6287 .W47) can be helpful in a field with technical terms and jargon. Entries contain references to the Internal Revenue Code, IRS regulations, and case law. West’s Tax Law Dictionary (online in Westlaw) is another dictionary source focused on the law of taxation.

Other tax treatises can be browsed in the level 2 stacks or searched in the Duke Libraries Catalog. Warren, Gorham & Lamont is a well-known and respected publisher of tax treatises, including many of the titles listed below. A keyword search in the online catalog for warren gorham lamont taxation will retrieve WG&L books. Many are also available online in Westlaw, Lexis, or Checkpoint.

Income Tax

• Bittker, McMahon & Zelenak. Federal Income Taxation of Individuals, 3d ed. (KF6369 .B572 & online in Westlaw and Checkpoint).
• Burke & Friel. Understanding Federal Income Taxation, 7th ed. (KF6369.85 .B87 2023).
• Chirelstein & Zelenak, Federal Income Taxation: A Law Student’s Guide to the Leading Cases and Concepts, 15th ed (KF6369 .C43 2023 & online in West Academic Study Aids; previous editions at KF6369 .C54).
• Hall. Mertens Law of Federal Income Taxation (online in Westlaw).
• McNulty & Lathrope. Federal Income Taxation of Individuals in a Nutshell, 9th ed. (KF6369.85.M3 2023 & online in West Academic Study Aids).
• Rosenberg & Daher. The Law of Federal Income Taxation (Hornbook) (KF6369 .R673 2008 & online in West Academic Study Aids).
• Tax Management Portfolios: U.S. Income (online in Bloomberg Law).
• Tobin & Donaldson, Principles of Federal Income Taxation, 8th ed. (Concise Hornbook) (online in West Academic Study Aids).

Estate and Gift Tax

• Boyle & Blattmachr. Blattmachr on Income Taxation of Estates and Trusts, 17th ed. (online in PLI Plus).
• Heilborn. Manning on Estate Planning, 8th ed. (online in PLI Plus).
• McCouch. Federal Income Taxation of Estates, Trusts, and Beneficiaries in a Nutshell, 3d ed. (KF6584 .M33 2023 & online in West Academic Study Aids).
• McNulty & McCouch. Federal Estate and Gift Taxation in a Nutshell, 9th ed. (KF6572 .M34 2020 & online in West Academic Study Aids).
• Tax Management Portfolios: Estates, Gifts and Trusts (online in Bloomberg Law).
• Zaritsky & Lane. Federal Income Taxation of Estates and Trusts, 3d ed. (KF6584 .L36 2001 & online in Westlaw).
• Peschel & Spurgeon. Federal Taxation of Trusts, Grantors & Beneficiaries, 3d ed. (KF6581.5 .P48 1997 & online in Westlaw) and Checkpoint).
• Westfall & Mair. Estate Planning Law and Taxation, 5th ed. (KF6584 .W47 2018 & online in Westlaw).

Partnership, Corporate and Securities Taxation

• Eustice & Brantley. Federal Income Taxation of Corporations and Shareholders, 7th ed. (KF6464 .B57 to 2018 & updated online in Westlaw).
• Burke. Federal Income Taxation of Partners and Partnerships in a Nutshell, 6th ed. (KF6452 .Z9 B87 2020 & online in West Academic Study Aids).
• Fried. Taxation of Securities Transactions, 1971- . (KF1366 .B7 v.11B & up to date online in Lexis).
• Kahn & Lehman. Corporate Income Taxation (Hornbook), 6th ed. (KF6464 .K28 2009 & online in West Academic Study Aids).
• Kwall, Advanced Introduction to U.S. Corporate Tax Law (2025) (online in Elgar Advanced Introductions to Law).
• McKee, Nelson & Whitmire. Federal Taxation of Partnerships and Partners, 5th ed. (KF1375 .M322 2025 & online in Westlaw).
• Repetti, Lyons & Luke. Partnership Income Taxation, 7th ed. (Course Reserves KF6452 .R47 2023 & online in West Academic Study Aids).
• Thompson. Business Taxation Deskbook: Corporations, Partnerships, Subchapter S, and International (online in PLI Plus).
• Warren, Sloan & Freeman. The Partnership Tax Practice Series: Planning for Domestic and Foreign Partnerships, LLCs, Joint Ventures & Other Strategic Alliances, 2d ed. (online in PLI Plus).
• Willis, Postlewaite, Alexander & Ray. Partnership Taxation, 9th ed. (online in Westlaw & Checkpoint; 8th ed. in print at KF6452 .W543). 

State Tax

• Hellerstein & Hellerstein. State Taxation, 3d. ed. vols 1 and 2 (KF6730 .H44 to 2021 & updated online in Westlaw). Emphasis in this treatise is on federal constitutional restraints on state taxing, uniformity and equity requirements, as well as, state income, franchise, and sales and use taxes.
• North Carolina State Tax Reporter (NC Area KFN7870 .A6 C65 to 2016). This two-volume CCH looseleaf service covers North Carolina state tax law in detail.
• Swenson et al. Bender’s State Taxation: Principles and Practice (online in Lexis).
• Tax Management Portfolios: State Tax (online in Bloomberg Law).

International Tax

• IBFD Tax Research Platform: The International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD) provides this platform of worldwide tax law and information. Includes country reports, tax treaties, individual and corporate taxation information, tax case law, and commentary on taxation and investment issues.
• Avi-Yonah, Advanced Introduction to International Tax Law, 3d ed. 2024 (online).
• Herzfeld, International Taxation in a Nutshell, 13th ed. (KF6419.Z9 .D64 2023 & online in West Academic Study Aids).
• Isenbergh. International Taxation: U. S. Taxation of Foreign Persons and Foreign Income, 4 vols. (CCH) (KF6441 .I745 2020).
• Langer on Practical International Tax Planning, 5th ed. (online in PLI Plus).
• Postlewaite. International Taxation: Corporate and Individual, 10th ed. vols 1 and 2 (KF6419 .P66 2016).
• Repetti, Ring & Shay. Introduction to United States International Taxation (KF6441 .M3 2021).
• Wells, International Taxation (Concepts and Insights), 5th ed (KF6419 .I83 2022 & online in West Academic Study Aids).
• The IRS also has a website listing international tax treaties by country.

IRS Publications

IRS Publications is a series of Internal Revenue Service documents on common tax issues, which provide explanations and associated forms. Topics range from basic tax questions such as "Selling Your Home," to more complex areas of tax law such as "Passive Activity and At-Risk Rules." IRS Publications are available on the Internal Revenue Service website and in the major tax databases.

For an overview of the practical and procedural workings of the IRS, consult the following treatises and guidebooks:

• Collins & Robbins, Internal Revenue Service: Practice and Procedure Deskbook (Tax Collection KF6301 .S523 to 2016 & updated online in PLI Plus).
• Lederman & Murphy, Federal Tax Practice & Procedure (online in Lexis).
• Saltzman & Book. IRS Practice and Procedure, rev. 2d ed. (Tax Collection KF6301 .S242 & online in Westlaw).

B. Current Awareness & News

These current awareness publications contain information on news items on tax issues, pending legislation in Congress, digests or full-text of all IRS pronouncements, and summaries or full text of opinions in current tax cases. They are necessary reading for practicing tax attorneys and researchers who need to stay current.

• Tax Notes by Tax Analysts (online in Tax Analysts) is generally considered the major resource for tax news. Currently available online to the University community with registration, containing Federal, State, and International content. Past print editions of Tax Notes are available on Level 1 (Superseded Tax KF6284 .T37).
• Daily Tax Report (online in Bloomberg Law): This current awareness publication, available in the Bloomberg Law Tax Practice section, includes general tax news and specialized hot topics. Bloomberg Law’s News section also includes Tax Management Weekly Report, Tax Management Memo, and The Exchange: Tax Insights & Commentary.
• Law360 Tax Authority (online to Duke Law community in Lexis and to Duke University community via Nexis Uni). This news service digests tax-related legal news and analysis from the Law360 service. Law360's full Tax site is also available from networked Law School computers or with a valid Law School Lexis ID.

Legislative News and Policy: Information about emerging tax legislation and policymaking can be found on various congressional web sites, including the House Committee on Ways & Means (which has jurisdiction over revenue laws) and the Joint Committee on Taxation.

Statistics: The IRS collects, analyzes and publishes a wide range of tax statistics. Statistics of Income Bulletin, or SOI Bulletin (available on the IRS website) is the publication most often used, and is released quarterly.

C. Websites & Blogs

• National Tax Association: the national organization of tax professionals. Website links to publications such as National Tax Journal.
• Tax Foundation: Most famous for originating “tax freedom day,” the foundation produces research, reports, newsletters and information to support their goal of educating taxpayers about sound tax policy. HeinOnline maintains a complete archive of Tax Foundation publications in its Tax Foundation Archive. More than 1600 titles are included, such as: Tax Watch, Facts & Figures on Government Finance, Library Bulletin, IRET Publications, and Civic Guides
• The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities represents the contrary viewpoint on its site.
• TaxProf Blog is maintained by Paul Caron, Dean at Pepperdine University School of Law.

D. Journals and Indexes

Articles on tax issues can be found in law reviews, legal journals, and other non-law publications using the standard journal indexes (e.g., LegalTrac) and full-text sources (e.g., HeinOnline). There are also many journals, both academic and commercial, devoted exclusively to taxation. Some frequently used materials include Journal of Taxation, Virginia Tax Review, Major Tax Planning (an annual tax conference), Taxes: the Tax Magazine, Tax Law Review, and the Annual Institute on Federal Taxation (NYU). Selected Warren, Gorham & Lamont (WG&L) journals are online in Thomson Reuters Checkpoint.

There are several specialized indexes for tax articles. CCH’s Federal Tax Articles (KF6285 .F4) contains an index by Code section, along with the usual author and topic indexes. For older articles, the Index to Federal Tax Articles, published by Warren, Gorham & Lamont, indexed articles on federal income, estate, and gift taxation. The initial 1975 volume covers material back to 1913 . The Law Library owns the supplements through 1990 (KF 6282.7 .I53).

E. Form Books

Form books and checklists can provide valuable drafting resources for tax planning purposes, Form books may be arranged by topic or code section, and often include an analysis and citations to authorities. Forms are also online in the major tax databases, and a few official forms are posted on the IRS website. The library’s research guide to Legal Forms highlights a number of sources for print and online forms. Rabkin & Johnson Current Legal Forms with Tax Analysis (KF170 .R33 & updated in Lexis) is a good starting place for tax-related forms research.

A. Internal Revenue Code and Statutory Law

Title 26 of the United States Code contains most federal tax laws and is known as the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC” or the “Code”). However, statutes relevant to tax research may be located outside the IRC when an agency other than the Treasury Department has primary responsibility for that area of law.

Knowing the relevant IRC sections is the best method for using specialized tax services, citators and other resources. The Code is organized fairly logically, with all provisions on a particular sub-topic usually found together, and with numerous cross-references to related sections. It is useful to scan the table of contents for a chapter to get an idea of the overall structure of a topic. Tax also includes hundreds of "terms of art": seemingly ordinary words, such as "expense" or "compensation," that have special legal meanings. Always look for definitions that apply in the section or sub-section. Also, IRC § 7701 contains over 50 definitions of commonly used terms.

Following the adoption of the 16th Amendment, the first Revenue Act was passed in 1913. (For an overview of this period in taxation law history, see Duke Law professor Lawrence Zelenak’s Figuring Out the Tax: Congress, Treasury, and the Design of the Early Modern Income Tax, at KF6369 .Z45 2018 & online.) There have been four major tax codifications passed since that time: the Internal Revenue Codes of 1939, 1954, and 1986, and the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Since 1954, the IRC's structure and numbering has remained the same. These landmark dates help in tracing retrospective tax materials and references to them are still common.

The current version of the IRC can be found in the standard U.S. Code publications (U.S.C., U.S.C.A., U.S.C.S.), and in specialized tax databases. Annual editions of the IRC are also published in print, and retained in the Law Library for historical research. Older volumes are in Superseded Tax (Level 1) with more recent years in the stacks (Tax Collection KF6276.526 .A19 I57).

The Taxation & Economic Reform in America library available in HeinOnline includes IRS regulations and codes from 1863 to 1954, as well as extensive legislative history materials.

1. Tracing the History of Code Sections

Cumulative Changes in Internal Revenue Code of 1954 and Tax Regulations under the Code (RIA) (Superseded Tax KF 6277 1954) is a looseleaf service that summarizes changes since 1954 and provides the derivation of Code sections. It also provides the full text of previous versions of code and regulation sections. Citations for legislative history research can be found here as well.

Barton's Federal Tax Laws Correlated (KF6335 .A3 1968 & online) traces income, estate, and gift tax provisions from the Revenue Act of 1913 through 1968. Originally in several editions, this reprinted edition includes information presented and collected in various ways sometimes including case annotations, citations to legislative history, effective dates and cross-reference tables depending on the time period covered.

2. Legislative History

Several print sources in the Law Library track legislative history information for retrospective tax legislation. The most comprehensive selection of legislative history materials is in HeinOnline's Taxation & Economic Reform in America library. Most, if not all, the print titles identified below are online in this searchable collection.

Legislative History of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954... (KF6335 .U58l 1967 & in HeinOnline).
Covers 1954-1965 with references back to the derivation of sections in the 1939 Code.

Internal Revenue Acts of the United States, 1909-1950: Legislative Histories, Laws and Administrative Documents (in HeinOnline). Carlton Fox was a Justice Department lawyer who compiled this collection of 146 print volumes. Search by document type, bill number, volume number, date of publication, popular name, and more.

Seidman's Legislative History of Federal Income Tax Laws 1938-1861 (KF6355.8 S44 1938 & in HeinOnline). Note that the chronology in this and the following volume go from newest resource to oldest.

Seidman's Legislative History of Federal Income and Excess Profits Tax Laws, 1953-1939 (KF6355.8 .S44 1954 & in HeinOnline).
Seidman's is not comprehensive; the author omitted items he considered to have little interpretative significance. There is however, great detail and depth for what is included and many excerpts.

In addition to the usual sources for more recent legislative history, documents for tax legislation are in several other sources:

The Internal Revenue Bulletin (online on the IRS website & in HeinOnline (PDF)) reprinted the public laws from Statutes at Large along with congressional reports from the legislative history of major revenue acts since 1919 (with the exception of 1954 Code). The biannual Cumulative Bulletin compilations ceased with the 2008 volume, but weekly Internal Revenue Bulletins (online in Checkpoint, HeinOnline (PDF), Westlaw, and Lexis) continue to reprint legislation and related reports.

"Bluebooks" prepared by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation are detailed explanations of tax legislation. Although not part of the legislative history per se, Bluebooks are most helpful for explaining and tracing the path of the legislation through Congress and giving the researcher an overview of adopted legislation. Some Bluebooks are owned in print by the Duke Libraries and can be found in the online catalog using the keywords “general explanation ”and “joint committee on taxation.” They are also included on the Joint Committee website, with content from 1969-present.

B. Administrative Law

The Department of the Treasury is the executive department responsible for implementing tax laws. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a bureau within the Treasury, performs that function, issuing numerous types of documents for both interpreting the Code and enforcing the law. These documents range from regulations to letters commenting on specific transactions. Note that there are special Bluebook rules for citing materials published by the Department of the Treasury (see Bluebook Table 1.2).

1. Regulations

Regulations are the highest administrative authority issued by the Treasury Department and are commonly referred to and cited as Treasury Regulations, and once finalized, as Treasury Decisions or T.D.'s. Regulations are codified in Title 26 of the Code of Federal Regulations, and are found individually in many other places. Bluebook citation does not require reference to the CFR as with other regulations, but notes these as Treas. Reg.

Annual print editions of tax regulations are published each year in Income Tax Regulations (CCH) (current edition at KF6356.99), which includes regulations in force as of July 14 of each year.

Treasury Regulations, unlike most regulations, have a specific numbering scheme consisting of three parts: a prefix before the decimal indicating the type of tax (e.g. 1 for income, 20 estate & gift, 30 employment, and 40 excise taxes); numbers following the decimal corresponding to the IRC section; numbers after the dash are the numbering scheme for the regulations. Thus, Treas. Reg. § 1.167(a)-1 is the first regulation on the income tax code section 167(a).

There are two general types of regulations: (1) legislative regulations, when the legislation has specific language granting the IRS authority, are authoritative and extremely difficult to challenge; and (2) interpretive regulations, which can be attacked by showing that the regulation is contrary to the IRC and was issued under general authority of the Treasury to make rules and regulations. Generally, the distinction depends upon the breadth of authority which Congress gave the IRS for rulemaking in a particular area.

The process for adopting regulations generally follows administrative law ‘notice and comment’ practice as required under the Administrative Procedure Act. Three stages are used for tax; all three kinds of regulations are officially published in the Federal Register:

i. Proposed Regulations are issued as a "Notice of Proposed Rule Making." The IRS may also publish an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to get input even before a proposed regulation is drafted. Note the "Regulation Identifier Number (RIN)" and Project Number for help in tracing future actions.

ii. Temporary Regulations are effective immediately. They are often issued after new IRC sections become law to guide taxpayers more quickly, before the IRS goes through the comment and revision process. A temporary regulation can remain in effect for up to 3 years. Temporary regulations are usually issued simultaneously as Proposed Regulations.

iii. Final Regulations are accompanied by a preamble containing analysis and a summary of comments and changes that provide important background and history for interpretation. After the mandatory comment period, the final regulation, almost always an amended version of the proposed regulation, is adopted as a Treasury Decision (T.D.). The T.D. number is used for access in finding lists and citators, rather than the CFR citation.

The tax databases note proposed and temporary changes along with current regulations, making it easy to keep up to date.

Most important, when there is a change in the Code, the prior regulations for that section may become obsolete and inconsistent with the current Code provisions. The process to write and adopt revised regulations takes a considerable amount of time. The tax databases do a very good job of alerting the researcher to these inconsistencies with "Caution" notations. If you identify a regulation in some other source, check that it is consistent with the current code provision before relying on it.

2. Administrative Publications

Internal Revenue Bulletin (IRB) (free on the IRS website and available in Checkpoint, HeinOnline, Westlaw, and Lexis), published weekly, is used by tax researchers and practitioners to monitor regulations and other Treasury pronouncements. The IRB includes Revenue Rulings, Revenue Procedures, Treasury Decisions, IRS notices and News Releases, and acquiescence or non-acquiescence in court decisions (AODs). All stages of activity for regulations are also tracked in the Federal Register. From 1954 to 2008, the IRB was also cumulated into the Cumulative Bulletin (CB) (Doc. T22.25) twice a year.

As evidence of their significance, the IRS also provides advance notice of some administrative materials, even before publication in the IRB and the Federal Register. See Advance Notice for Tax Professionals. Many administrative publications are linked in the IRS Electronic Reading Room.

Following are descriptions of the most important IRS documents and where to locate them. Although not as authoritative as regulations, these materials provide important additional guidance on what taxpayers can expect the IRS to do. Tax databases provide access to administrative documents and pronouncements included in the IRB as individual citations or categorical databases.

a. Revenue Rulings are pronouncements about particular factual situations which taxpayers have presented to the IRS, and which the Service determines to be of general interest. They provide analysis of a transaction and relevant Code provisions. Although they do not have the weight of regulations, they can be relied upon by a taxpayer in a similar situation. The IRS is bound by a Revenue Ruling unless it is officially revoked. Status of Revenue Rulings can be determined by using one of the citators (see section IV, below) or by checking the "Finding List of Current Action on Previously Published Rulings" in the IRB.

Before 1953, rulings were titled I.T. (income tax) or E.T. (employment tax) rulings or various other names such as O.D. (office decisions). Since 1953 they have been called Revenue Rulings and numbered chronologically preceded by the year of issuance.

Revenue Rulings are published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin and reprinted in Tax Notes (online & historical print editions at Superseded Tax KF6284 .T37) and the tax research databases.

b. Revenue Procedures are IRS pronouncements that address internal practice and procedure, such as describing how to request a ruling; listing requirements of how to qualify as a Subchapter S corporation; or what depreciation methods are acceptable.

c. Letter Rulings. Like Revenue Rulings, Letter Rulings (LTRs) or Private Letter Rulings (PLRs) are IRS responses to questions from individual taxpayers about proposed transactions. However, they are not considered of general interest, and are not officially published; their application is technically limited to the taxpayer making the request and without precedential authority. They became available in 1976 under the Freedom of Information Act, and are used frequently by tax practitioners as indicators of how the IRS will view a transaction and of IRS policy.

d. Technical Advice Memoranda (TAMs) are another type of private ruling and are issued in the same numerical series as PLRs. They are written by the IRS national office in response to a question from a taxpayer or field officer auditing a return. Therefore, they are considering completed rather than proposed transactions. More carefully reviewed than Private Letter Rulings, they also technically have no precedential authority. Field Service Advice (FSA) are similar documents. Determination Letters are responses by local IRS district offices on completed transactions.The full text of PLRs and TAMs are available from 1954 to the present in the tax database services. PLRs and TAMs are digested in Tax Notes (online & historical print editions at Superseded Tax KF6284 .T37).

e. Notices and Announcements from the Public Affairs Division of the IRS provide a range of information for general distribution. Examples are to summarize a new law, or to give notice of procedural changes. Notices and Announcements are included in the IRB and as separate databases on the tax research services.

f. Chief Counsel Advice (formerly General Counsel Memoranda) are prepared by the IRS office of Chief Counsel as internal guidance to explain the reasoning behind Revenue Rulings, Private Letter Rulings and Technical Advice Memoranda. GCMs were issued until 2002 and are numbered sequentially but without any indication of their year of issue. They can be found in Tax Notes (online & historical print editions at Superseded Tax KF6284 .T37), and are available in separate IRS General Counsel Memoranda and Chief Counsel Advisories databases on the tax databases.

g. Internal Revenue Manual (IRM) is a compilation of operating policies and practices of the IRS. The Manual is divided into parts based on IRS department organization (e.g., Taxpayer Service, Audit, and Market Segment Specialization Program). It includes policies, procedures, instructions, and guidelines related to the function and administration of the IRS. The IRS publishes the Manual on its website; current and historical editions can also be found on the tax databases. Changes are published in Tax Notes (online & historical print editions at Superseded Tax KF6284 .T37).

C. Judicial Authority

Income tax litigation begins in one of three forums (see chart). If the taxpayer has not paid the tax, the forum is the United States Tax Court. In this forum, there is no right to a jury trial, but the judges have more tax expertise and sophistication due to the specialized nature of the court. If the taxpayer has paid the disputed tax and is then refused a refund, the forum is either the federal district court (where the taxpayer is entitled to a jury trial) or the Court of Federal Claims.

 

Appeals from Tax Court and federal district court decisions are to the Circuit Court of Appeals covering the taxpayer's state of residence. Appeals from the Court of Federal Claims are to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (created Oct. 1, 1982).

Locating relevant decisions usually begins in the database services with annotation summaries that follow the code section and regulations in an arrangement similar to that of an annotated code. Annotations in the tax databases include summaries of both cases and IRS pronouncements relevant to the section.

Opinions from the federal courts and the Tax Court are available in official publications as well as commercial publications. The similarity in abbreviations for all these reporters, as well as the changes in publisher names and titles of the reporters, can cause some confusion. Table 1.1 of the Bluebook includes a short list for the Tax Court publications.

1. Tax Court Opinions

There are two kinds of decisions from the Tax Court, which are somewhat parallel to published vs. unpublished decisions from other courts.

Tax Court Regular Opinions are opinions designated by the Chief Judge of the Tax Court as containing novel or important issues, and can be thought of as “published” (precedential) opinions. The Chief Judge also decides whether these opinions will be reviewed by all the judges, or will stand as written by the judge who heard the case. They are published officially in the United States Tax Court Reports (TC) (some volumes entitled Tax Court of the United States Reports) (Doc. Ju11.7/A2: & in HeinOnline's U.S. Federal Agency Documents, Decisions and Appeals Library). Before 1942, when the Tax Court was called the Board of Tax Appeals, the official reporter was the Board of Tax Appeal Reports.

Tax Court Memo Decisions are the opinions not designated as "Regular". For some time, they were not published “officially” and were considered unpublished opinions. The precedential value of TC Memo Decisions has shifted, much the same as other "unpublished" federal court opinions. Since 2001, the Tax Court has also issued Summary Opinions that are designated as without precedential value. Orders issued by the Court are available on the court website from 2011 to date.

All decisions from the Tax Court are available since May 1986 with daily update on the Tax Court website. Be sure to select the "Opinion" tab; separate searches are available for Orders and Practitioners.

Both Tax Court Regular and Tax Court Memo Decisions are also available in Checkpoint, Nexis Uni, Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg Law. The Law Library's off-site storage facility also contains the unofficial print sources CCH Tax Court Reporter (Library Service Center KF6280.A2 .C729) to 2011, Tax Court Reported & Memorandum Decisions (RIA) (Library Service Center KF6281 .T39) to 2008, and Tax Court Memorandum Decisions (Library Service Center KF6280.A2 C73).

Tip: Citations to these unofficial reporters use paragraph numbers for reference to new material and then by the volume and page number for the bound volumes.

2. Federal District and Appellate Courts

There is no official reporter for opinions from the lower federal courts. Tax opinions are published along with other federal district court opinions, in West’s Federal Supplement (since 1932) and Federal Reporter (before 1932). Both sets are available in the Federal Reporters & Digests section of the Law Library (until 2015-16) and current online in PDF in Westlaw; text versions of the opinions are available in Lexis, Bloomberg Law, and other online sources for court opinions, such as Nexis Uni and Fastcase. GovInfo’s USCOURTS collection provides free access to federal opinions back to 2004 (earlier for some courts).

Tax opinions from the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals and Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit are published in the Federal Reporter series. West’s Federal Claims Reporter (formerly United States Claims Court Reporter) includes opinions from the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the Supreme Court.

3. Court of Federal Claims

The Court of Federal Claims hears a larger percentage of tax cases than other federal district courts. Between Oct. 1, 1982, and Oct. 29, 1992, this court was called the United States Claims Court. Before that, it was known as the United States Court of Claims and only the Supreme Court had jurisdiction over appeals from its decisions.

Court of Federal Claims decisions are published in the U.S. Court of Claims Reports (Doc. Ju 3.9), West’s United States Claims Court Reporter (1982-1991), and West’s Federal Claims Reporter (1992-2014 in Law Library & current online in PDF on Westlaw). In addition to being published on the online research services, opinions are also available free on the Court’s website from 1997–present and can be searched by keyword and date. GovInfo maintains a collection of opinions of this court from 2014 – present.    

4. Acquiescence Decisions & Actions on Decisions

Only decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court are binding authority on the IRS. For decisions from other courts in which the IRS does not prevail, the Commissioner must decide whether to abandon its position in the litigation (acquiescence) or to continue to pursue the IRS’s position in subsequent litigation contrary to the court decision (non-acquiescence). This stance is obviously very important information, and is unlike deciding whether a case is “good law” for non-tax topics. The tax citators (see Section IV below) include information on these decisions. The decision on acquiescence is usually made quickly; however, if there is no decision, this is not the same as acquiescence. Acquiescence or non-acquiescence has the same legal effect as a Revenue Ruling.

Actions on Decisions (AODs) are internal IRS communications that are occasionally written to summarize a court decision which is adverse to the IRS position, and to recommend IRS acquiescence or non-acquiescence. AODs are not written for all decisions. They are intended to provide guidance to IRS staff who are working on similar issues, until an official acquiescence or non-acquiescence is decided. If the decision is by a court other than the Tax Court, the Actions on Decisions indicate whether the IRS will appeal the court's decision. This background information can help the researcher assess future IRS policy.

AODs can be found in Tax Notes (online & historical print editions at Superseded Tax KF6284 .T37) and the major tax databases. The Internal Revenue Bulletin lists the Commissioner's decision whether to acquiesce as soon as it becomes available, as a Notice.

Both Shepard’s (Lexis) and KeyCite (Westlaw) can be used to update citations for tax materials. However, specialized tax citators do a better job of tracking all of the IRS administrative pronouncements and covering the specialized citation formats. Citators provide parallel citations, subsequent history, and citations to later cases plus IRS interpretations, such as Revenue Rulings and IRS pronouncements, which cite the case you are researching.

Citator 2nd (online in Checkpoint and Westlaw)
Commentators seem to agree that the RIA citator is the most useful and complete. Citations include citing authority from 1954 forward and editorial treatment; the Constitution, statutes, and treaties are not included. Although RIA covers regulations and IRS documents, it lists cited regulations in T.D. (rather than section number) order. Case name or citation can be used.

Christopher C. Dykes, Federal Income Tax Law: A Legal Research Guide, 2d ed (KF241.T38 D95 2021 & online). The author also publishes International Tax Law: A Legal Research Guide, 2d ed. (K103.T3 .D95 2024 & online in HeinOnline Spinelli’s Law Librarian’s Reference Shelf).

Mary A. Hotchkiss. Federal Income Taxation, in Specialized Legal Research, 2d ed., ch. 3 (Penny Hazelton, ed.) (Ref. Desk KF240 .S642, updated to 2019).

Joni Larson & Dan Sheaffer. Federal Tax Research, 2d ed. (KF241. T38 L37 2011).

Peter A. Lowy, Tax Management Portfolio, Legal Authorities in U.S. Federal Tax Matters - Research and Interpretation, No. 100-3rd (online in Bloomberg Law). This BNA Tax Management Portfolio, written for practicing attorneys, discusses the basics of federal tax research.

Gail Levin Richmond. Federal Tax Research: Guide to Materials and Techniques, 11th ed. (KF241 .T38 R5 2021). Richmond has also written an extensive chapter on tax research in Barkan, Bintliff & Whisner, Fundamentals of Legal Research, 10th ed. (KF240 .J3 2015).