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Federal Tax Research Guide: Regulations, Revenue Rulings, Revenue Procedures & Private Letter Rulings

A guide to Brooklyn Law School's federal tax resources. Call numbers are specific to Brooklyn Law School Library.

Tips

The IRS describes its common types of guidance (Regulation, Revenue Ruling, Revenue Procedure, Private Letter Ruling, Technical Advice Memorandum, Notice and Announcement) at Understanding IRS Guidance - A Brief Primer

The IRS publishes Revenue RulingsRevenue ProceduresNotices and Announcements in its Internal Revenue Bulletin/Cumulative Bulletin.  It provides taxpayer-specific rulings and determinations (Private Letter Rulings and Determination Letters), Technical Advice Memoranda and Chief Counsel Advice material prepared by the IRS Office of Chief Counsel at its Written Determinations page. 

Recommendation for new tax researchers: to understand the value of these IRS materials as authority, read pp. 10-11 (Treasury Regulations) and 22-26 (Agency Decisions and Materials) in Christopher C. Dykes, Federal Income Tax Law: A Legal Research Guide (2nd ed. 2021).    

Westlaw: Tax Administrative Decisions & Guidance provides searchable collections of IRS Revenue Rulings, Revenue Procedures and Private Letter Rulings.

KeyCite Tip: Thomson Reuters notes that KeyCite also is available for regulations and administrative decisions.  This helpful YouTube video: Mary Whisner, Gallagher Law Library, Westlaw for Tax Research: KeyCite (Nov. 3, 2020) discusses KeyCiting a Revenue Ruling.

Regulations

IRS, Understanding IRS Guidance: A Brief Primer states: "a regulation is issued by the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department to provide guidance for new legislation or to address issues that arise with respect to existing Internal Revenue Code sections....Regulations are published in the Federal Register. Generally, regulations are first published in proposed form in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). After public input is fully considered through written comments and even a public hearing, a final regulation or a temporary regulation is published as a Treasury Decision (TD), again, in the Federal Register."

Free Source:

Federal Register (1936-) (Also available in Westlaw, Lexis and HeinOnline.)

Code of Federal Regulations = the codified source of temporary and final regulations. 

Free Source:

Code of Federal Regulations (annual editions from 1996-)  (Also available in Westlaw, Lexis and HeinOnline.)  

According to IRS, Tax Code, Regulations and Official Guidance, Treasury Regulations appear in 26 Code of Federal Regulations.

Westlaw: Tax Regulations includes Title 31 - Part 10 - Practice before the IRS (Circular 230) + Title 26 - Internal Revenue - Treasury Regulations

Checkpoint Edge provides a template to retrieve final, temporary and proposed Treasury Regulations (published by RIA) by citation.

  • Click: top-level tab: Federal > click: Quick Links > click: Find Federal Code and Regs 
    • Provides templates to find final, temporary and proposed Treasury Regulations by citation + preambles to final and proposed Treasury Regulations.
    • Tips: A Treasury Regulation prominently displays its effective date.  Above the text of a Treasury Regulation, there are many tabs.  Helpful tabs include editorial Explanations, related analysis from Federal Tax Coordinator 2d, Annotations, Advance Annotations, related Internal Revenue Code sections and Prior Regs.  Tab: WG&L Treatises will not yield related treatise texts.  Instead, use: Westlaw: Federal Tax Treatises (WG&L).
  • BLS students, faculty and administrators: see bottom of this Checkpoint Edge guide box for instructions to create Checkpoint Edge individual accounts. 

VitalLaw: Tax: Federal home page > Primary Sources pull-down menu: Laws & Regulations > Federal Tax Regulations.  Tax: Federal home page also offers an Advanced Search feature that allows researchers to search within Select Content: Federal Tax Regulations.

  • Text links to: many Related Items, including CCH [editorial] Explanations and related IRC.

Print Source:

Code of Federal Regulations  [KF70 .A3, National collection]

Revenue Rulings

IRS, Understanding IRS Guidance: A Brief Primer states: "[a] revenue ruling is an official interpretation by the IRS of the Internal Revenue Code, related statutes, tax treaties and regulations. It is the conclusion of the IRS on how the law is applied to a specific set of facts."

Free Source:

Treasury Dep't., IRS, Internal Revenue Bulletin (1995-)

Other Sources:

Treasury Dep't., IRS, Cumulative Bulletin, available in HeinOnline (1919-2008 + Weekly Bulletin Cumulation for recent years), LLMC Digital (1922-2008)

Lexis: Advanced Search: IRS Cumulative Bulletin and Internal Revenue Bulletin (1954-)

Westlaw: IRS Revenue Rulings (1953-)

Checkpoint Edge provides a template to retrieve Revenue Rulings (published by RIA) by citation. BLS students, faculty and administrators: see bottom of this Checkpoint Edge guide box for instructions to create Checkpoint Edge individual accounts. 

  • Click: top-level tab: Federal > click: Quick Links > click: Find Federal Rulings/IRB
  • Tip: Above the text of a Revenue Ruling is a gray tab: Citator.
  • BLS students, faculty and administrators: see bottom of this Checkpoint Edge guide box for instructions to create Checkpoint Edge individual accounts. 

VitalLaw: Tax: Federal home page > Primary Sources pull-down menu: IRS Administrative Rulings & Positions > Revenue Rulings 

VitalLaw: Standard Federal Tax Reporter (2024) also provides recent Revenue Rulings in Table of Contents section: 2024 Rulings

Revenue Procedures

IRS, Understanding IRS Guidance: A Brief Primer states: "[a] revenue procedure is an official statement of a procedure that affects the rights or duties of taxpayers or other members of the public under the Internal Revenue Code, related statutes, tax treaties and regulations and that should be a matter of public knowledge."
Free Source:

Treasury Dep't., IRS, Internal Revenue Bulletin (1995-)

Other Sources:

Treasury Dep't., IRS, Cumulative Bulletin, available in HeinOnline (1919-2008 + Weekly Bulletin Cumulation for recent years), LLMC Digital (1922-2008)

Lexis: Advanced Search: IRS Cumulative Bulletin and Internal Revenue Bulletin (1954-)

Westlaw: IRS Revenue Procedures (1955-)

Checkpoint Edge provides a template to retrieve Revenue Procedures by citation. BLS students, faculty and administrators: see bottom of this Checkpoint Edge guide box for instructions to create Checkpoint Edge individual accounts. 

  • Click: top-level tab: Federal > click: Quick Links > click: Find Federal Rulings/IRB > use template: Revenue Procedures
  • Tip: Above the text of a Revenue Procedure is a gray tab: Citator.

VitalLaw: Tax: Federal home page > Primary Sources pull-down menu: IRS Administrative Rulings & Positions > Revenue Procedures

VitalLaw: Standard Federal Tax Reporter (2024) also provides recent Revenue Procedures in Table of Contents section: 2024 Rulings

Private Letter Rulings & Other IRS Material

IRS, Understanding IRS Guidance: A Brief Primer states: "[a] private letter ruling, or PLR, is a written statement issued to a taxpayer that interprets and applies tax laws to the taxpayer's specific set of facts."  The IRS notes: "[a] PLR may not be relied on as precedent by other taxpayers or IRS personnel."
Free Source:

Treasury Dep't., IRS, Written Determinations provides taxpayer-specific rulings and determinations (Private Letter Rulings and Determination Letters), Technical Advice Memoranda and Chief Counsel Advice material.

Other Sources:

Westlaw:

Checkpoint Edge provides a template to retrieve Private Letter Rulings, Technical Advice Memoranda and General Counsel Memoranda (RIA) by citation.

  • Click: top-level tab: Federal > click: Quick Links > click: Find Federal Rulings/IRB > use appropriate search box, such as: PLRs/TAMs/FSAs and other FOIA Documents.
  • Scope of coverage: Private Letter Rulings and Technical Advice Memoranda (1950-), Chief Counsel Advice (1994-), General Counsel Memoranda (1962-) and Actions on Decisions (1967-). 
  • BLS students, faculty and administrators: see bottom of this Checkpoint Edge guide box for instructions to create Checkpoint Edge individual accounts. 

VitalLaw: Standard Federal Tax Reporter (2024) provides recent Letter Rulings and Chief Counsel Advice in Table of Contents link: 2024 Letter Rulings