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Federal Tax Research Guide: Subscription Databases

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

Thomson Reuters - Checkpoint Edge (prior name: RIA Checkpoint)

A search in Checkpoint Edge's "Federal" tax page can be a useful way to identify current, pertinent primary authority, commentary and news on an unfamiliar federal tax topic. 

  • On Federal tax page: run an "intuitive" search (e.g., student loan forgiveness) or a "terms & connectors" search (e.g., "student loan" and "debt forgiveness"
  • Tip: Below search box is: tab "Practice Areas and Sources."   Researchers can choose a practice area or type of source to search.  
    • Researchers can expand ("+") a source type, like: EDITORIAL MATERIALS to select/search within a specific source type, such as Federal Tax Coordinator Analysis.
    • Researchers can expand ("+") a source type, like: PRIMARY SOURCE MATERIALS to select/search within a specific source type, such as Internal Revenue Code, Treasury Regulations, or Federal Tax Cases.

Quick Links to the Code-based U.S. Tax Reporter can assist those researching a specific Internal Revenue Code section. At a public website, Thomson Reuters previously described this Reporter as a source of  "the Internal Revenue Code, regulations, committee reports, cases, rulings, explanations, and annotations of cases and rulings."

  • On Federal tax page, Quick Links (on left) includes: a USTR Code Section template and the feature: Browse: United States Tax Reporter.

Checkpoint Edge includes a federal tax citator: Citator 2nd (RIA).  Scope of coverage: 1954-     

  • To check status of a specific case or IRS ruling: Access Federal tax page > beneath search box, click: Citation and Other Search Tools > on left, click: Citator 2nd > click desired template: Case Name; Case Citation; or Ruling Citation.
  • To search Citator 2nd by keywords:  Access Federal tax page > beneath search box, click: Citation and Other Search Tools > click: Citator 2nd (on left) > click: Keywords.

Checkpoint Edge includes: Internal Revenue Code; final, temporary and proposed Treasury Regulations; decisions in American Federal Tax Reports; U.S. Tax Court Reported/Memorandum Decisions; U.S. Tax Court Summary Opinions; Internal Revenue Bulletins (1996-); and collections of Revenue Rulings (1954-), Revenue Procedures (1955-), Notices (1980-), Announcements (1959-), Private Letter Rulings and Technical Advice Memoranda (1950-), Chief Counsel Advice (1994-), General Counsel Memoranda (1962-) and Actions on Decisions (1967-).  It also provides the Internal Revenue Manual.  Moreover, this platform offers: news; Westin: WG&L Tax Dictionary; tools (e.g., calculators, tables, checklists for practitioners and sample client letters); and additional analysis.  Additional sources of analysis include: annually updated Federal Tax Handbook; the frequently updated Federal Tax Coordinator 2d practitioners' guide; and Warren, Gorham & Lamont (WG&L) tax journals (including Journal of Taxation). 

  • WG&L tax journal articles in Checkpoint Edge link to tax primary sources + recommended articles.  But these articles do not include pagination.  WG&L tax journal articles in Westlaw include pagination.  WG&L tax treatises are not available in the BLS subscription to Checkpoint Edge.  They are available in Westlaw

Federal tax page helpful features:

  • Top-level tab: More > News provides:
    • Federal Tax Update, State Tax Update, Payroll Update, State Legislative Highlights and State Proposed Legislation
  • Quick Links (on left):
    • Find Federal Cases (templates to find cases by citation or case name)
    • Find Federal Code and Regs (templates Find an IRC or Treasury Reg Section by Citation and Find Pending Legislation That Would Amend a Code Section)
    • Find Federal IRS Pubs & Other Tax Docs (templates to find IRS publications and other tax documents by citation)
    • Find Federal Rulings/IRB (templates to find IRS Revenue Rulings, Revenue Procedures, Notices, Announcements and more by citation)
    • Browse: Citator 2d
    • Browse: Federal Tax Handbook
    • Browse: Federal Tax Coordinator 2d (= in-depth analysis)
    • Browse: United States Tax Reporter (= primary sources + editorial commentary + annotations of cases/rulings)
    • Form/Line Finder
    • General Calculators (select calculator from list of categories)
  • Path to reach WG&L tax journals: Top-level tab: More > Table of Contents > Jump to: Titles > W > WG&L Journals (Corporate Taxation, Journal of Taxation, Practical Tax Strategies, Real Estate Taxation and Taxation of Exempts)

BLS students, faculty and administrators can create accounts to use Checkpoint Edge

Site for BLS students to register: https://cpreg.thomsonreuters.com  Vendor requires students to re-register each semester.

BLS faculty and administrators: please contact Acquisitions Librarian/E-Resources Manager Jeff Gabel (jeff.gabel@brooklaw.edu) to begin the registration process.

Site for all researchers to log in after registration: https://checkpoint.riag.com 

Bloomberg Law - Tax & Accounting Center

Bloomberg Law: Tax & Accounting Center provides federal, state and international tax material.  Useful sources include: Daily Tax Report; Tax Management Weekly Report; Federal Tax Developments Tracker; and 2024 Federal Tax Guide for Tax Year 2023.

  • Issue regarding the BNA Portfolios on the Bloomberg Tax Research page: Can a researcher determine the date of the material in a portfolio?

Thomson Reuters - Westlaw practice area: Tax

Westlaw practice area: Tax provides: legislation; regulations (including Treasury Regulations); cases; administrative decisions and guidance (including Internal Revenue Service Private Letter Rulings, Revenue Procedures and Revenue Rulings); briefs; trial court documents; jury verdicts and settlements; forms; and selected secondary sources. 

Westlaw offers the Internal Revenue Code in both United States Code Annotated and in RIA's Complete Internal Revenue Code.

Westlaw: Tax Cases provides a search feature for all available tax cases + links (on right) to search American Federal Tax Reporter (RIA); U.S. Supreme Court Tax Cases; U.S. Courts of Appeals Tax Cases; U.S. District Courts Tax Cases; U.S. Court of Federal Claims Tax Cases; and U.S. Tax Court Cases (also provides subcollections: U.S.. Tax Court Division Opinions; Memorandum Opinions; and Summary Opinions).  

  • Citator tips: When reviewing a case in Westlaw, check for a KeyCite status flag + check KeyCite Citing References.  Westlaw also provides an additional federal tax citator for federal tax cases and administrative rulings cited in RIA reporters: Citator 2d (RIA) (scope: 1954-). 
  • Many of the tax cases in Westlaw also include West Headnotes - some  headnotes link to "Case(s) that cite(s) this headnote."  Many of the tax cases in Westlaw also include West Digest Topics/Key Numbers - click a Digest Topic/Key Number to find additional cases.   

Treatises in Westlaw include Federal Tax Coordinator 2d (in-depth analysis, arranged by tax topic) and Mertens Law of Federal Income Taxation (in-depth analysis, frequently cited by courts and the IRS).  

Westlaw practice area: Tax actually provides many WG&L tax treatises + paginated WG&L journals (including Corporate Taxation, Journal of International Taxation, Journal of Multistate Taxation, Journal of Taxation, Practical Tax Strategies, Real Estate Taxation and Taxation of Exempts).  Click a WG&L journal's title to view dates of coverage.  

Checkpoint Edge (not Westlaw) provides the daily news sources Federal Tax Update, State Tax Update and Payroll Tax Update and the annually updated Federal Tax Handbook.  Westlaw offers Taxation News and EY Tax News (EY = Ernst & Young).

Wolters Kluwer (includes CCH) - VitalLaw

BLS subscribes to Wolters Kluwer/CCH's Corporate OmniTax - U.S. Library.  Access VitalLaw platform > practice area: Tax - Federal.  Content includes the Code-based Standard Federal Tax Reporter (2024) and Federal Excise Tax Reporter.  

  • A search in Standard Federal Tax Reporter can be a useful way to obtain: a pertinent Internal Revenue Code section; related federal tax regulations; annotations of cases/agency guidance; CCH editorial "explanations" of the Code section; and information about new developments.  
    • Tip: An Internal Revenue Code section in Standard Federal Tax Reporter includes tab: History Notes and  tab: Related ItemsRelated Items are: references to pertinent Congressional committee reports; related final and temporary regulations; CCH editorial "explanations"; CCH annotations of cases and agency guidance (+ links to many of these documents); and new developments. 
    • The search box also supports searching in Standard Federal Tax Reporter.  VitalLaw recognizes a blank space between two words as: "and".  If researchers wish to conduct Boolean searches: click "?" (to right of search box) for explanations of search operators and Boolean connectors in VitalLaw.
    • Note: HeinOnline provides historic editions of Standard Federal Tax Reporter (1917-1985).

Content also includes U.S. Master Tax Guide (2024) handbook w/ links and the topic-oriented CCH Tax Research Consultant for practitioners. 

Current awareness sources include Federal Tax Day + CCH Federal Tax Weekly.  The BLS subscription also provides monthly TAXES - The Tax Magazine and Tax White Papers and Legal Insights (e.g., Top Tax Law Developments for [a recent 3-month period]). 

Moreover, this subscription provides Federal Tax Current Developments by Code Section, a client letter toolkit and business/tax preparation calculators.  It also offers a collection of tax forms, instructions and publications.     

Practice Area: Tax Federal box: Primary Sources also provides a pull-down menu of primary sources by document type:

  • Laws & Regulations (Constitution, Internal Revenue Code and Federal Tax Regulations)
  • IRS Administrative Rulings & Positions (IRS Publications, Notices of Proposed Rulemaking, Revenue Procedures, Revenue Rulings and Treasury Decisions)
  • Cases (U.S. Supreme Court Cases, United States Tax Cases (federal court decisions concerning income-tax related issues of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, U.S. District Courts, U.S. Court of Federal Claims, U.S. Courts of Appeals and U.S. Supreme Court from 2000-) and U.S. Board of Tax Appeals Regular Decisions and Memoranda Decisions

To access VitalLaw from off-campus locations: implement the BLS proxy server instructions for one web browser.  

Lexis - Tax Law

Lexis legal research practice area: Tax Law provides: legal news (including Law360 Tax Authority content); legislation; regulations; additional tax law administrative materials; cases; forms; briefs/pleadings/motions; jury verdicts and settlements; selected tax law guides and treatises (including multivolume treatise Lexis Tax Advisor - Federal Topical and multivolume treatise Rabkin & Johnson, Federal Income, Gift and Estate Taxation) and tax law journals

  • Link to: Advanced Search Form: Tax: Cases
    • Citator tip: For a pertinent case, view Shepard's signals, Citing Decisions and Other Citing Sources.
  • Link to: Law360: Legal News includes Law360 Tax Authority, which provides news under subcategories: Tax Authority Federal; Tax Authority International; and Tax Authority State & Local.