Federal Tax Research:
Selected Alternate Sources & Starting Points
Commercial Databases, Tax-related Organizations, Miscellaneous
[Commercial links in teal only accessible to subscribers]           
[Last reviewed or updated Apr. 30, 2008]

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Alternate Sources
♦   Findlaw.  Hierarchical index to law sites on the Internet. Useful starting point is the Findlaw tax section.
♦  Legalbitstream Tax Law Databases. (Mayfield Publishing Co.)  Advertising-supported site of keyword and/or citation searchable databases.  Coverage varies by type of publication; see the "Coverage" tab for details, exceptions, and contents notes. Also provides links to other tax resources.
♦  Cornell Legal Information Institute.  Well-respected web site providing links and/or full text documents.  See special section on state and federal income tax law.
♦  Access GPO on the Web.  Excellent alternate source for many federal law-related publications.
♦  Tax Analyst's TaxWire. News and links to tax policy readings from Tax Notes magazine.
♦  For additional federal legal research sources go to  Internet Sources for United States and Texas Law.

Commercial Databases (require subscriber password or link restricted to SMU Law access)
Commercial links that have restricted access are denoted in green characters instead of blue.

♦   Article:  Pratt, Katherine, Jennifer M. Kowal, and Daniel Martin, The Virtual Tax Library: A Comparison of Five Electronic Tax Research Platforms (September 28, 2007). Loyola-LA Legal Studies Paper No. 2007-37.  Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1017925

♦  RIA Checkpoint.  Commercial tax service.  Electronic texts of a wide range of RIA tax publications and primary sources.  (Restricted to Law School access through library's Research Tools - Find Articles & Databases web page; see topic "taxation.")
♦  CCH OmniTax Library.  Commercial tax service.  U.S. federal income, estate & gift, state, and international tax materials.  Range of CCH tax publications and primary sources.  (Restricted to Law School access from library's Research Tools―Find Articles & Databases web page; see topic "taxation.")
♦  BNA Daily Tax Report.  Commercial tax service.  Current and historical text of the digital edition of the DTR.  (Restricted to Law School access from library's Research Tools―Find Articles & Databases web page; see topic "taxation" or alphabetical entry under "BNA Online".)
♦  Tax Management Library.  Commercial tax service.  TM federal tax portfolios: income tax series, estate, gift & trusts series, and foreign income series.  (Restricted to Law School access from library's Research Tools―Find Articles & Databases web page; see topic "taxation" or alphabetical entry under "BNA Online".)
♦  Westlaw. Law school link.
♦  LexisNexis. Law school link.
♦  HeinOnline. (Press <Enter Site> button.) Search the text or browse 1,044 academic and bar journals including Tax Law Review and Tax Lawyer.  Note specific contents covered for each title in the "Law Journal Library."

Tax-related Organizations
♦   A.B.A. Section of Taxation.
        A.B.A. Section of Taxation Report of the Task Force on Judicial Deference, 57 Tax Law. 717 (2004). [PDF file]
♦  A.B.A. Section on Real Property, Probate and Trust Law.
♦  American College of Trust and Estate Counsel.
♦  American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
♦  AICPA Tax Executive Committee, Statement on Standards for Tax Services (Aug. 2000) (PDF file from AICPA).
♦  American Taxation Association.
♦  Federation of Tax Administrators.  Links to state tax agencies, state tax forms, electronic filing, and state tax news.
♦  Multi-state Taxation Commission.
♦  Tax Policy Center.  A joint venture of the Urban and Brookings Institutes.  "The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center aims to provide independent analyses of current and longer-term tax issues and to communicate its analyses to the public and to policymakers in a timely and accessible manner. The Center combines top national experts in tax, expenditure, budget policy, and micro-simulation modeling to concentrate on four overarching areas of tax policy that are critical to future debate:  (1) fair, simple, and efficient taxation, (2) social policy in the tax code, (3) long-term implications of tax and budget choices, and (4) state tax issues."  (quoted from the website)

Miscellaneous
♦   Tax History Project (Tax Analysts).  Compilation of articles, documents, cartoons, and a virtual museum on the history of U.S. Taxation.