Tax Services
Tax services comprise the majority of the secondary sources that are available to help research tax questions. Secondary authorities are useful when conflicting primary authorities exist, when there appears to be no extant primary authority, or when you need an explanation or clarification of the primary authority. As you are researching your tax question you should take care not to rely too heavily upon the secondary authority, and always read any pertinent primary authority that is referred to in the secondary sources.
Several publishers have produced coordinated sets of reference materials that organize the tax authority into a usable format, making the Internal Revenue Code much more accessible. These commercial tax services are useful in that they often provide simplified explanations with footnote citations, as well as examples illustrating the application of the law. These tax services may lead you, via the footnote references, to the primary source that is pertinent to the question at hand.
A tax service can be classified as either an "annotated" service or a "topical" service. The annotated services are organized in Internal Revenue Code section order. Commerce Clearing House (CCH) and Research Institute of America (RIA) produce the two major annotated tax services. The topical services are arranged by topic, as defined by the publisher's editorial staff.
Choose a topic listed below to learn more: