Federal Tax Research: The Tax Code

 The primary source of federal tax law is the Internal Revenue Code ("the Code") of 1986, as amended. It is codified in Title 26 of the United State Code. The annotated versions of the code helpfully provide case citations and references to secondary sources.

• United States Code Annotated. St. Paul: West Group, 1927-. (USCA)  KF62 1970 .W47  Research and  9^th floor. Also available via Westlaw.

• United States Code Service. Charlottesville, VA: LexisNexis, 1972-. (USCS)  KF62 1972 .L38  9^th floor. Also available via Lexis.

The Code is also often published as a component of the major tax services such as  CCH's Standard Federal Tax Reporter (SFTR) loose leaf service.

• Standard Federal Tax Reporter. (Code Volumes) Chicago, Ill: Commerce Clearing House, 1945.  KF6365 .S73 10^th fl. Print not updated but electronic version available.

For help interpreting or applying the statutory language of the Code it is sometimes helpful to examine the legislative history of the Code.

• Barton's Federal Tax Laws Correlated: The Federal Income, Estate, and Gift Tax Laws, from the Revenue Act of 1913 to the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended. Barton, Walter E., Carroll Wright Browning, and Gersham Goldstein.Brandford, Conn: Federal Tax Press, 1968. KF 6335. A3 1968  10^th floor. This set traces and provides legislative history references for  tax provisions from 1913 to 1969. Also available via HeinOnline.
•  A Guide and Analytical Index to The Internal Revenue Acts of The United States, 1909-1950:Legislative Histories, Laws, and Administrative Documents.
• Reams, Bernard D., Larry M. Sewell, and Margaret A. Goldblatt. Buffalo, N.Y.: W.S. Hein, 1979. KF 6276 1979 index 10^th floor. This index lists older tax acts and the documents making up the their legislative histories. Also available via HeinOnline.
• Seidman's Legislative History of Federal Income and Excess Profits Tax Laws, 1953-1939. Seidman, J. S. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1954. KF 6355.8 1954 10^th floor. This set traces the legislative history of tax laws and includes relevant congressional documents. A companion set covers the period 1938-1861. Also available via HeinOnline.
• Tax Management, Primary Sources: Series V. Washington, D.C.: Tax Management, 1987. KF6365 .T38 Ser.V 10^th floor. These volumes provide legislative histories of laws from 1987 to 2007.
• Westlaw, Lexis, and Checkpoint all have various tax legislative history materials.
• The Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation issues reports, histories, and other publications on important tax legislation. These documents are available from 1920 to the current year on the Committee web page.

Users will need to provide their assigned Westlaw or LexisNexis login and password information when selecting links to those databases.

For other databases, such as Bloomberg Law and RIA checkpoint, links should lead directly to the resources if accessed from on-campus. If used off-campus, users will need to enter their UIC NETID and password to access the databases after selecting the database link.