Accounting and Auditing Research and Databases: Practitioner's Desk Reference

Summary

Tax research is challenging but exciting. One should use secondary sources such as tax research database services to help find relevant primary authorities. One's inspection of the Code, the Treasury Regulations, cases, and other administrative sources must carefully analyze the primary authorities. One needs to understand the court hierarchy to determine whether a case is precedent or merely influential. Essentially, one follows five steps in the research process: investigate the facts and identify the issues, collect the appropriate authorities, analyze the research, develop the reasoning and conclusion, and communicate the results. The tax research environment is defined by the different types of tax audits and the regulation of the profession.