U.S. Tax Resources

by Bookkeeping Essentials
(Canada)

Here are my notes on how to find what you need from the U.S. government websites.


Tax Code, Regulations and Official Tax Guidance

On the IRS website you can find links to the Internal Revenue Code, Treasury (Tax) Regulations and Other Official Guidance. It is located at irs.gov> Tax-Professionals> General Information> Code, Regs & Guidance> Tax-Code,-Regulations-and-Official-Guidance .

You will find a link to a brief primer on Understanding IRS Guidance to help you understand the difference between official IRS guidance versus non-precedential rulings or advice.

Also located on this page is a link to the master list of Internal Revenue Bulletins and Applicable Federal Rates (AFR).



The Legal Information Institute of Cornell University Law School (LII) - www.law.cornell.edu

LII is a not-for-profit group that has taken on the task of coordinating all US law accessible for free on the internet. Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII) plays a similar role in Canada.

The Legal Information Institute of Cornell University Law School is where you will find the United States Internal Revenue Code (IRC). It is located at law.cornell.edu> Legal Resources> U.S. Code> Text> Title 26 - Internal Revenue Code by subtitle. Subtitle C (SS3101-3510) is on employment taxes.


The Government Printing Office - www.gpo.gov/

The Government Printing Office website has a wealth of free electronic, official, published versions of government information. It contains legislative, executive and judicial resources.

You can click on the GPO Quick Link Ben's Guide to U.S. Government fo Kids (bensguide.gpo.gov) to learn the lay of the land. If you are curious about how laws are made, click on the Grade 9-12 link.

The wesite used to be called gpoaccess.gov. Since then it has been redesigned and is now just gpo.gov. Previously, it was organized into the three sections described below. I couldn't find how to get to these areas under the new website as everything just goes to GPO's Federal Digital System. It was much easier to follow the links in "Ben's Guide" under each section ... so I'm going to leave my information as follows because it is much more logically presented than their new site in my opinion.

The Legislative Branch resources is divided into four parts:

  • The Legislative Process - creating laws for the nation

  • Congressional Materials - committees, calendars and procedures

  • Legislative Resources - from congress and legislative agencies

  • Additional Resources - other federal web sites and resources


It is in this section that you can find a link to U.S. economic indicators. The latest I found on the site was at gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/ECONI-2011-01/pdf/ECONI-2011-01.pdf


The Executive Branch resources is divided into four parts:

  • The Regulatory Process - implementing laws passed by congress

  • Presidential Materials - remarks, speeches, & executive orders

  • Executive Publications - reports, investigations, findings, etc.

  • Additional Resources - other federal web sites and resources


This is the area where you will find the State of the Union address.

The federal budget of the United States government was found under GPO's Executive resources - Presidential Materials at gpo.gov> GPO's Federal Digital System (fdsys)> Budget of the United States Government (usbudget)> More Information. I think this is where you get the latest first hand information ... not the watered down version presented by the press.


The Judicial Branch resources is divided into three parts:

  • Federal Courts - resolve disputes over federal laws

  • Judicial Resources - federal publications and procedures

  • Additional Resources - other federal web sites and resources


This is where you will find Federal tax regulations. The US Department of Treasury provides the official interpretation of the IRC.


That's it for now.


Comments for U.S. Tax Resources

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Oct 04, 2010
Small Business Taxes & Management
by: Bookkeeping-Essentials.com

The website www.smbiz.com has great reference information for small businesses in the U.S.

For example, on their page "sbrl040.html", it explains you can access the IRS pdf file when you know the number for any recent ...

... Revenue Procedure - www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-10-xx.pdf

... Notice - www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-10-xx.pdf

... Revenue Ruling - www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rr-10-xx.pdf


where xx=the number you are looking and 10 = 2010

The IRS website explains that these "early drops" are advance notice for tax professionals ... so they are often released in advance of publishing them in the Internal Revenue Bulletin (IRB).


Aug 18, 2011
Headliner Volume
by: Lake

If you key "Headliner Volume" into the IRS search box, you will receive the latest headlines / article pertaining to small business.

Oct 10, 2013
Checklist for Reporting Foreign Assets
by: Lake

As the October 15th extension deadline nears, AICPA Insights has published a checklist for U.S. citizens to review ... that affects the filing of their 1040 return with regards reporting of foreign assets.

Items discussed are:

- Schedule B
- Form 8938 Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets
- Form 5471 Information Return of U.S. Persons with Respect To Certain Foreign Corporations
-Forms 3520/3520-A Foreign Trust Transactions and Ownership
- Form 8865 Certain Foreign Partnerships
- Form 926 Transferor of Property to a Foreign Corporation

You can read all the details here: blog.aicpa.org/2013/10/its-extension-time-checklist-for-reporting-foreign-assets.html

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