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Federal Tax Law Research: Locating Sections of the IRC

Locating Sections of the IRC

The best sources for locating IRC sections are the two looseleaf services discussed below. For general information on how to use the looseleaf services click here.

1) CCH Standard Federal Tax Reporter KF 6285. C67

IRC sections are contained in the two companion volumes titled "Internal Revenue Code," as well as in volumes 1-18. The IRC volumes contain the text of IRC sections, as well as an explanation of amendments to that section. You can look up a citation in the volumes or, if you need to find a relevant code citation, you should look in the topical index of volume 1 of the IRC volumes. The index will direct you to the appropriate code section. Volume 1 also contains a Table of Contents listing all the IRC sections in order.

You can also look up a citation in volumes 1-18. The spines of volumes 1-18 list the IRC sections they cover. If you are searching for a relevant code citation you can also search the detailed topical index found in the separate index volume at the end of the set. The index will point you to a paragraph number. The entry designated by that paragraph number will include the text of the relevant IRC section.

The SFTR is also available on CCH Tax Research NetWork (available on the Harvard Law School Network and at some law firms). If you know the code section you are looking for, click on the Find By Citation link at the top of the screen, and type in the code section in the fields beginning with “IRC.” If you want to browse the IRC, click on the Federal Tab, then under Primary Sources click on the Internal Revenue Code link, and continue clicking on the relevant subtitle, chapter, and part links until you reach the code section in which you are interested. You can also search the IRC by checking the box in front of the Internal Revenue Code link and then entering search terms in the box at the top of the screen.

2) RIA United States Tax Reporter KF 6285. P742x

Code sections are contained within the two-volume IRC set and the main compilation volumes. The IRC volumes contain the full text of the IRC along with a history of each amendment to a section since 1954. To find a code section, you can either look up a citation in the volumes or look for a citation in the topical index or in the list of all IRC sections in Volume I. The index will direct you to the appropriate code section.

You can also look up a citation in the compilation volumes, 3-15A. The spines of these volumes list the IRC sections which they contain. If you are searching for a relevant code section, you can also search the detailed topical index located in Volume 1, which will point you to an IRC section and to paragraph numbers addressing the topic in the compilation volumes.

The RIA IRC is also available on Westlaw in the following database: RIA-IRC. The database RIA-IRC contains the full text of RIA's Complete Internal Revenue Code, which includes the entire Internal Revenue Code plus a searchable table of contents and legislative history (historical notes) dating back to 1954.

The USTR is also available on RIA Checkpoint (available on the Harvard Law School Network and at some law firms). If you know the code section you are looking for, on the left-hand side of the screen, under Find By Citation, click on “Code & Regs,” enter your citation and click Search. You can also search the IRC by checking the box in front of the Code entry under Primary Source Materials, entering search terms in the box at the top of the screen and clicking search.

Other Sources for Locating Sections of the IRC