Understanding the New Tax Law

It's been hard to ignore the last few weeks of debate about the massive tax legislation working its way through Congress. A controversial “compromise” plan, engineered in part by the White House, passed the U.S. House of Representatives close to midnight on Thursday, December 16.

Just a few hours later, the major tax research databases were announcing the publication of updated commentary and analysis of the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act (H.R. 4853 – THOMAS bill summary and text). Researchers at Duke Law have access to three premium tax resources: BNA’s Tax and Accounting Center, CCH IntelliConnect, and RIA Checkpoint. Since research in these services can be overwhelming to novice users, here are detailed roadmaps to their expert commentaries on the new tax law.

• BNA Tax and Accounting Center: Follow the path Federal Tax > Tax Legislation > BNA Analysis of the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, passed by the House and Senate.

• CCH IntelliConnect: Follow this path in the “Browse” menu: Federal Tax > Federal Tax Legislation > Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010: Law, Explanation & Analysis. Note that IntelliConnect requires a username and password, which can be created with your Duke email address.

• RIA Checkpoint: The full text of RIA’s “Complete Analysis of the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, RIC Modernization, and Other Late 2010 Tax Provisions” is currently linked from the database home page, and is also searchable from the “Research” tab underneath “Legislation (Editorial Analysis and Source Material).”

Just sixteen hours after its passage in the House, the President signed the bill into public law, illustrating the value of these electronic services as sources for news and analysis on the latest developments in tax law. For more sources of information on federal tax, check out the library’s research guide or Ask a Librarian.