Web-based tax resources.EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * Tax professionals looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. information on the Web should familiarize themselves with search engines and general subject and tax-specific directories. * The IRS An abbreviation for the Internal Revenue Service, a federal agency charged with the responsibility of administering and enforcing internal revenue laws. has established a very popular Website known as The Digital Daily. * The Web contains a variety of sites that address the legislative, administrative and judicial aspects of the tax law; while some of these sites are free, others are fee-based. A veritable cornucopia cornucopia (kôr'ny  kō`pēə), in Greek mythology, magnificent horn that filled itself with whatever meat or drink its owner requested. of tax information is now available at the
touch of a keyboard. The Internet InternetPublicly accessible computer network connecting many smaller networks from around the world. It grew out of a U.S. Defense Department program called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), established in 1969 with connections between computers at the teems with tax sites to aid the tax practitioner's need for Federal, state or international tax information. This article discusses some of the more useful tax information sites found on the World Wide Web, and explains the gamut See color gamut. gamut - The gamut of a monitor is the set of colours it can display. There are some colours which can't be made up of a mixture of red, green and blue phosphor emissions and so can't be displayed by any monitor. of information now available. The popular press abounds with stories of how people are using the World Wide Web (Web) for electronic commerce and worldwide dissemination dissemination Medtalk The spread of a pernicious process–eg, CA, acute infection Oncology Metastasis, see there of knowledge. The Web also has thousands of sites with useful references, forms and software for tax practitioners. This article describes how to locate tax resources on the Web, lists some of the most useful tax-oriented Websites by category and suggests ways to improve certain governmental sites. How to Begin Tax professionals seeking information on the Web should familiarize themselves with search engines and general subject and tax-specific directories. A search engine is a tool that provides a list of hyperlinked Web documents to match certain keywords provided by the user. Popular search engines include: * AltaVista (http://www.altavista.digital.com) * Excite (http://www.excite.com) * HotBot (http://www.hotbot.com) * Infoseek (http://www.infoseek.com) * LookSmart (http://www.looksmart. com) * Lycos (http://www.lycos.com) * Northern Light (http://www.northernlight.com) * Snap! (http://www.snap.com) * WebCrawler (http://www.webcrawler. com) * Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com) The Web addresses for all of the sites discussed in this article are listed in Exhibit 1 in the box on pp. 100-101.
Exhibit 1: Summary of Websites
Search Engines/General Directories
AltaVista http://www.altavista.digital.com
Excite http://www.excite.com
HotBot http://www.hotbot.com
Infoseek http://www.infoseek.com
LookSmart http://www.looksmart.com
Lycos http://www.lycos.com
Northern Light http://www.northernlight.com
Snap http://www.snap.com
WebCrawler http://www.webcrawler.com
Yahoo http://www.yahoo.com
Tax Directories
Tax and Accounting Sites
Directory http://www.taxsites.com
Will Yancey's Home Page http://www.willyancey.com
Tax Resources http://www.taxresources.com
TaxWeb http://www.taxweb.com
IRS Website
Home Page http://www.irs.ustreas.gov
Topic Index http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/
search/site_tree.html
Tax Professional's Corner http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/
bus info/tax_pro
Regulations http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/
tax_regs
Internal Revenue Bulletin http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/
bus_info/bullet.html
Forms and Instructions http://www.irs.ustreos.gov/prod/
forms_pubs/forms.html
Federal Tax Law (free services)
Legislative:
Thomas Legislative Information http://thomas.loc.gov
House Ways and Means
Committee http://www.house.gov/ways_means
Senate Finance Committee http://www.senate.gov/~finance
Joint Committee on Taxation http://www.house.gov/jct
Government Printing Office http://www.access.gpo.gov/
su_docs
U.S. Code http://law.house.gov/usc.htm
Administrative:
Code of Federal Regulations http://www.access.gpo.
gov/nara/cfr
Regulations (IRS) http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/
tax_regs
Internal Revenue Bulletin (IRS) http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/
bus_info/bullet.html
Revenue Rulings http://www.taxlinks.com
Judicial:
FindLaw (cases and Code) http://www.findlaw.com/casecode
Directory:
Federal Tax Law http://www.taxsites.com/
federal.html
Commercial Subscription Services
Bureau of National Affairs http://www.bna.com
Commerce Clearing House http://tax.cch.com
Current Legal Resources http://www.currentlegal.com
Lexis-Nexis http://www.lexis-nexis.com
Research Institute of America http://checkpoint.riag.com
Tax Analyst http://www.tax.orgs
TaxLibrary.com http://www.taxlibrary.com
West Group http://www.westgroup.com
State and Local Taxes
State and Local Taxes Directory http://www.taxsites.com/
state.html
Web Sites for State and
Local Tax Professionals http://www.willyancey.com/
tax-salt.htm
State Tax Agencies http://www.taxsites.com/
agencies.html
Federation of Tax Administrators http://www.taxadmin.org
Multistate Tax Commission http://www.mtc.gov
Arthur Andersen's State and
Local Tax Services http://www.arthurandersen.
com/salt
KPMG's State and Local Tax http://www.us.kpmg.com/salt
PricewaterhouseCoopers' http://www.clnewsnet.com/tnn/
Multistate Tax Update multistate.html
International Tax
International Tax Directory http://www.taxsites.com/
international.html
Ernst & Young's Doing
Business In http://www.doingbusinessin.com
KPMG's International Tax http://www.tax.kpmg.net
Tax Treaties--Bradley Smith http://www.intltaxlaw.com
Tax Treaties--Danziger's FDI http://www.danzigerfdi.com
Tax Forms
Forms, Instructions and
Publications Directory http://www.taxsites.com/
forms.html
IRS Forms and Instructions http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/
forms_pubs/forms.html
Adobe Acrobat Reader[R] http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/
acrobat/readstep.html
Tax Help, Tips and Articles
Tax Help, Tips & Articles
Directory http://www.taxsites.com/help.html
Deloitte & Touche's Tax
Planning Guide http://www.dtonline.com/
KPMG's Strategies for taxguide97/cover.htm
Financial Planning http://www.us.kpmg.com/
pfp/strategies
Quicken.com's Taxes http://www.quicken.com/taxes
SmartMoney's Tax Guide http://www.smartmoney.com/ac/tax
Tax Updates and Discussions
Deloitte & Touche's Tax News http://www.dtonline.com/
and Views tnv/tnv.htm
Ernst & Young's TaxCast http://www.taxcast.com
PricewaterhouseCoopers'
Tax News http://www.taxnews.com
NetworkTax Analysts' Tax News http://www.tax.org/TodaysTaxNews
IRS Digital Dispatch http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/
Mailing list help/newmail/maillist.html
Moderated Newsgroup news:misc.taxes.moderated
Tax Analysts' Discussion Groups http://www.tax.org/Discuss/
discussion.htm
On-Line Tax Preparation
TurboTax http://www.intuit.com/turbotax
TaxCut http://www.taxcut.com
FileSafe http://www.filesafe.net
SecureTax http://www.securetax.com
TaxAttack http://www.taxattack.com
TaxLogic http://www.taxlogic.com
Tax Organizations
Tax Associations Directory http://www.taxsites.com/
associations.html
Policy and Tax Reform Groups http://www.taxsites.com/
Directory policy.html
AICPA http://www.aicpa.org
Tax Software, Publishers and CPE
Tax Software Directory http://www.taxsites.com/
software.html
Tax Publishers and CPE http://www.taxsites.com/
Directory publishers.html
Tax Academia
American Taxation Association http://www.uni.edu/ata
American Accounting Association http://www.aaa-edu.org
Tax & Accounting Academia http://www.taxsites.com/
academia.html
Search engines actually search the contents of proprietary databases, not the Web itself. The various search engines available on the Web differ in their features and database contents; different results can be expected from each. The challenge is to create a search that results in a manageable number of relevant sites to investigate. This requires much practice and the ability to determine which keywords to search for and which advanced search features to use. The use of simple keyword searches in large databases should be avoided; they often result in an output list that contains thousands of irrelevant documents. Instead, search engine advanced features should be used, such as Boolean connectors (and, or, not, etc.), date limiting, phrase searching, field limiting, wildcard See wild cards and wildcard mask. truncation and domain limiting. These are powerful tools, but their use and availability vary among search engines. Example: X wants to find documents on a government server (1) issued by the Joint Committee on Taxation, (2) related to Roth IRA Roth IRA An individual retirement plan that bears many similarities to the Traditional IRA. Contributions are never deductible, and qualified distributions are tax-free. A qualified distribution is one that is taken at least five years after the taxpayer established his/her first provisions and (3) dated after 1997. Exhibit 2 in the box on p. 102 illustrates the results of an advanced search using the AltaVista search engine (http://www.altavista. digital.com), which yielded eight matching documents. Entering "joint committee on taxation" in the second box directs the search engine to rank the document output list by that phrase (double quotation marks quotation marks Noun, pl the punctuation marks used to begin and end a quotation, either `` and '' or ` and ' quotation marks npl → comillas fpl indicate use of a phrase). Entering "Roth IRA" AND domain:gov tells the search engine to find documents that contain the phrase "Roth IRA" and that appear only on government domain servers. Date range is limited by use of the right-hand boxes. [Exhibit 2 ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] General subject directories list topics of interest first by major category (e.g., automobiles, computers, finance, travel). Within each category, a hierarchy of subcategories typically exists. To find links to Websites relevant to a particular topic, a user must browse (1) To view the contents of a file or a group of files. Browser programs generally let you view data by scrolling through the documents or databases. In a database program, the browse mode often lets you edit the data. See Web browser. through the major categories (and often, several layers of subcategories). One advantage of using a subject directory is that the sites found are usually of good quality, often handpicked by the directory's editor. The disadvantage is that classification schemes differ among the directories, making searches inconsistent from one directory to another. Most of the major search engine sites mentioned above also contain general subject directories. Yahoo! is the largest and the best known (see Exhibit 3 in the box on p. 102). [Exhibit 3 ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A third way to find tax information on the Web is to search directories that specialize spe·cial·ize v. 1. To limit one's profession to a particular specialty or subject area for study, research, or treatment. 2. To adapt to a particular function or environment. in listing tax and tax-related sites. Because these are subject-specific directories, tax resources may be found more quickly with them than by using a search engine or general subject directory. These directories also have more detailed listings of tax sites than do general subject directories. Each of the authors of this article maintains a directory that specializes in listing tax and related sites (Exhibit 4 in the box on p. 103 illustrates Dennis Schmidt's Tax and Accounting Sites Directory (http://www. taxsites.com); Exhibit 5 in the box on p. 103 depicts Will Yancey's Home Page (http://www.willyancey.com). The authors list in their directories all of the tax resources described below and many others not mentioned in this article. These two directories should be explored to see the extent of tax, accounting and legal information available on the Web. Other tax directories that should be explored include Tax Resources (http://www.taxresources. com) and TaxWeb (http://www.tax web.com). [Exhibit 4-5 ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IRS's Website The IRS has established a very popular Website known as The Digital Daily (http://www.irs.ustreas.gov), that can be viewed in either a graphics or text version. Network traffic on that site can be heavy at times, especially during tax season. Using the text version will reduce downloading downloading - download time significantly. To locate information on the IRS site, click on the Site Tree link displayed near the bottom of each page. This takes the user to a Topic Index page (http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/sear ch/site_tree.html) that lists the various documents and resources on the site in alphabetical order. A keyword search engine is also available by clicking on the Search link that appears at the bottom of each page. Exhibit 6 in the box on p. 105 lists many of the resources that are available on the IRS site. Exhibit 6: Resources on IRS Website * Alternate Filing, Payment and Refund TO REFUND. To pay back by the party who has received it, to the party who has paid it, money which ought not to have been paid. 2. On a deficiency of assets, executors and administrators cum testamento annexo, are entitled to have refunded to them legacies Options * Around the Nation--State and Local News * Calendar of Tax Events * Comments and Help * Comments on Proposed Regulations * Disasters and Emergencies * Electronic Services * Exempt Organizations * Forms, Instructions and Publications * Frequently Asked Tax Questions and Answers * Information for Businesses and Individuals * IRBs (since July 1995) * Internal Revenue Manual * International Tax Information * Mailing Lists An automated e-mail system on the Internet, which is maintained by subject matter. There are thousands of such lists that reach millions of individuals and businesses. New users generally subscribe by sending an e-mail with the word "subscribe" in it and subsequently receive all new * Market Segment Specialization A career option pursued by some attorneys that entails the acquisition of detailed knowledge of, and proficiency in, a particular area of law. As the law in the United States becomes increasingly complex and covers a greater number of subjects, more and more attorneys are Program * Newsstand * Regulations (since August 1995) * Statistics of Income * Summaries of New Tax Ads * Tax Professional's Corner * Taxpayer Help and Education * TeleFile * TeleTax Topics * What's Hot * Where to File and Who to Call A very useful resource for practitioners on the IRS site is the Tax Professional's Corner (http://www.irs. ustreas.gov/prod/bus_info/tax_pro). This page contains links to a variety of informative items (e.g., news updates, tax forms and instructions, IRS publications, administrative information and resources, continuing professional education (CPE (Customer Premises Equipment) Communications equipment that resides on the customer's premises. CPE - Customer Premises Equipment ) and special events, tax law issues, advance notices, electronic filing, mailing lists, etc.). The IRS has done a very good job of continuously improving its Website since it was established several years ago. New resources and documents are added to the site regularly. However, there is room for the following suggested improvements: * The addition of the 1954-1995 Cumulative Bulletins. * The addition of all publicly available letter rulings, technical advice memoranda, general counsel memoranda and any other IRS administrative pronouncements not currently available on the site. * To facilitate searching, all types of administrative pronouncements on the site should be available through a search tool that allows retrieval of documents by citation Citation (foaled 1945) U.S. Thoroughbred racehorse. In four seasons he won 32 of 45 races, finished second in ten, and third in two. He won the 1948 Triple Crown, and became the first horse to win $1 million. He set a world record in 1950 by running a mile in 1:33 3/5. . Until the IRS adds the missing administrative pronouncements to its site, the only way to access these materials on the Web is from one of the fee-based subscription services (discussed below under "Fee-Based Subscription Services"). Federal Tax Law The Web contains a variety of sites that address the legislative, administrative and judicial aspects of the tax law. Some of these sites are free, while others are fee-based. A comprehensive listing of Federal tax law sites can be found at http://www.taxsites.com/ federal.html. Free Services (O.Eng. Law) such feudal services as were not unbecoming the character of a soldier or a freemen to perform; as, to serve under his lord in war, to pay a sum of money, etc. See also: Free Legislative: Current legislative information is available from the Thomas (language) Thomas - A language compatible with the language Dylan(TM). Thomas is NOT Dylan(TM). The first public release of a translator to Scheme by Matt Birkholz, Jim Miller, and Ron Weiss, written at Digital Equipment Corporation's Cambridge Research Laboratory runs Legislative Information site (http://thomas.loc.gov), maintained by the Library of Congress. Major legislation can be searched by topic, title or bill number. A user may also follow floor activities in the House and Senate, check the latest status of bills, read the full text of bills and recently passed public laws, find roll call votes, view the Congressional Record A daily publication of the federal government that details the legislative proceedings of Congress. The Congressional Record began in 1873 and, in 1947, a feature called The Daily Digest was added to briefly highlight the daily legislative activities of each House, and read Committee Reports. Current tax legislation information is also available from the following sites: * The House Ways and Means WAYS AND MEANS. In legislative assemblies there is usually appointed a committee whose duties are to inquire into, and propose to the house, the ways and means to be adopted to raise funds for the use of the government. This body is called the committee of ways and means. Committee (http://www.house.gov/ ways_means), the Senate Finance Committee (http://www.senate. gov/~finance), the Joint Committee on Taxation (http://www.house. gov/jct) and the Government Printing Office (http://www.access. gpo.gov/su_docs Short for documents or documentation. ). In addition, large CPA (Computer Press Association, Landing, NJ) An earlier membership organization founded in 1983 that promoted excellence in computer journalism. Its annual awards honored outstanding examples in print, broadcast and electronic media. The CPA disbanded in 2000. firms often post summaries and analyses of recently erected tax legislation on their Websites. The U.S. Code A multivolume publication of the text of statutes enacted by Congress. Until 1926, the positive law for federal legislation was published in one volume of the Revised Statutes of 1875, and then in each sub-sequent volume of the statutes at large. (including Title 26, the IRC (Internet Relay Chat) Computer conferencing on the Internet. There are hundreds of IRC channels on numerous subjects that are hosted on IRC servers around the world. After joining a channel, your messages are broadcast to everyone listening to that channel. ) is available on the Web, courtesy of the U.S. House of Representatives Internet Law Library (http://law. house.gov/usc.htm). Unfortunately, the Web version of the U.S. Code is often perilously per·il·ous adj. Full of or involving peril; dangerous. per  il·ous·ly adv.per out of date, sometimes by more than two years; obviously, this limits its usefulness to tax professionals. Further, the text-based database containing it has a slow search engine and is difficult to navigate (1) "Surfing the Web." To move from page to page on the Web. (2) To move through the menu structure in a software application. . The following improvements are suggested: * The Federal government should update the Web version of the U.S. Code at least twice a year. * Breaking the database into smaller searchable components should accelerate the search process. * A hypertext hypertext, technique for organizing computer databases or documents to facilitate the nonsequential retrieval of information. Related pieces of information are connected by preestablished or user-created links that allow a user to follow associative trails across the version of the U.S. Code should replace the current text version, especially for cross-references. Administrative: Regulations can be found on the Code of Federal Regulations The New Deal program of legislation enacted during the administration of President franklin roosevelt established a large number of new federal agencies, which generated a shapeless and confusing mass of new regulations. site (http://www.access.gpo. gov/nara/cfr), a joint project sponsored by the National Archives National Archives, official depository for records of the U.S. federal government, established in 1934 by an act of Congress. Although displeasure concerning the method of keeping national records was voiced in Congress as early as 1810, the United States continued and Records Administration (NARA Nara (nä`rä), city (1990 pop. 349,349), capital of Nara prefecture, S Honshu, Japan. An ancient cultural and religious center, it was founded in 706 by imperial decree and was modeled after Chang'an (see Xi'an), the capital of T'ang China. ) and the Government Printing Office. The NARA updates the tax regulations (in Title 26) each April. A new browse feature allows a search to be restricted to Title 26. Regulations issued after Aug. 1, 1995, with references to plain-language summaries (if available) can also be found on the IRS Website (http://www.irs. ustreas.gov/prod/tax_regs). These regulations can be downloaded; comments on proposed regulations can be made via e-mail. Finding a particular regulation on the IRS site, however, is sometimes difficult. An index arranged by IRC section (or a citation search tool) would facilitate searching considerably. Revenue rulings and procedures, notices, announcements and other administrative pronouncements issued since July 1995 can be found on the IRS site on its Internal Revenue Bulletin page (http://www.irs.ustreas. gov/prod/bus_info/bullet.html). In addition, a new commercial Website, Tax Links (http://www.taxlinks.com), has a searchable database Refers to databases on the Web that are searchable by typing in a query. The term is quite redundant because all databases are searchable. In fact, that is one of their major features. of selected revenue rulings and procedures. Judicial: Currently, U.S. Tax Court decisions are not freely available on the Web; this is a serious gap in Web-based tax resources. The Tax Court distributes its opinions only in paper form; commercial publishers then convert the opinions to electronic form and sell them to subscribers. Unfortunately, this practice will continue until the Chief Judge of the Tax Court orders her Court Clerk A court clerk, in British English clerk to the court or in American English clerk of the court is an officer of the court whose responsibilities include maintaining the records of a court. Another duty is to swear in witnesses, jurors, and grand jurors. to begin electronic distribution. Even if the Tax Court were to release opinions electronically, prior opinions will probably only be available from commercial publishers. U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating from 1893 are available on the Web; Federal Circuit Court opinions, however, are generally available only for recent years. A few Federal District Court opinions are also available on the Web. A good place to start a search for Federal court decisions is at FindLaw (http://www.findlaw.com/casecode). Fee-Based Subscription Services Commercial publishers have spent millions to make their tax and legal libraries available on the Web on a subscription basis. Research Institute of America has a variety of Federal, state and international offerings under the "Checkpoint (programming) checkpoint - Saving the current state of a program and its data, including intermediate results, to disk or other non-volatile storage, so that if interrupted the program could be restarted at the point at which the last checkpoint occurred. " name (http://check point.riag.com). Commerce Clearing House (http://tax.cch.com) also offers a full line of Web-based tax products. Other tax and legal publishers that provide fee-based subscription services over the Web include the Bureau of National Affairs BNA (The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.) is a Washington, D.C.-based publisher of news and information on legislation, regulations, and court decisions for professionals in business and government. It is the oldest wholly employee-owned company in the United States. (http://www.bna.com), Current Legal Resources (http://www.cur cur a derogatory term for a mongrel dog. rentlegal.com), Lexis-Nexis (http://www. lexisnexis.com),Tax Analysts (http:// www.tax.org), TaxLibrary.com (http:// www.taxlibrary.com) and the West Group (http://www.westgroup.com). Available services and prices range widely from publisher to publisher and even within some publishers' product lines. Annual subscription fees can range from several hundred to several thousand dollars, depending on the products(s) used and the number of users. Web-based subscription services offer many advantages to tax professionals. Publishers update them frequently (usually daily), so the information available is always current. Having the publisher make the updates eliminates the time and expense of paying someone to manually update the materials; having the publisher maintain the documents on its server flees up capacity for a firm's server and network. Another advantage is that the services are available from any computer located anywhere in the world that has Internet access See how to access the Internet. . State and Local Taxes One area in which the Web has really blossomed in recent years is state and local taxation (see http://www.taxsites.com/ state.html and http://www.willyancey. com/tax-salt.htm for hundreds of links). This growth is especially beneficial to tax professionals who may not have comprehensive state and local tax materials in-house In-house In the context of general equities, keeping an activity within the firm. For example, rather than go to the marketplace and sell a security for a client to anyone, an attempt is made to find a buyer to complete the transaction with the firm. . All 50 states now have a Website for their state tax agency (see http://www. taxsites.com/agencies.html for a complete list). Nearly every state has down-loadable tax forms and instructions; most states also provide comprehensive legislative information. Unfortunately, state judicial opinions and administrative rulings are often not available or of limited availability When customers of the PSTN make telephone calls, they commonly make use of a telecommunications network called a switched-circuit network. In a switched-circuit network, devices known as switches are used to connect the caller to the callee. . A good state tax agency site--in addition to providing downloadable tax forms and information related to state income, sales, use, property and other taxes--should have links to the general state statutes, the tax sections of the general statutes, state tax regulations, state tax rulings and other administrative pronouncements, legislative developments, judicial information, professional organizations and related state agencies' Websites. Users should check out their state's Website and send a suggestion via e-mail to the site's Webmaster A person responsible for the implementation of a Web site. Webmasters must be proficient in HTML as well as one or more scripting and interface languages such as JavaScript and Perl. They may also have experience with more than one type of Web server. See Web administrator and Webmistress. if any of these links are missing. Many professional organizations and associations concerned with state and local tax issues have a presence on the Web. Much useful information can be gathered from their sites, even if the user is not a member of the organization. Tax administration issues are addressed on the Websites for the Federation of Tax Administrators (http://www.taxadmin.org) and the Multistate mul·ti·state adj. Of, relating to, or involving several states: a multistate environmental campaign. Tax Commission (http://www.mtc.gov). The Web is also a good place to find articles about state and local tax issues, many of which the largest CPA firms post. Good examples include Arthur Andersen's State and Local Tax Services site (http://www.arthurandersen. com/salt), KPMG's State and Local Tax site (http://www.us.kpmg.com/salt) and PricewaterhouseCoopers' Multistate Tax Update site (http://www.clnewsnet. com/tnn/multistate.html). International Tax Similar to state taxation, Web-based information related to international taxation has grown tremendously during the last two years (see http://www. taxsites.com/international.html for dozens of links). Many foreign governments have created Websites (often in English) for their tax and tax-related agencies. Several foreign-based accounting and law firms This list of the world's largest law firms by revenue is taken from The Lawyer and The American Lawyer and is ordered by 2006 revenue:[1]
bi·lat·er·al adj. 1. Having or formed of two sides; two-sided. 2. tax treaties, some of them can be located on http://www.intltaxlaw.com and http:// www.danzigerfdi.com. Tax Forms Many tax professionals use the Web to obtain Federal, state and foreign tax forms. With Internet access and a quality printer, these forms can be made instantly available. Most tax forms are downloaded from Federal or state sites, but they are also reproduced on many nongovernmental sites. Links to a variety of sources of tax forms can be found at http://www.taxsites.com/ forms.html. Nearly all of the tax forms available on the Web are in portable document format (file format) Portable Document Format - (PDF) The native file format for Adobe Systems' Acrobat. PDF is the file format for representing documents in a manner that is independent of the original application software, hardware, and operating system used to create those documents. (PDF (Portable Document Format) The de facto standard for document publishing from Adobe. On the Web, there are countless brochures, data sheets, white papers and technical manuals in the PDF format. ) and require the Adobe adobe (ədō`bē): see rammed earth. adobe Handmade sun-dried bricks formed from a mixture of heavy clay and straw found in arid regions. Acrobat Reader The former name of Adobe Reader. See PDF. [R] to view and print. This free software package is easy to download To receive a file transmitted over a network. In any communications session, "download" means receive, and "upload" means send. The download/upload often implies a big/little scenario, in which data is being downloaded from the "big" server into the "little" user's computer. and install; the step-by-step instructions are located at http://www. adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/read step.html. Most PDF tax forms can only be viewed or printed; information cannot be entered directly on the form before printing. The IRS, however, recently added several "fill-in" forms to its Website, which allow data to be entered directly on a form before printing. The software that supports these fill-in forms is not yet capable of computations. Tax Help, Tips and Articles The number of Web-based documents related to tax help and tax tips posted by governmental agencies, software vendors, publishers, tax preparation firms, investment companies and CPA and law firms has increased dramatically during the last two years. Although most of these self-help Redressing or preventing wrongs by one's own action Without Recourse to legal proceedings. Self-help is a term in the law that describes corrective or preventive measures taken by a private citizen. sites are targeted at taxpayers rather than tax professionals, some of them offer very competent advice on sophisticated tax and personal financial issues. These sites can be browsed by the user and/or recommended to clients. For example, Deloitte & Touche has placed its entire Tax Planning Tax planning Devising strategies throughout the year in order to minimize tax liability, for example, by choosing a tax filing status that is most beneficial to the taxpayer. Guide on-line (http://www.dtonline.com/taxguide9 7/cover.htm). Other good resources include KPMG's Strategies for Financial Planning Financial planning Evaluating the investing and financing options available to a firm. Planning includes attempting to make optimal decisions, projecting the consequences of these decisions for the firm in the form of a financial plan, and then comparing future performance against (http://www.us.kpmg.com/ pfp/strategies), Quicken A popular financial management program for PCs and Macs from Intuit, Inc., Mountain View, CA (www.intuit.com). It is used to write checks, organize investments and produce a variety of reports for personal finance and small business. .com's Taxes (http://www.quicken.com/taxes) and SmartMoney's Tax Guide (http://www. smartmoney.com/ac/tax). Links to additional tax help, tip and article sites can be found at http://www.taxsites.com/ help.html. To find an article on a particular subject, use a popular search engine and conduct a well-defined keyword search. Tax Updates and Discussions The Web is a good place for tax professionals to stay up-to-date with tax issues and events. The IRS Website has several pages dedicated to tax news. Other worthwhile sites from which to obtain current tax updates include Deloitte & Touche's Tax News and Views (http://www.dtonline.com/tnv/ tnv.htm), Ernst & Young's TaxCast (http://www.taxcast.com), Pricewater houseCoopers' Tax News Network (http://www.taxnews.com) and Tax Analysts' Tax News (http://www.tax.org/TodaysTaxNews). Users can also subscribe to Verb 1. subscribe to - receive or obtain regularly; "We take the Times every day" subscribe, take buy, purchase - obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction; "The family purchased a new car"; "The conglomerate acquired a new company"; the IRS Digital Dispatch A dispatch or dispatches can refer to:
The Web is also a convenient place for tax professionals to engage in discussion groups with others. One of the most popular forums is the Usenet newsgroup A newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users at different locations. The term is somewhat confusing, because it is usually a discussion group. (news:misc.taxes.moderated). After posting a tax question there, it is not uncommon to have several tax practitioners respond to it. (The unmoderated misc.taxes newsgroup newsgroup Internet forum for discussion of specific subjects. Newsgroups are organized into subjects (e.g., automobiles); each typically has several subgroups (e.g., classic cars, Formula One racing cars). should be avoided, as it is often full of spams (insults), off-topic cross-postings and tax protester The term tax protester as used in the United States has been defined as a term applying to "persons who claim the tax laws are unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, and who therefore fail to file a tax return or file returns with no income or tax data supplied. messages.) Another excellent resource is the collection of more than 20 discussion groups sponsored by Tax Analysts (http://www. tax.org/Discuss/discussion.htm). A user can pick and choose which groups to subscribe to and can change selections at any time. Each group is moderated by a member of the Tax Analysts staff, who sends users an e-mail message from once a week to once a month, depending on the group. Archives of prior postings are available on the Web (http://www. tax.org/taxa/tadiscus.nsf). On-line Tax Preparation One of the newest tax features on the Web is the ability of taxpayers to transmit To send data over a communications line. See transfer. their personal tax information, in an interactive and secure manner, to a commercial tax preparation service. The service typically assembles the taxpayer's information, prepares the necessary Federal returns (and state returns, if available) and either files the returns electronically or allows the taxpayer to file print copies. TurboTax (http://www. intuit in·tu·it tr.v. in·tu·it·ed, in·tu·it·ing, in·tu·its Usage Problem To know intuitively. [Back-formation from intuition. .com/turbotax) and TaxCut (http://www.taxcut.com) entered the on-line preparation business for the first time during the 1997 filing season. Other early players in this new venture include FileSafe (http://www.filesafe. net), SecureTax (http://www.securetax. corn), TaxAttack (http://www. taxattack.com) and TaxLogic (http:// www.taxlogic.com). Practitioners can expect to see more on-line tax preparation service providers in the near future. Tax Organizations For users interested in tax policy matters, the Web is a good place to locate information about policy groups and tax reform groups (see http://www. taxsites.com/policy.html for a list of sites). For users who belong to professional associations, or want to join one, information related to most tax-oriented associations also can be found on the Web (for a list of sites, see http://www. taxsites.com/associations.html). Browsing See browse. a professional association's Website generally allows one to obtain membership information; peruse pe·ruse tr.v. pe·rused, pe·rus·ing, pe·rus·es To read or examine, typically with great care. [Middle English perusen, to use up : Latin per-, per- the most current newsletter and other on-line publications; learn about committees, officers, staff and other organizational items; read about (and perhaps register for) the next meeting; view a calendar of events; order books and other materials; and read current announcements. For example, the AICPA AICPA See American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). site (http://www.aicpa.org) allows one to explore the "Taxation Topics" page, join a tax forum and order tax software and publications. Tax Software, Publishers and CPE Most tax software vendors maintain comprehensive Websites, from which to learn about their product lines; securely place orders; and perhaps download demonstration, working or upgrade versions of their software. Categories of tax software available on-line include tax preparation, electronic filing, estate and trust planning, sales and use tax Sales and use tax refers to:
Tax an employer withholds and/or pays on behalf of their employees based on the wage or salary of the employee. In most countries, including the U.S., both state and federal authorities collect some form of payroll tax. , tax planning, tax research, tax forms and supplies, tax tools and utilities and international tax. For a comprehensive list of software vendors, see http://www.taxsites.com/software.ht mi. The Web is also a good place to locate tax publishers and explore their print, CD-ROM CD-ROM: see compact disc. CD-ROM in full compact disc read-only memory Type of computer storage medium that is read optically (e.g., by a laser). and Web-based product lines. Many publishers also offer (or specialize in) CPE course materials. For a list of tax publishers and CPE providers, see http://www.taxsites. com/publishers.html. Tax Academia Transmitting information via the Internet was popular in academia long before the Web came on-line. Thus, it was natural that academicians at colleges and universities were among the first to embrace Web technology. Today, the accounting department at nearly every school maintains a Website from which to obtain information about degree programs, course offerings, scholarships, faculty, research projects, VITA (VMEbus International Trade Association, Fountain Hills, AZ, www.vita.com) A trade association that supports the VMEbus and other open standards. Founded in 1984, VITA was accredited as an ANSI standards development organization in 1993. See VMEbus. programs, student resumes, alumni news, etc. This benefits tax professionals in several ways. Recruiters can review student resumes and program descriptions. Professionals interested in pursuing graduate work can use the Web to explore programs at various schools. Some tax practitioners also serve as adjunct adjunct (aj´ungkt), n a drug or other substance that serves a supplemental purpose in therapy. adjunct faculty; they can browse course materials posted on the Web by other instructors for ideas and share their own ideas with others. Tax professionals interested in interacting with academia should explore the following sites:American Taxation Association (http://www.uni Uni ( `nē), fl. c.2325 B.C., Egyptian official of the VI dynasty. His career is known through his private inscription. .edu/ata), American Accounting Association
(http://www.aaa-edu.org) and Tax & Accounting Academia (http://www.
taxsites.com/academia.html).Conclusion Tax-oriented Websites cover a wide range of tax law and practice. The Web contains an abundance Abundance See also Fertility. Amalthea’s horn horn of Zeus’s nurse-goat which became a cornucopia. [Gk. Myth.: Walsh Classical, 19] cornucopia conical receptacle which symbolizes abundance. [Rom. Myth. of Federal, state and international tax materials, and is an excellent place to find information on tax policy issues, download tax forms, stay current on tax matters, share information with other tax professionals and learn about tax software and publications. Over the past few years, Web-based tax resources have grown considerably in quantity and quality, and are likely to continue to improve. Tax professionals have available to them--literally at the click of a mouse--hundreds of quality tax resources, both free and subscription-based. Now is the time to surf the Web for tax information! Dennis R. Schmidt, Ph.D., CPA Professor of Accounting University of Northern Iowa The University of Northern Iowa, in Cedar Falls, Iowa, was founded in 1876, as the Iowa State Normal School. It has colleges of Business Administration, Education, Humanities and Fine Arts, Natural Sciences, and Social and Behavioral Sciences, and a graduate school. Cedar Falls Cedar Falls, city (1990 pop. 34,298), Black Hawk co., N Iowa, on the Cedar River; inc. 1854. It developed as a milling center in the late 19th-century after the coming of the railroad; its name is derived from the cedar tree. , IA William F. Yancey, Ph.D., CPA Sole Practitioner Fort Worth, TX |
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