Pritzker Legal Research Center: Tax Law Research Resources: Free Resources

Internal Revenue Code

The Internal Revenue Code is located in Title 26 of the United States Code. The following resources provide quick, free access if you need to review a section.

Cornell Legal Information Institute
Govinfo.gov
In addition to the current version of the Internal Revenue Code, this site provides historical versions dating back to 1994.
Office of the Law Revision Counsel

Tax Regulations

Under the Internal Revenue Code, the Department of Treasury has the authority to promulgate regulations. These regulations are located in Title 26 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

Code of Federal Regulations on Govinfo.gov
Govinfo.gov provides the current version of the Code of Federal Regulations, along with archival versions dating back to 1996.
Cornell Legal Information Institute
Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
The eCFR, although not an official source, offers a version of the Code of Federal Regulations incorporating recently finalized rules.
Regulations.gov
Use Regulations.gov to track proposed regulations and to review the history of final regulations.

Need to Locate the Regulations Implementing the Tax Code?

A common research task involves locating the regulations associated with one or more provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. To do this, use the Parallel Table of Authorities and Rules from one of the following sites:

Cornell Legal Information Institute
Govinfo (within CFR Index and Finding Aids)

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports

CRS Reports: Budget, Public Finance & Taxation
"CRS reports provide Congress with both anticipatory and on-demand research and analysis to support their legislative, oversight, and representational duties. All reports adhere to the core values of CRS; they are authoritative, objective and nonpartisan. Reports range in length from several pages to more than one-hundred pages and cover the full breadth of topics of interest to Congress."

Illinois Tax Laws

Chapter 35 of the Illinois Consolidated Statutes contains the Illinois tax statutes. Meanwhile, Title 86 of the Illinois Administrative Code contains the Illinois tax regulations. The links below provide access to both.