2007 Review of Tax Research Systems — Executive Summary
Dec. 19, 2006
From the January-March 2007 Review
of Tax Research Systems
Like many tax professionals, I have watched as outsourcing of tax preparation
services becomes a reality for many tax practitioners. I must admit that it
had not occurred to me that outsourcing of tax research services might be next.
If it had, I would have used the NEVER word. And well, I’d be wrong again.
That said, the tax research services reviewed here stand as proof that fast,
comprehensive, competent tax research is available at the fingertips of tax
professionals. These services share other attributes in an electronic and online
medium. Search techniques do not vary all that much. The reviewed products all
function using searches that run with real words, words coupled with search
terms and connectors, or a combination of the two. They are all fast, accurate
and easy to use.
Like any tax product, tax research systems vary widely in their exact coverage.
Moreover, the needs of tax practitioners vary in relationship to the tax clientele
they serve. All of the products reviewed here have online trials, and most have
“walk-throughs” available (or can arrange one, so ASK). These trials
are free and carry with them no obligation aside from the duty that every tax
practitioner has to select and utilize the tax research product that best fits
how that tax practitioner thinks and practices.
If you do not subscribe to an electronic tax research service, the frontier
of electronic tax research awaits your arrival with great promise. If you do
subscribe to such a product, you have a duty to explore and find out which tax
research service can deliver the best answers for your tax practice. Here’s
hoping that all of your tax research answers are on point.