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TaxAlmanac.org Offers Free Additional Tax Resource

www.taxalmanac.org

From the January-March 2007 Review
of Tax Research Systems

In addition to traditional tax research systems, which now include web-based,
print and disc-based archives and updates, accountants and tax professionals
have used their peers for sounding boards and advice for decades. TaxAlmanac.org
is essentially a combination of the two, providing an online tax information
resource that tax professionals can consult for research purposes, and which
they can also add to or edit as their knowledge of tax law would dictate. The
result is a free peer-submitted, peer-edited and peer-reviewed tax resource
that enables the tax community to pool its collective experience and knowledge.

The online tax information “wiki” (as user-edited information
websites are called) opens to a Main Page that includes a Tax Research Library
with primary source information (Internal Revenue Code, Revenue Rulings, Treasury
Regulations, tax treaties, court rulings, and other sources). The home page
also houses sections for date-sensitive feature articles, current events, recent
tax news with linked headlines, archived in-depth articles on tax subjects,
and discussion forums that allow tax professionals to discuss specific tax treatments
with other professionals. Recent discussions included treatment of repayment
of $100,000 of C-Corp income, whether air travel awards can be deducted as an
expense when used for business purposes, and the possible gifting of standing
timber.

A menu bar provides users with access to specific subject matter, including
Income, Deductions, Depreciation, Credits, State, Business, Forms & Publications,
Code, Regs, and Miscellaneous information. TaxAlmanac.org also includes an advanced
search feature.

As noted earlier, the content offered on TaxAlmanac.org is all provided by
other tax, accounting and legal professionals, with any logged in visitor having
the ability to edit most of the content sections. Certain areas, such as the
primary source Research Libraries, are not editable. To help prevent abuse of
the system or incorrect data, a team of administrators whose credentials and
expertise has been verified, is responsible for overseeing edited content and
deleting, protecting or moving information as necessary. Additionally, full-time
leaders from the tax community are responsible for setting policy, considering
suggestions and overseeing TaxAlmanac.org. Each article includes an historical
look-back thread that functions like an audit trail, allowing users to see how
an article has been changed over time and by whom.

While not necessarily a replacement for traditional tax research systems,
TaxAlmanac.org offers an excellent resource for those in the profession to interact
and to combine the wealth of knowledge that the whole community shares into
an easily referenced resource that, in-turn, helps everyone in the community.