Tax Analysts
Encyclopedia
Tax Analysts is a nonprofit publisher of weekly magazine
s and daily online journals on tax
policy and administration. Tax Analysts also promotes transparency in tax policymaking and holds regular conferences on key tax issues.
testimony on proposed legislation
and published op-ed
s that could reach a broader audience. But within 10 years, the group had shifted focus and become the country's foremost provider of unbiased tax information with a style that since come to be regarded by tax professionals as "the epitome of hard-nosed impartiality."
The organization underwent a restructuring at the end of 2001 as it sought to deal with globalization
, technological advances and increased competition in the tax publishing arena. In 2001, Field retired from Tax Analysts and was succeeded by Christopher Bergin, who had until then been the editor Tax Notes, the organization's flagship publication.
Since its inception, the organization has grown dramatically in size and scope, moving from a lightweight nonprofit to a global publisher with correspondent
s across the country and around the globe providing information for some 150,000 readers worldwide.
The organization also publishes several reference sources, including:
for access to private letter rulings (PLRs) and technical advice memorandums (TAMs) — crucial guidance documents that provided legal advice to specific taxpayers and IRS field agents.
Over the years, this guidance had become a sort of “secret law” whereby the IRS decided how to apply the law to particular taxpayers and then refused to make the terms public. This practice left other taxpayers at a disadvantage, since the IRS relied on existing secret guidance when deciding subsequent cases. At the same time, it gave an unfair advantage to a few large law and accounting firms that had joined forces to create a private library of these undisclosed materials.
The courts gave Tax Analysts access to PLRs, and Congress soon required public disclosure of TAMs as well. Those key victories provided the foundation for almost 40 years of subsequent litigation by Tax Analysts to defend disclosure and tax transparency. The organization continues to work for transparency in the administration of the tax law and recently forced the IRS to disclose guidance being sent to IRS field agents via email.
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
s and daily online journals on tax
Tax
To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
policy and administration. Tax Analysts also promotes transparency in tax policymaking and holds regular conferences on key tax issues.
History
Thomas F. Field founded Tax Analysts in 1970 as part of an effort to expose tax policymaking to the general public at a time when it was being heavily influenced by special interests. The organization provided analysis on prominent policy debates, offered congressionalUnited States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
testimony on proposed legislation
Legislation
Legislation is law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body, or the process of making it...
and published op-ed
Op-ed
An op-ed, abbreviated from opposite the editorial page , is a newspaper article that expresses the opinions of a named writer who is usually unaffiliated with the newspaper's editorial board...
s that could reach a broader audience. But within 10 years, the group had shifted focus and become the country's foremost provider of unbiased tax information with a style that since come to be regarded by tax professionals as "the epitome of hard-nosed impartiality."
The organization underwent a restructuring at the end of 2001 as it sought to deal with globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
, technological advances and increased competition in the tax publishing arena. In 2001, Field retired from Tax Analysts and was succeeded by Christopher Bergin, who had until then been the editor Tax Notes, the organization's flagship publication.
Since its inception, the organization has grown dramatically in size and scope, moving from a lightweight nonprofit to a global publisher with correspondent
Correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is a journalist or commentator, or more general speaking, an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, location. A foreign correspondent is stationed in a foreign...
s across the country and around the globe providing information for some 150,000 readers worldwide.
Staffing and governance
Tax Analysts says it has the “largest tax-dedicated correspondent staff” of any organization, with more than 250 correspondents in the United States and around the world. Overseeing this staff is the organization’s president and publisher, Christopher E. Bergin, who took the reins from founder Thomas Field in 2001.Board of directors
Besides Bergin, the Tax Analysts board of directors includes:- Chairman Martin Lobel of Lobel, Novins & Lamont;
- John L. Buckley of Georgetown University Law CenterGeorgetown University Law CenterGeorgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C.. Established in 1870, the Law Center offers J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. degrees in law...
; - Edward W. Erickson of North Carolina State UniversityNorth Carolina State UniversityNorth Carolina State University at Raleigh is a public, coeducational, extensive research university located in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Commonly known as NC State, the university is part of the University of North Carolina system and is a land, sea, and space grant institution...
; - Thomas L. Evans of Kirkland & EllisKirkland & EllisKirkland & Ellis LLP is an international law firm with headquarters in Chicago, known for its profitability and its litigation, bankruptcy, intellectual property and private equity departments. Kirkland & Ellis is currently ranked as the ninth most prestigious law firm in the United States by...
; - Lawrence B. Gibbs of Miller & Chevalier;
- Larry R. Langdon of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw;
- Richard G. Larsen of Ernst & YoungErnst & YoungErnst & Young is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms, along with Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers ....
; - Michael J. Murphy of Sutherland Asbill & BrennanSutherland Asbill & BrennanSutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP, rebranded to the abbreviated name of Sutherland, is an AmLaw 100 American law firm. Founded in 1924 by William Sutherland and Elbert Tuttle as Sutherland & Tuttle, the firm originally achieved national prominence on tax issues...
; - Pamela F. Olson of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & FlomSkadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & FlomSkadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates , founded in 1948, is a prominent law firm based in New York City. With over 2,000 attorneys, it is one of the largest and highest-grossing law firms in the world. Forbes magazine calls Skadden "Wall Street's most powerful law firm"...
; - Deborah H. Schenk of the New York UniversityNew York UniversityNew York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
School of LawNew York University School of LawThe New York University School of Law is the law school of New York University. Established in 1835, the school offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in law, and is located in Greenwich Village, in the New York City borough of Manhattan....
; - Arthur W. Wright of the University of ConnecticutUniversity of ConnecticutThe admission rate to the University of Connecticut is about 50% and has been steadily decreasing, with about 28,000 prospective students applying for admission to the freshman class in recent years. Approximately 40,000 prospective students tour the main campus in Storrs annually...
; and - Eric M. Zolt of the UCLA School of LawUCLA School of LawThe UCLA School of Law is the law school of the University of California, Los Angeles. It has been approved by the American Bar Association since 1950. It joined the Association of American Law Schools in 1952.- History :...
.
Publishing
The primary vehicle by which Tax Analysts pursues its goals is the publication of various weekly magazines covering legislative, administrative and judicial developments in tax law. Those publications include:- Tax Notes, covering developments in U.S. tax law (published daily online as Tax Notes Today);
- State Tax Notes, covering legislative, administrative and judicial developments in tax law in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories (published daily online as State Tax Today);
- Tax Notes International, covering developments in tax policy around the world (published daily online as Worldwide Tax Daily);
- The Exempt Organization Tax Review, targeted at nonprofit organizationNonprofit organizationNonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
s and relevant changes in tax policy at the state, federal and international levels (published daily online as EO Tax Today); and - The Insurance Tax Review, covering changes in insuranceInsuranceIn law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
taxation at the state, federal and international levels.
The organization also publishes several reference sources, including:
- Federal Research Library, compiling the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, IRS regulations, TreasuryUnited States Department of the TreasuryThe Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue...
decisions and other primary sources; - Worldwide Tax Treaties, a database of more than 5,000 tax treatiesTreatyA treaty is an express agreement under international law entered into by actors in international law, namely sovereign states and international organizations. A treaty may also be known as an agreement, protocol, covenant, convention or exchange of letters, among other terms...
, tools for comparing treaties and news on global tax treaty developments; - The Tax Directory, a directory of officials charged with writing, implementing and interpreting tax law across the country and around the world; and
- Withholding Worldwide, a customized service providing withholdingTax withholding in the United StatesThree key types of withholding tax are imposed at various levels in the United States:*Wage withholding taxes,*Withholding tax on payments to foreign persons, and*Backup withholding on dividends and interest....
data from sources around the world.
Other activities
The TA mission statement calls for a commitment to “working for the transparency of tax rules, fostering increased dialogue between taxing authorities and taxpayers, and providing forums for education and debate." To those ends, the organization carries out several other functions beyond its publishing efforts.FOIA advocacy
First, it has extensive time and effort to ensure public access to key documents in tax policy and administration. When necessary, it has sued the IRS for access to documents through which the agency provides guidance to its staff and individual taxpayers. Using the Freedom of Information Act, Tax Analysts fought for access to key documents in tax policy and administration. In 1972, the organization sued the Internal Revenue ServiceInternal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
for access to private letter rulings (PLRs) and technical advice memorandums (TAMs) — crucial guidance documents that provided legal advice to specific taxpayers and IRS field agents.
Over the years, this guidance had become a sort of “secret law” whereby the IRS decided how to apply the law to particular taxpayers and then refused to make the terms public. This practice left other taxpayers at a disadvantage, since the IRS relied on existing secret guidance when deciding subsequent cases. At the same time, it gave an unfair advantage to a few large law and accounting firms that had joined forces to create a private library of these undisclosed materials.
The courts gave Tax Analysts access to PLRs, and Congress soon required public disclosure of TAMs as well. Those key victories provided the foundation for almost 40 years of subsequent litigation by Tax Analysts to defend disclosure and tax transparency. The organization continues to work for transparency in the administration of the tax law and recently forced the IRS to disclose guidance being sent to IRS field agents via email.
| Date | Action | Case Number |
|---|---|---|
| March 26, 2009 | Stipulated Order Entered in Chief Counsel Two-Hour Advice Case | Tax Analysts v. IRS; No. 1-05-cv-00934 (D.C. Cir. March 26, 2009) |
| July 24, 2007 | D.C. Circuit Courts Affirms Two-Hour Rule Decision in favor of Tax Analysts | Tax Analysts v. IRS; No. 06-5136 (D.C. Cir. July 24, 2007) |
| November 20, 2006 | Tax Analysts files a FOIA suit against the IRS asking the agency to comply with "monthly performance reports" | Tax Analysts et al. v. IRS; No. 1:06CV01983 |
| February 27, 2006 | The District Court for the District of Columbia determines that the IRS Office of Chief Counsel's written advice prepared in less than two hours is advice subject to section 6110's public inspection requirements, but that some IRS records are exempt from FOIA disclosure because they are predecisional and deliberative. | Tax Analysts v. IRS; No. 05-0934.2 |
| May 10, 2005 | Tax Analysts files a FOIA suit against the IRS seeking disclosure of Chief Counsel Advice Memos | Tax Analysts v. IRS; No. 05-0934 |
| June 25, 2004 | Tax Analysts Files FOIA Action for Release of Withheld Chief Counsel Advice Memorandums | Tax Analysts v. IRS; No. 1:04CV01050 |
| December 2, 2003 | The District of Columbia Circuit, reversing the district court, holds that the IRS must disclose determinations revoking or denying tax exemptions. | Tax Analysts v. IRS; No. 02-5278 |
| August 27, 2002 | District Court Denies FOIA Request for Letter Rulings Denying or Revoking Tax-Exempt Status | Tax Analysts v. IRS; No. 00-2914 (RMU) |