The United States Tax Court is a federal court that hears tax disputes of any nature. The Tax Court issues three kinds of opinions: regular Tax Court opinions, memorandum opinions, and summary opinions. Regular opinions treat difficult or new legal principles in taxation, whereas memorandum opinions represent the application of less controversial legal principles to a set of facts. Summary Opinions are issued only for small tax cases and have no weight as precedent. Regular decisions (both single-division and full-court-reviewed) are reported in an official reporter: Reports of the Tax Court of the United States [Fourth Floor, Government Documents, Ju11.7:]. Advance sheets are published in CCH's Tax Court Reporter (Looseleafs, KF 6324 .A512). This reporter also summarizes the issues in all cases pending in the Tax Court. Tax Court memorandum decisions are reported unofficially by CCH in Tax Court Memorandum Decisions (Looseleafs, KF 6324 .A513).
The Board of Tax Appeals was the predecessor to the current Tax Court. Its decisions (1924-1942) were reported officially in United States Board of Tax Appeals Reports (Fourth Floor, Government Documents, Y3.T19:6/[vol. #]).
Regular Tax Court decisions and Memorandum Opinions are both available on Westlaw, Bloomberg, and Lexis.
Summary Opinions are available on the Tax Court’s website at http://www.ustaxcourt.gov/UstcInOp/asp/HistoricOptions.asp
The rules of the Tax Court are in CCH (see Looseleaf Services, below) and U.S.C.A. [U.S. Reference].
Federal District Courts and the Court of Federal Claims have trial jurisdiction over federal tax refund cases. The Federal Supplement [U.S. Reference] is the reporter for the federal district courts. The Federal Claims Reporter [U.S. Reference] reports cases of the Court of Federal Claims. Cases are also available on Lexis, Bloomberg, and Westlaw.
Cases are available in the Federal Reporter [U.S. Reference] for the Courts of Appeals and in the United States Reports [U.S. Reference], among others, for the United States Supreme Court. These cases are also available on Bloomberg, Lexis, and Westlaw. U.S. Tax Cases [Looseleafs, KF6324 .A514] is a looseleaf collecting tax cases from multiple courts.
