Taxation policies keep on changing from time to time, and thus, it is paramount that tax research is done adequately to ensure proper provision of advice to the clients. There are various types of tax research. The first type of tax research is the policy research that is mainly aimed at establishing reasons behind the changes in the tax policy. To this end, the results that are obtained by conducting this research can assist in influencing legislative processes. For example, if the results obtained after the research reveal that the policy was not effective, legislators would be advised to make the necessary changes to the policy.
The second type of the policy is the planning research. Every day, individuals and businesses conduct money transactions for various reasons. It is essential that these transactions meet the requirements that are stipulated by the law. Therefore, planning research helps in the identification of the best method of conducting the transactions while meeting the taxation requirements. The other type of tax research is the compliance research ( Shevlin, 1999) . In this type of research, the tax practitioner has to establish all facts about the tax system and the best way of meeting the requirements of the existing tax system. Since the purpose of a business is to make maximum profits within the current legal framework, it is paramount for the tax practitioner to conduct adequate compliance research to ensure the business obtains the best tax result within the existing policy framework.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Out of the various types of research, policy research has more authority. Indeed, the results that are obtained after the policy research are used to influence the decisions of legislators. Policy research acts as an eye opener because it helps in the identification of the various challenges that are associated with the policy. Therefore, legislators can make rational decisions that seek to improve the efficiency of the taxation system. In addition, policy research is more authoritative because it helps in amending the tax laws that affect the other frameworks such as planning and compliance.
There are various examples in each of the categories of tax research. In the planning research, tax policies such as progressive, regressive, and proportional tax can be researched to identify the best taxation plan. In progressive tax, the tax increases with increasing income ( Suits, 1977) . On the other hand, regressive taxations imply that the taxation amounts reduce with increasing incomes. Lastly, proportional taxation ensures a linear taxation system whereby the amounts of tax paid are proportional to the income received.
There are two sources of tax research, the primary and the secondary resources. Also, there exist various types of primary sources of information in tax research including the US Code and the Internal Revenue Bulletins. The US Code is primarily the US government site that contains a lot of information on taxation. Additionally, the Internal Revenue Bulletins is an instrumental channel for publishing executive orders among other key changes on taxation by the courts and conventional treaties ( Zelenak, 1984) . The third primary source of information is the legislative histories that that can be accessed free of charge in the official site for the Library of Congress.
The secondary sources of information on taxation include the journals and articles such as the Business Source complete, Google Scholar and the ProQuest Accounting and Tax Database. These sites provide a lot of information about the various systems of taxation. However, accessing the Business Source Complete site requires an individual to get approval from Harvard University. Sites such as Google Scholar may also require a person to make some payments through credit cards before they can be allowed to have access to the resources.
References
Shevlin, T. (1999). Research in taxation. Accounting Horizons , 13 (4), 427-441.
Suits, D. B. (1977). Measurement of tax progressivity. The American Economic Review , 67 (4), 747-752.
Zelenak, L. (1984). Should Courts Require the Internal Revenue Service to be Consistent. Tax L. Rev. , 40 , 411.
