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Federal Tax Research: Historical Regulations

This guide provides information on federal tax law and identifies pertinent print and online resources available through the NYU Law Library.

Historical Tax Regulations Basics

Provided the correct legal procedure is followed, regulations, including tax regulations, can be superseded by new regulations. 

Citation, Historical Tax Regulations

The following citation resources may be informative.

  • Bluebook T1.2, Federal Administrative & Executive Materials ( "Although Department of Treasury regulations are published under title 26 of the C.F.R., cite as <Treas. Reg.>. . . .If any subsection of the cited section has been amended or for some other reason appears in substantially different versions, give the year of the last amendment. Follow this form even if the particular subsection cited has never been amended. > Treas. Reg. § 1.61-2(c) (as amended in 1995).")
  • Bluebook R. 14, Administrative and Executive Materials
  • IRM § 4.10.7.2.3.6, Citing the Regulations ("The first division is the CFR part number and indicates the subject of the regulation. The part number appears before the decimal point in a citation . . .The numbers immediately after the decimal point refer to the Code section to which the regulations apply . . .The section number of the regulation is separated from the Code section by a hyphen . . .")
  • TaxCite, Pt. 1, C.1, Treasury Regulations

Tip**As per the Bluebook citation above, tax citations often do not include the pertinent CFR title (title 26).

Abbreviations, Historical Tax Regulations

Below are pertinent abbreviations.

  • Code of Federal Regulations=C.F.R. or CFR
  • Federal Register=Fed.Reg.
  • Treasury Decision=T.D. or TD
  • Treasury Regulation=Treas.Reg.

Sources of Historical Tax Regulations

Below are links to sources offering historical regulatory material on tax topics. Warning: Some of the sources listed below may also contain current regulations.

Sources of Historical Regulations (Not Tax Specific)

Below are links either to sources offering historical regulatory material. ***Note: Some of the sources listed below also contain current regulations.