Using RIA Tax Information

SCOPE | KEYWORD SEARCH | CITATION SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS SEARCH | STATE SEARCH | VIEWING SEARCH RESULTS | MARKING/PRINTING/DOWNLOADING/SAVING | SEARCH RIA

SCOPE

RIA Tax Information contains the full text of the Internal Revenue Code, Committee Reports, Tax Regulations, Tax Treaties, Federal Court Decisions, Internal Revenue Bulletins, Federal Editorial Materials (including the Federal Tax Coordinator 2d), Private Letter Rulings and Tax Alert databases. Primary materials as well as editorial materials are accessible in RIA. Primary sources include the actual code, revenue rulings, and court cases. Editorial sources include comments, annotations, and explanations.

KEYWORD SEARCH

Once you have logged in to RIA, you will be in keyword search mode.  To conduct a keyword search:

1. Choose a Practice Area using the pull-down menu on the side toolbar.  "Federal" is selected by default.
2. Type your keywords into the search box provided.  If you want to search for a phrase, such as employee social security credit, be sure to enclose it in quotation marks (").  If you want to search for multiple words with the same stem, use the asterisk (*) as a truncation symbol.
3. Choose the type of materials you would like to search.  You can either search all of the materials in a certain category simultaneously, or you can choose specific sources from the list provided. For example, you have the option of selecting from Editorial Materials, Primary Source Materials, News/Current Awareness, Legislation (Editorial Analysis and Source Material), and Archive Materials. Within these categories, you can choose subcategories. For example, within the Editorial Materials, you can select only the Federal Tax Coordinator. If you click inside the Primary Source Materials, then all subcategories are searched.
4. Click on the "Search" button to view results.

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CITATION SEARCH

1. Choose the relevant Practice Area from the practice area menu.
2. Select the type of citation that you want to retrieve from the left sidebar.
3. A customized template that is appropriate to the citation type you have selected will appear on your screen.
4. Fill in the information requested in the template.  If you are unsure of the correct citation format to use in your search, refer to the examples given.
   
   
   
5. Click on "Search".

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TABLE OF CONTENTS SEARCH

You can use the Table of Contents feature to browse the RIA database, or to search a subset of the database by keyword.  To browse the Table of Contents:

1. Click on the Table of Contents link on the upper right-hand corner of your screen.
2. If you know the area that you would like to go to, use the top pull-down menu to "jump" to that area.
3. To see the "top level" menu, select Checkpoint Contents, or, on the left-hand side toolbar, select "Level 1" as your Display Filter.
4. To see a "lower level" menu, click on the plus sign (+).  A plus sign (+) appearing next to an option means there are lower levels for you to view.  Click on the minus sign (-) to collapse the level.
5. If you want to see the contents of particular content area, click on the name of the area (not on the plus or minus sign).
6. Once you see the document and printer icons, you can click on the document's title to see the full text.

To search using the Table of Contents feature:

1. Select the boxes next to the content areas you would like to search.
2. Enter your keywords in the search box at the bottom of your screen.
3. Click on the "Search" button.  RIA will now indicate how many times your keyword appears in the areas that you selected.

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STATE SEARCH

RIA allows you to search for New York State materials using customized search templates.  To search for state materials:

1. Select "State & Local" as your Practice Area using the pull-down menu.
2. Select "New York" from the list of states and click on the "Next" button.
3. Select the Tax Type(s) you are interested in by checking the appropriate boxes.
4. Select the Document Type(s) you are interested in by checking the appropriate boxes.
5. At this point, you can either click on "Search" to see all of the documents meeting your criteria, or you can enter keywords that describe your topic into the search box.

You can also search for state materials by citation.  To do so, select the source you want to search from the side toolbar and enter your citation as shown.  If you want to search for federal cases on state taxes, or if you want to search StateNet or the Journal of Multistate Tax, click on "Search Other State Products".  The "Search Multiple Sources" link allows you to search all of the state and local sources available simultaneously.

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VIEWING SEARCH RESULTS

Once you have entered your search criteria, RIA will show you the number of documents that meet your criteria in your selected source(s).  Click on the source name to view the list of documents.  Click on a document title to view the full text of that document.  Notice that your document list now appears on the left-hand side of your screen.  You can also choose from the following viewing and navigating options:

• Click on the link to see a full screen version of a selected document.
• On the left-hand side toolbar:
  • Click on "Contents" view to see information on the source you are in.
  • Click on "Links" to see related documents, including explanations, annotations, code sections, regulations, and legislative history.
  • Click on "Search Tools" to modify your search, or search within your current search results.
• At the bottom of your screen:
• Click on the right and left "Document" arrows to move from one document to the next.
• Click on the right and left "Contents" arrows to move between consecutive sections of your source.
• Click on the right and left "Keyword" arrows to jump to your keyword in a selected document.
• Within the main document frame, your options will vary depending on the type of document you are viewing.  For instance:
• If you are viewing a section of a Code, you can see information on legislative history ("Hist"), committee reports ("Com Rpts"), or related regulations ("Regs").
• If you are viewing a committee reports, you can see related Code sections ("IRC").
• If you are viewing a case, you can view citations to the case ("Citator").

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MARKING/PRINTING/DOWNLOADING/SAVING

• To mark documents to print or download later, check the boxes next to the document titles, and then click on "Add to My Folders".  To retrieve these documents, click on the "My Folders" link on the upper right-hand part of the screen.  Note that saved folders are associated with specific RIA passwords.  Since passwords are shared, you may want to avoid saving your results in this way.

• To print a document (without hyperlinks, icons, etc.), click on "Print" at the bottom of your screen.  A separate window containing a text version of your document will appear for printing.

• To download a particular document, click on "Export" at the bottom of the screen. The default is to save as a Microsoft Word document.  Choose a file name and location for your document to save it.

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SEARCH RIA

If you need further information on searching RIA, online help is available.  Click on Help link. Choose either the "FAQ's" tab or select the appropriate help topic.

Once you have finished using RIA, please remember to Sign Off using the button in the upper right-hand corner of your screen.

Begin searching RIA Tax Information.

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