Deck 6: Tax Services Ria Checkpoint

Question 1

Which statement is CORRECT regarding annotated tax services?

A)They are organized by Internal Revenue Code section.
B)They provide annotations, which are comprehensive, detailed analyses of related court cases and administrative rulings.
C)They divide the tax law into transactions and related subject matter with underlying tax principles as an organizing format.
D)All of these are correct.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

The Federal Tax Coordinator (FTC) is published by:

A)Thomson Reuters Checkpoint
B)CCH
C)Westlaw
D)​BNA

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which is an editorial service provided by Checkpoint?

A)Federal Tax Coordinator
B)United States Tax Reporter
C)Federal Tax Handbook
D)all of these are correct

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which strategy would be the most useful to a tax researcher unfamiliar with a particular tax topic?

A)Read the editorial explanation of the topic and the overview of the applicable law.
B)Perform a Google™ or Bing™ search.
C)Select a database to search.
D)None of these are correct.

Question 5

Topical tax services:

A)provide annotations
B)divide the tax law into transactions and related subject matter with underlying tax principles as an organizing format
C)have explanations that are organized by Internal Revenue Code section numbers
D)all of these are correct

Question 6

Checkpoint's annotated service, which formerly was known as PH Federal Taxes, is known by the following acronym:

A)the U.S. Master Tax Guide
B)AFTR
C)USTR
D)none of these are correct

Question 7

In some tax services, quotation marks are placed around the keywords to:

A)reduce the number of documents retrieved
B)indicate that the words should be searched separately
C)maximize the number of documents retrieved
D)indicate that the words should be searched as an exact phrase

Question 8

Checkpoint's flagship editorial content tax service is entitled the:

A)Federal Tax Coordinator
B)Federal Tax Handbook
C)Standard Federal Income Tax Reporter
D)United States Tax Reporter

Question 9

One of the greatest benefits of Checkpoint and any Internet service is:

A)the lack of information available
B)only published IRS documents can be researched
C)the currency of the information provided
D)only a few Courts are covered

Question 10

Which of the following statements best describes Checkpoint?

A)It has little value to accounting professionals.
B)It organizes information by database.
C)It has a limited database of cases.
D)None of these statements accurately describe Checkpoint.

Question 11

If you performed an intuitive search that returned 1000 documents, what could you do to narrow your search?

A)Reduce the number of databases searched.
B)Search within results.
C)Use terms and connectors to better define the relationship between keywords.
D)All of the these actions would help narrow the search results.

Question 12

The starting point in approaching any tax research problem is to:

A)browse the Table of Contents
B)formulate relevant tax questions and identify the issues associated with them
C)evaluate the tax problem and suggest solutions to the taxpayers
D)none of these are correct

Question 13

Primary source materials are important to the researcher because they are:

A)easily found
B)the source of "substantial authority"
C)listed in all publications
D)difficult to understand

Question 14

Which statement is CORRECT regarding commercial tax services?

A)They provide free access to all primary source tax materials.
B)They eliminate the need for reading primary tax law source materials.
C)They act as an index for and explanation of primary tax law.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 15

The key to effective tax research is:

A)finding your answer in free Internet sources
B)avoiding preparer penalties
C)finding the pertinent material necessary to arrive at an informed conclusion about the best treatment of a tax problem
D)all of these are correct

Question 16

Which of the following is INCORRECT regarding Checkpoint?

A)Access to its entire library is available from one screen.
B)It's a free research service.
C)It is owned by Thomson Reuters.
D)All of these are incorrect.

Question 17

If you want to retrieve documents relating to amortizing legal fees paid for organization of a partnership, which search query would yield the best results in Thomson Reuters Checkpoint?

A)amortizing and legal fees
B)amortiz* "legal fees" partnership
C)amortization organization not corporations
D)amortize and "legal fees" or partnerships

Question 18

Which service of Checkpoint is an annotated tax service?

A)Standard Federal Income Tax Reporter
B)​USTR
C)Tax Research Consultant
D)Federal Tax Coordinator

Question 19

The tax research platform "Checkpoint" is a product of which publisher?

A)CCH
B)Thomson Reuters
C)BNA Tax & Accounting
D)none of the these are correct

Question 20

The database which is organized by the numerical structure of Code is the:

A)topical database
B)IRS database
C)Court cases database
D)annotated database

Question 21

The advantage of an index search is that the tax meanings of the words are considered as well as the context in which the words are found.

Question 22

Thomson Reuters Checkpoint will NOT automatically use its Thesaurus and look for synonyms when you put in a search query.

Question 23

Thomson Reuters Checkpoint offers two main types of keyword searches: Terms & Connectors and Intuitive Search.

Question 24

A citator is a tool through which a tax researcher can learn the history of a legal source and evaluate the strength of its holdings.

Question 25

There are four primary search methods in Checkpoint: (1) keyword, (2) contents, (3) index, and (4) citation.

Question 26

The "Terms & Connectors" type of keyword search is useful when a researcher is unsure as to which keywords would be most effective.

Question 27

A Checkpoint Contents search can be difficult to use.

Question 28

The only support recognized by the IRS and courts are primary sources and not the editorial explanations of a tax service.

Question 29

The Federal Tax Coordinator is a topical service.

Question 30

Commercial tax services provide editorial explanations and expert analysis of primary tax law.

Question 31

Why would a researcher use a Table of Contents or Index search instead of a keyword search?

Question 32

Boolean connectors are used:

A)when the researcher is unsure as to which keywords would be most effective in a search
B)to define the relationship between keywords
C)in intuitive searches
D)none of these are correct

Question 33

Checkpoint (formerly RIA Checkpoint) is a commercial tax and accounting research service offered by CCH.

Question 34

Describe the four common search methods used in Thomson Reuters Checkpoint.

Question 35

The Federal Tax Coordinator (FTC) is generally considered the most comprehensive of the three editorial sources in Checkpoint.

Question 36

An Index search can be more effective than a keyword search because the researcher has the benefit of the tax expertise of the indexer.

Question 37

Keyword searches are not available when a researcher enters a tax service through the Table of Contents in Thomson Reuters Checkpoint.

Question 38

It is imperative that a citator be examined to determine how later legal sources have considered the document of interest.

Question 39

The footnote links in Checkpoint editorial services are not important to tax researchers.

Question 40

Explain the difference between an annotated tax service and a topical tax service. Give an example of each.

Question 41

Select three different primary sources, one from each area of tax law (legislative, administrative, and judicial), and provide a specific example of a source that is available in Checkpoint.

Question 42

What is the difference between a Terms & Connectors search and an Intuitive Search in Thomson Reuters Checkpoint? Give an example of each.

Question 43

Why would a practitioner need a commercial, subscription tax service when most tax sources are available on the Internet for free?