Treasury Regulations - Tax Research - Federal - LibGuides at University of San Francisco School of Law

About Treasury Regulations

Congress delegates rule-making authority to the Department of the Treasury in Internal Revenue Code § 7805(a) and other Code sections. Thus, the Treasury department promulgates regulations (also called "rules") pursuant to statutory authority. (The Internal Revenue Service (I.R.S.) is part of the Treasury Department.)

Regulations are the highest administrative authority issued by the Treasury Department (higher than Revenue Rulings and other guidance documents).

Before the Treasury Department can issue regulations in final form, it must first publish proposed regulations and allow the public time to comment on them. Unlike proposed regulations, temporary regulations go into effect immediately upon publication in the Federal Register, but they must expire within three years of enactment (with the exception of temporary regulations issued prior to 1989). In contrast, final regulations are permanent and are promulgated after the public has had an opportunity to comment upon them.

Temporary and final regulations have the force of law, while proposed regulations generally do not (except that proposed regulations can be cited as substantial authority for avoiding the understatement of income tax liability under I.R.C. § 6662(b)(2)).

["Seal on United States Department of the Treasury on the Building" photo by MohitSingh, Creative Commons license: CC BY-SA 3.0]

Finding Treasury Regulations

Find temporary and final treasury regulations arranged by topic in Title 26 of the Code of Federal Regulations. To find proposed regulations, use the Federal Register (which publishes all three types of regulations and is arranged chronologically by publication date).

For a more detailed discussion of how to research federal regulations, see USF's Federal Regulations Research Guide.

You can find Treasury Regulations in these resources:

Treasury Regulations - Bloomberg Law Tax Practice Center
Current Treasury Regulations. Searchable and Browsable.

Checkpoint - Tax Research (Access for Individual Checkpoint ID holders) This link opens in a new window
Under "Search Tools," follow the "Federal Codes and Regs" link. Or, select the "Search" tab, then select or expand "Treasury Regulations (RIA)."

Treasury Regulations - Lexis Advance
This link takes you to the C.F.R. on Lexis, with Title 26 (Internal Revenue regulations) selected for browsing or searching.
Treasury Regulations - Westlaw
Current version of the Treasury Regulations in Title 26 of the C.F.R.
Code of Federal Regulations - GovInfo
In-force federal rules and regulations. Based on the current print version. The Code of CFR annual edition is published on a staggered basis. For searching, use the GovInfo Advanced Search feature. To update, use: List of CFR Sections Affected. (From the Government Publishing Office; covers 1996 to the present.)
Tax Code, Regulations & Official Guidance — Internal Revenue Service
Free access to the Internal Revenue Code, Treasury regulations, and IRS guidance documents.

Citing Treasury Regulations

Title 26 of the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) is the Internal Revenue title. Instead of citing them like other regulations (for example, 15 C.F.R. § 10), however, the BlueBook cites them as Treasury Regulations. The BlueBook citation also makes apparent the type of regulation (final, proposed, or temporary), as the following examples illustrate: Treas. Reg. § 1.61-2(c), Prop. Treas. Reg. § 1.704-1, and Temp. Treas. Reg. § 1.71-1T.