Parker Tax Library and other research services

Software. Marketing. Training. Running your business.
#1
BFStax  
Posts:
496
Joined:
21-Apr-2014 4:01pm
Location:
CT
Has anyone used this service for tax research? They are running a special for $267/year. The only tax research I use currently is Google, IRS, and this site. Looking for a solution to help with research and analysis, new tax court cases, etc...

What other quality services are out there at a reasonable price?
 

#2
Coddington  
Moderator
Posts:
2567
Joined:
21-Apr-2014 8:50pm
Location:
Fort Worth, TX
It depends on what you mean by a reasonable price. At $267/year, you won't find much competition. Stepping up to $500 to 600/year, you'll find Tax Analyst's OneDisc (or online equivalent). Less expert analysis but far more case law, (about 34,000 more cases based on both's published stats). At $1200/yr or so, you can get RIA's Public Domain Library, which is all of their federal source content. Lexis will give you the same content, plus Shepard's plus 50-state content for around $2000. These last two have no editorial content. If you're just interested in new stuff, Tax Notes Today from Tax Analysts is something like $1200-1500 per year and has archives back to '87.

I use Lexis Tax Center. The combination of the annotated US Code and Shepards removes the need for editorial content in almost all situations.
-Brian

Director of Tax Accounting Methods & Credits
SourceAdvisors.com

Opinions my own.
 

#3
kathyt  
Posts:
445
Joined:
21-Apr-2014 7:42am
Location:
Lake Charles, LA
I had Parker for a few years, they do have a lot of information on there but I thought the search function was not very good, it took me too long to find what I needed. If I knew what I was looking for it worked great, but when I didn't know exactly what I needed and had to do a general search, I had a lot of difficulty finding what I needed. This is the first year I didn't renew it.
 

#4
BFStax  
Posts:
496
Joined:
21-Apr-2014 4:01pm
Location:
CT
they do have a lot of information on there but I thought the search function was not very good

It does seem like they have a lot of information, and for the price I thought I would give it a shot since they include a 30 day money back guarantee. They actually say how powerful and easy their search engine is so your comment gives me concern.

Are you switching to a different service?

Coddington, for my current situation a reasonable price would be $500 or less. I am looking for research that can also provide expert analysis. I have never used any service so I don't really know what to look for.
 

#5
kathyt  
Posts:
445
Joined:
21-Apr-2014 7:42am
Location:
Lake Charles, LA
Go ahead and try it if there's a 30 day money back guarantee. I had a hard time with searching, but then again, I had a hard time searching TA sometimes so maybe it's just me.
 

#6
Frankly  
Moderator
Posts:
2455
Joined:
21-Apr-2014 9:08am
Location:
California
Another low-budget option is The Taxbook Web Library Plus for $269. I've not used it so offer no opinion.
http://www.thetaxbook.com/tl_sub_options.asp
 

#7
BFStax  
Posts:
496
Joined:
21-Apr-2014 4:01pm
Location:
CT
Another low-budget option is The Taxbook Web Library Plus for $269

I've seen their quick reference guide although never used it. Their service appears to be a compilation of IRS pubs, revenue rulings, etc... everything that is already free. Doesn't appear to offer any expert analysis on what all of those pubs an rulings mean.

Can anyone comment on this?
 

#8
makbo  
Posts:
6840
Joined:
23-Apr-2014 3:44pm
Location:
In The Counting House
BFStax wrote:Another low-budget option is The Taxbook Web Library Plus for $269
IRS pubs, revenue rulings, etc... everything that is already free. Doesn't appear to offer any expert analysis on what all of those pubs an rulings mean.

"Already free" is a relative term. I tried for a while rummaging around on various slow-loading internet sites where you are not even sure what you are looking at is the latest version, and it was not very satisfactory or efficient. Having accurate IRC, regs, rulings, pubs, letters, notices, etc all in one place with one user interface is worth the small price.

The TaxBook offers periodic news releases on new tax law and court case. They also have in-depth publications beyond the annual quick reference, for example a very handy series of four documents on ACA. You get all of this with the Plus subscription.

What you need obviously depends highly on the nature of your practice. I worked for two years for another EA who had RIA research subscription, but I don't recall it every being really useful to anything I was working on. For my needs, I'd rather pay the annual bargain rate for basic organized access, and then pay per-question for any highly specialized research, which I only anticipate happening a few times per year.
 


Return to Business Operations and Development



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: TaxThatAsset and 33 guests