1. 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 and secondary tax law source materials.
d. All of the above statements are correct.
2. 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
3. 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 compile editorial explanations and evaluations of each Internal Revenue Code section.
d. All of the above statements are correct.
e. Only (a) and (c) are correct.
4. 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 the above.
5. 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 the above.
6. The Federal Tax Coordinator (FTC) is published by:
a. Thomson Reuters Checkpoint
b. CCH
c. Westlaw
d. BNA
7. 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 the above.
8. 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 the above.
9. In some tax services, quotations marks are placed around the keywords to:
a. ensure that maximum number of documents is 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.
10. 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 the above.
11. The tax research platform ‘Checkpoint’ is a product of which publisher?
a. CCH
b. Thomson Reuters
c. BNA Tax & Accounting
d. None of the above.
12. 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.
13. 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
14. One of the greatest benefits of Checkpoint and any Internet service is the:
a. lack of information available.
b. only published IRS documents can be researched.
c. currency of the information provided.
d. only covers a few Courts.
15. Which of the following is CORRECT 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. Both (a) and (c) are correct.
16. If you performed a natural language 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 above actions would help narrow the search results.
17. 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
18. Which of the following statements best describes Checkpoint?
a. It has little value to accounting professionals.
b. It is extremely user friendly.
c. It has a limited database of cases.
d. None of the above statements accurately describe Checkpoint.
19. 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.
20. Which is an editorial service provided by Checkpoint?
a. Federal Tax Coordinator
b. United States Tax Reporter
c. Federal Tax Handbook
d. All of the above
21. Boolean connectors are used:
a. to define the relationship between keywords.
b. as one method of entering search terms in commercial tax services.
c. in natural language searches.
d. only (a) and (b).
22. Traditionally, commercial tax services are classified into two general types: primary and secondary.
a. True
b. False
23. 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.
a. True
b. False
24. Thomson Reuters Checkpoint will automatically use its Thesaurus and look for synonyms when you put in a search
query.
a. True
b. False
25. Thomson Reuters Checkpoint offers two main types of keyword searches: Terms & Connectors and Natural
Language.
a. True
b. False
26. The ‘Terms & Connectors’ type of keyword search is useful when a researcher is unsure as to which keywords
would be most effective.
a. True
b. False
27. The Federal Tax Coordinator is a topical service.
a. True
b. False
28. The only support recognized by the IRS and courts are primary sources and not the editorial explanations of a tax
service.
a. True
b. False
29. It is imperative that a citator be examined to determine how later legal sources have considered the document of
interest.
a. True
b. False
30. Keyword searches are not available when a researcher enters a tax service through the Table of Contents in
Thomson Reuters Checkpoint.
a. True
b. False
31. The footnote links in Checkpoint editorial services are not important to tax researchers.
a. True
b. False
32. A Checkpoint Contents search is easily used by all researchers.
a. True
b. False
33. 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.
a. True
b. False
34. An Index search can be more effective than a keyword search because the researcher has the benefit of the tax
expertise of the indexer.
a. True
b. False
35. There are four primary search methods in Checkpoint: (1) keyword, (2) contents, (3) index, and (4) citation.
a. True
b. False
36. The Federal Tax Coordinator (FTC) is generally considered the most comprehensive of the three editorial sources in
Checkpoint.
a. True
b. False
37. Checkpoint (formerly RIA Checkpoint) is a commercial tax and accounting research service offered by CCH.
a. True
b. False
38. Explain the difference between an annotated tax service and a topical tax service. Give an example of each.
39. Why would a researcher use a Table of Contents or Index search instead of a keyword search?
40. Describe the four common search methods used in Thomson Reuters Checkpoint.
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.
42. What is the difference between a Terms & Connectors search and a Natural Language search in Thomson Reuters
Checkpoint? Give an example of each.
43. Why would a practitioner need a commercial, subscription tax service when most tax sources are available on the
Internet for free?