A tax law specialist (analyst) has studied and has a working knowledge of primary tax law consisting of statutes (Title 26 of the US Code known as the Internal Revenue Code); administrative tax law (Treasury Tax Regulations and other primary tax authority issued by the Treasury Department); and tax judicial decisions.  The specialist researches tax issues through online subscription tax law services.  In addition, the individual will use secondary tax sources such as tax subject Tax Treatise drafted by a tax law expert(s). These specialized Treatises will always refer the analyst back to primary tax law. 

And, a trained tax law specialist will never provide written tax advice without primary tax authority support. For US international tax law situations, the analyst will also review an applicable tax treaty if it applies in the particular situation.

The analyst’s abilities center on applying tax strategies for more complex tax situations. The specialist will provide alternative recommendations along with a proposed tax solution for a given situation based on primary tax law.

A tax analyst’s professional training consists of completing a specialized graduate tax degree program.

Master programs will consist of core tax courses and tax electives. And some programs may have specialized subprograms. As an example, analyst may specialize in international tax law advanced studies by taking a series or courses such as: inbound international tax law; outbound international tax law; international acquisitions tax law; and income tax treaties. As I took this route.

A tax law specialist working with clients may practice before the IRS if he/she has a federal enrolled agent license or has a certified public accountant state license.  And, a tax analyst practices before the IRS when he/she drafts written client tax reports if these reports contain tax minimization strategies as a subpart of the main report as covered in Internal Revenue Manual 1.25.1.1.2.(d).