Oxford LibGuides: Tax law: Legislation

Background to UK Finance Acts

Chancellor of the Exchequer
Official website with links to policies & announcements
HM Treasury
Official website
Gov.UK Consultation Papers on Taxation
Open Access Library of open & closed consultations. Make the Topic Money - then select appropriate sub-topic.
HM Revenue & Customs
Official website

Text of UK Legislation

Holders of an Oxford Single Sign On (Oxford SSO) are recommended to use one of the legal subscription databases (see below) for English legislation. These databases also include other information (such as annotations), as well as operating as a bridge between the text of the legislation, and related case law and commentary.

Lexis+ UK
For online access from a device outside the University network or via eduroam, please follow https://plus.lexis.com/uk/xhome?federationidp=RXVSX459307
Alternative names:Lexis ; LexisLibrary ; Lexis Library ; Lexis International

Lexis+ includes extensive primary and secondary legal materials from the UK, EU, USA and many other jurisdictions. It is the only online source for the full text of the All England Law Reports and Halsbury’s Laws. International content can be accessed by following the “International” link on the home page. UK legal news and newspapers are also included
Westlaw Edge UK
Alternative name: West Law UK ; Westlaw UK

Westlaw is a large database of UK, US and international legal materials including cases, legislation and journal articles.
Coverage:
•UK statutes, statutory instruments and law reports
•England and Wales law reports
•US federal and state legislation and law reports
•Australian federal and state legislation and law reports
•Canadian federal and state legislation and law reports
•Hong Kong SAR law reports and laws
•European Union legislation and law reports
•UK and US law journals and texts
•Common Law Library and over 200 books published by Sweet & Maxwell (Thomson Reuters)
Because of licencing restrictions this database is not available to "Walk-in" users of the library.

The government site for UK legislation (link below) is free and available to anyone with access to the internet

Legislation.Gov.UK
Open access. Official site Use the drop down menu TYPE to limit search to public general acts or statutory instruments or browse by year etc. Excellent for original, historic version (text of act as originally promulgated) and Explanatory Notes for more recent legislation. Pay attention to the current status which is given for each act. More has further details of coverage
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All primary legislation from 1988
All secondary legislation from 1987, including UK Statutory Instruments, Scottish Statutory Instruments and Northern Ireland Statutory Rules. In addition we hold a selection of secondary legislation from 1948-1986, and selected pre-1948 Statutory Rules and Orders
Legislation originating from the EU as set out in Schedule 5 to the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (c. 16) along with corrigenda (correction slips for EU legislation) and EU Directives published up to the end of the EU Exit Implementation Period at 11:00 p.m. on 31 December 2020 ("IP completion day").
Most types of primary legislation (e.g. Acts, Measures, N.I. Orders in Council) are held in 'revised' form, as well as selected secondary legislation, and legislation originating from the EU:

Public General Acts of the United Kingdom Parliament (1801 to date)
Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain (1707 – 1800)
Acts of the English Parliament (1267 – 1706)
Acts of the Old Scottish Parliament (1424 – 1707)
Acts of the Scottish Parliament (1999 to date)
Acts of Senedd Cyrmu (2020 to date)
Acts of the National Assembly for Wales (2012 to 2020)
Measures of the National Assembly for Wales (2008 – 2011)
Acts of the Irish Parliament (1495 – 1800)
Acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland (1921 – 1972)
Measures of the Northern Ireland Assembly (1974)
Orders in Council made under the Northern Ireland Acts (1972 to date) (effectively the primary legislation for Northern Ireland under direct rule, though in the form of Statutory Instruments)
Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly (2000 – 2002 and 2007 to date)
Church of England Measures (1920 to date)
UK Statutory Instruments (2018 to date)
Scottish Statutory Instruments (2018 to date)
Welsh Statutory Instruments (2018 to date)
Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland (2018 to date)
European Regulations (1958 to 31 December 2020)
European Decisions (1953 to 31 December 2020)
European Directives (1959 to 31 December 2020)

UK legislation in print

It is hard for publishers to keep pace with the subsequent developments of amendments, partial repeals etc during the lifetime of a piece of legislation. The updating services of Halsbury's Statutes and Current Law Statutes do their best.
Both these can be found in the KZ section on Level 2.

Historic (unamended) versions

There is an extensive collection Level 1. If you need help with these please ask a member of staff for assistance.

Help with foreign legislation

Australian Tax Office: Legal Database Find law, interpretations and policy that the ATO uses when making decisions.
Official website Includes Legislation & background; Public Rulings, Determinations and Bulletins; Legislative Determinations; ATO Interpretative Decisions; Case Decision Summaries; Law Administration Practice Statements; Taxpayer Alerts; Tax related case law; Decision Impact Statements; ATO Policy Papers; ATO Superannuation Circulars; Index of Historical Documents
Schedule of Documents Containing Precedential ATO Views
Technical Discussion Papers
Tax Court of Canada: Acts and Rules
Page of official website. Providing quick links to Tax Court of Canada Act and to "a non-exhaustive list of related statutes."
US Code Title 26 Internal Revenue Code
Official website. There is a link to check currency. "The United States Code is a consolidation and codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States. It is prepared by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the United States House of Representatives."
US Federal Tax Regulations (26 CFR)
Title 26 of Code of Federal Regulations (
Taxes in Europe (TEDB)
Open Access The "Taxes in Europe" database is the European Commission's on-line information tool covering the main taxes in force in the EU Member States. The system contains information on around 650 taxes, as provided to the European Commission by the Ministries of Finance of the EU Member States. Access is free for all users.

Legislation
by Elizabeth Wells Last Updated Oct 7, 2024 2745 views this year