The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) — signed into law in 2025 as P.L. 119-21 — made significant changes to federal tax law, and practitioners are still working through the implications. If you’re trying to get up to speed, Jenny Zook, Reference & Instructional Services Librarian at the UW Law Library and current chair of the Law Librarians Association of Wisconsin’s Public Relations Committee, has written a timely guide for the State Bar of Wisconsin’s InsideTrack.
Her article, “Legal Research: Tax Resources on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” organizes available resources by type — government sites, subscription databases, tax journals, and state-level materials — making it easy to find what you need based on your access level.
What the OBBBA Changed
The Act made permanent several temporary deductions from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, adjusted tax rate brackets, changed the child tax credit, and added tax relief on tips, auto loan interest, and Social Security income. For practitioners advising clients on 2025 returns and beyond, understanding these changes is time-sensitive work.
Free Resources Worth Bookmarking
For those without access to premium databases, Zook points to some solid free starting points: the IRS’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act Provisions page, the full text via Congress.gov (H.R. 1, P.L. 119-21), and the Tax Foundation’s FAQ and tax calculator for the new law. The Ways & Means House Committee section-by-section summary is also freely available.
Subscription Database Highlights
For those with access to legal research databases, the article covers what each platform offers on the OBBBA — Bloomberg Law’s OBBBA Watch, Lexis+’s chapter-by-chapter analysis, Westlaw’s Overview, and Wolters Kluwer’s VitalLaw resource center, among others.
State Bar of Wisconsin members get Fastcase access as a membership benefit — a good place to start if you don’t have a full database subscription.
Access at UW Law Library and Wisconsin State Law Library
Several of the subscription databases Zook describes — including Checkpoint Edge, Proquest Legislative Insight, and VitalLaw — are available at library terminals even without a personal subscription. Both the UW Law Library and the Wisconsin State Law Library offer walk-in access and reference librarians who can help you navigate these resources.
If you hold a Wisconsin State Law Library card, you can also access HeinOnline remotely for law journal articles, including materials on tax law reform history.
A Note on Using AI for Tax Research
Zook notes that practitioners with access to AI platforms — whether general tools like Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini, or the closed AI systems available within Lexis+ and Westlaw Precision — can upload the Act’s text directly and ask questions or explore tax strategies based on specific provisions. As always, verify AI outputs against primary sources.
Read the full article in InsideTrack here.
Disclosure: This post was developed by the author with organizational and drafting assistance from Claude AI. All content was reviewed and refined for accuracy.