About
How Title 26 is made
What it is
A free, independent reading of the United States tax code: the full official text of Title 26, searchable, with plain-English explainers added section by section. It's a Lab project by Valev Laube. Valev is an Estonian-born designer and technologist who ran a New York company for years, so he learned the code the usual way: by getting things wrong.
Where the text comes from
The law is taken directly from the official XML published by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the US House of Representatives. This edition is current through Public Law 119-102 (July 12, 2026). It's rebuilt when a new release point is published. Amendment and editorial notes are left out for readability. The official source is linked on every page and is the authority if anything here differs.
How explainers are written
- Each explainer covers what the section does, who it touches, the current figures, a worked example and common mistakes.
- Dollar figures come from the statute itself or official IRS and SSA guidance, mainly Rev. Proc. 2025-32 for 2026, and are linked as sources.
- Drafts are prepared with AI assistance, then checked line by line against the statute and the cited sources. Each page says when it was last checked and whether a licensed professional has reviewed it.
- The tone is descriptive. The site doesn't argue for or against any tax policy.
What it isn't
It isn't tax, legal or financial advice. The code is only one layer: Treasury regulations, IRS guidance, court decisions, treaties and state law all change how it applies to a real person. For decisions about your own taxes, talk to a CPA, an enrolled agent or a tax attorney.
Open source
The code that builds this site is released under the MIT license. The explainers are released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. The statute is a US government work in the public domain. Corrections and new explainers are welcome, especially from tax professionals. The repository will be linked here.
Your documents stay with you
The document explainer reads W-2s, 1099s, returns and IRS letters entirely inside your browser, using open-source PDF and text-recognition libraries hosted on this site. Nothing is uploaded, and the page is locked so it can't send data anywhere.
Coming next
- Spanish (Español), as a full second language
- More explainers, starting with the sections people search for most