Do Not Wait Until Midnight to File Tax Court Documents

In Nutt v. Comm’r, the Tax Court held that electronic filing deadlines are in the eastern time zone (the time zone where the court is located). A link to the case can be found here.

In Nutt, the taxpayers filed a petition with the court on the last day for timely filing a petition (a somewhat risky move in itself). The taxpayers, who lived in Alabama, did not electronically file their petition until 11:05pm central time zone. But, in Washington, D.C., it was 12:05am the next day when they filed the petition. Accordingly, the taxpayers filed too late and missed the deadline for petitioning the Tax Court to review their case.

There are a variety of reasons for not waiting until midnight to file a document with a court. For example, what if there is an internet outage or an unforeseen illness or injury? There are likely countless other things that could go wrong. But if you chance it and electronically file close to the deadline, you need to be aware that once the clock strikes midnight in the eastern time zone, you have missed your deadline.

If you have any questions about this article or any other civil or criminal tax matter, please contact me at 214-749-2417 or jglassman@meadowscollier.com.