Tax Court Closed

Unlike other federal courts open for at least 10 days during thefederal government shutdown, the U.S. Tax Court stopped accepting petitions,motions, and electronic filings at noon on October 1. 

Deadlines established by the Tax Court will be extended for thenumber of days operations have been suspended, up to a maximum five days fromthe date operations are resumed. Unfortunately, deadlines set by statute cannot be extended so taxpayerswill have to meet regular deadlines by sending documents by U.S. mail becausethe court will not take electronic filings or hand deliveries.

In other news, the IRS has made a change in their shutdowncontingency plan by announcing tax refunds will not be issued until normaloperations resume.

See Sally P. Schreiber,J.D., Tax Court Closed During GovernmentShutdown; IRS Announces No Refunds, Journal of Accountancy, Oct. 1, 2013.

Special thanks toJim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringingthis article to my attention.