Tax Court remote trials are coming soon to a jurisdiction near you. These will be conducted using the Zoom software, enabling the participants to see and hear each other in real time. Participants will need the free software, but it’s easily downloaded (if I could do it, anyone could do it).

Parties without computer access need to call chambers of the assigned Judge or STJ at once, to sort out a solution.

There’s a link on the Tax Court homepage with rudimentary questions and answers.

Of course, Taishoff has a bœuf with this technological wizardry. In a courtroom trial, the public can see and hear as well as the participants. But there is no provision in these Zoomietrials for the public to see and hear.

What price Section 7458: “Hearings before the Tax Court and its divisions shall be open to the public, and the testimony, and, if the Tax Court so requires, the argument, shall be stenographically reported.”

I note that CLEs and panel discussions are routinely presented using Zoom software, permitting the panelists/participants to see and hear each other, but other attendees/viewers can be neither seen nor heard. Why is this not available for these hearings?