As the poker players say. That means the best possible hand, given the community cards, what card the player holds, and what other cards remain in the hands of the other player(s), undealt, or mucked. IRS has such a hand in Roy A. Nutt and Bonnie W. Nutt, 160 T. C. 10, filed 5/2/23.

Roy and Bonnie e-filed their petition at 11:05 p.m., local time, on the last day per the SNOD. Problem was, local time was CDT, as Roy and Bonnie resided in AL. Alas, Rule 22(c) says a “paper will be considered timely filed if it is electronically filed at or before 11:59 p.m., eastern time, on the last day of the applicable period for filing.”

Judge Ronald L (“Ingenuity”) Buch also finds that FRCP 6(a)(4) requires filing in the court’s time zone on the cutoff date.

And the DAWSON website instructions for filing petitions says the same.

Section 7502 mailed-is-filed, doesn’t help, as technophobic Congress only included snail mail and PDS in the category of the saved, not electronic means.

The old 6:00 a.m. the day after, more particularly bounded and described in my blogpost “Technologically Challenged,” 3/21/16, is ancient history.

So Ron’s and Bonnie’s filing was too late by six (count ’em, six) minutes, as their filing hit the Glasshouse computer at 12:05 a.m., the day after the last day to file.

If it’s any consolation, AFAIK Ron and Bonnie hold the record for the latest bounced petition from a SNOD.

Taishoff says this rule, though a classic “bright-line” easy of application and ironclad of proof, seriously shortchanges citizens and taxpayers in the Far West and across the Pacific. The US tax system and therefore Tax Court’s jurisdiction is worldwide. Why should we in the Eastern time-zone catch a break denied to our fellow citizens in Samoa and Guam?