Handwritten signature not needed on electronically generated petition

The Tax Court held that a petition to the court that a pro se taxpayer creates using the court’s online petition generator, which contains the taxpayer’s name but not the taxpayer’s handwritten signature in its signature block, is deemed to have been signed by the taxpayer, and thus the court has jurisdiction over the petition.

Background

The IRS mailed Robert and Kegan Donlan a deficiency notice dated July 22, 2024. According to the notice, the last date to file a petition with the Tax Court in response was Oct. 21, 2024.

On Oct. 21, 2024, the Donlans electronically filed a petition with the Tax Court. The couple created their petition using the court’s online petition generator, which the court had released on July 31, 2024. The cover page of the petition and the petition itself stated in the caption that it was “electronically filed.” Because the Donlans generated the petition by computer using the Tax Court’s petition generator, however, it did not bear their handwritten signatures or facsimiles of their handwritten signatures. Instead, the typewritten name and contact information for each of the Donlans was included in a block at the bottom of the petition.

In Tax Court, the IRS moved to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction, arguing that the “document filed as a petition in this case was not signed by either taxpayer to which the notice of deficiency for tax year 2024 was issued” and that “[t]he Tax Court does not have jurisdiction to review a petition unless it is signed by the taxpayer, or someone lawfully authorized to act as petitioner’s counsel.”

The Tax Court’s decision

The Tax Court held that, based on its Rules of Practice and Procedure, a person’s name on a signature block on a paper that the person authorized to be filed electronically constitutes the person’s signature. Because petitions created with the Tax Court’s online petition generator include each petitioning taxpayer’s name as part of a signature block and the Donlans used the online petition generator, they were both deemed to have signed the petition. Accordingly, the court held it had jurisdiction over their petition and denied the IRS’s motion to dismiss.

Taxpayers who petition the Tax Court may do so pro se (i.e., they represent themselves). To make filing a petition easier for pro se taxpayers, a template, “Petition (Simplified Form),” that a pro se taxpayer can use to create a petition is included as Form 2 in the appendix to the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure and can also be downloaded from the Tax Court’s website. Form 2 has a series of checkboxes and questions that guide taxpayers or their representatives through the creation of a Tax Court petition. The bottom of Form 2 contains blocks for the taxpayer(s) or their counsel to sign. A taxpayer files the petition created with Form 2 by uploading it as instructed to the Tax Court website.

To further assist pro se taxpayers, the Tax Court released the online petition generator, with which they can create a petition by answering a series of questions and having DAWSON (the court’s e–filing system) prepare it. However, a pro se taxpayer still has the option of electronically filing a petition by uploading one created using Form 2.

The Tax Court stated that a petition created using the online petition generator is identical in all material respects to one created using Form 2, with only superficial differences. According to the court, while petitions created with the online petition generator and ones created using Form 2 look different, their substantive content is the same.

One thing that looks different on a petition created using Form 2 versus one created with the online form generator, the Tax Court noted, is the signature block. A petition created using Form 2 has a traditional signature block with a place for the taxpayer to include a handwritten signature. However, the online petition generator does not allow a taxpayer to place a handwritten signature on the petition. Instead, it has a signature block that states the names and contact information of each taxpayer, as does Form 2.

As the Tax Court explained, like other courts, it has specific rules allowing for electronic signatures. Rule 34 of the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure, which governs petitions, states in paragraph (e): “For the signature requirement of petitions filed electronically, see Rule 23(a)(3) and the Court’s electronic filing instructions on the Court’s website.” Rule 23(a)(3) states: “A person’s name on a signature block on a paper that the person authorized to be filed electronically, and that is so filed, constitutes the person’s signature.”

The Tax Court’s Self–Represented (Pro Se) Electronic Filing Instructions, on page 42, state: “If the document you are filing requires a signature: The combination of DAWSON username (email address) and password serves as the signature of the individual filing the document.” The same page continues: “Documents that require a signature in addition to that of the eFiler, e.g. both spouses are petitioners: … If you chose to auto–generate a Petition in DAWSON and your spouse has authorized you to file an electronic petition, then the signature block on the petition auto–generated by DAWSON will serve as your spouse’s signature.” This latter instruction, according to the Tax Court, “merely restates Rule 23(a)(3).”

Because the Donlans used the Tax Court’s online petition generator, their petition did not bear handwritten signatures. The Tax Court, applying its rules regarding electronic signatures, however, concluded that the petition was properly signed.

Reflections

Pro se taxpayers, as the Tax Court noted in its opinion, vastly outnumber represented taxpayers in Tax Court. From fiscal years 2014 to 2023, 84.6% of the cases petitioned to the court were pro se, and the percentage has been trending upward, with 90.5% of all cases petitioned in 2023 being pro se (Fogg, “Statistics From the ABA Meeting,” Fig. 9, Tax Notes (Feb. 5, 2024)). Shortly after releasing the online petition generator for pro se taxpayers, the Tax Court on Sept. 15, 2024, released an online petition generator for use by practitioners.

Donlan, 164 T.C. No. 3 (2025)

Contributor

James A. Beavers, CPA, CGMA, J.D., LL.M., is The Tax Adviser‘s tax technical content manager. For more information about this column, contact thetaxadviser@aicpa.org.