Opinion
14089-21S
06-28-2022
MICHAEL MARTINO & JOY ANN MARTINO, Petitioners v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
ORDER
Kathleen Kerrigan Chief Judge
Petitioners filed the petition to commence this case on April 19, 2022, therein indicating their election to have this case conducted under the Court's small tax case rules. By Order to Show Cause, issued July 15, 2021, because the amount in dispute appeared to exceed $50,000.00, the Court directed petitioners to show cause in writing why the small tax case designation should not be removed in this case and that the proceedings not be conducted as a small Tax Court case.
By another Order issued July 15, 2021, the Court directed petitioners to file a ratification of petition bearing petitioners' original signatures. No ratification of petition has been received. A proposed stipulated decision bearing petitioners' signatures, which the Court will recharacterize as a stipulation of settlement, was filed electronically with the Court on June 15, 2022. As the Court's procedures require all stipulated decisions to bear original signatures of the taxpayers provided at minimum to the filing party as a high-resolution digital image and so maintained by the filing party, petitioners' intention to file and prosecute this case in this forum has been adequately verified.
Upon due consideration and for cause, it is
ORDERED that the Court's Order to Show Cause, issued July 15, 2021, is hereby made absolute. It is further
ORDERED that the Clerk of the Court shall delete the letter "S" from the docket number and other records of the Court in this case. It is further
ORDERED that the parties' proposed stipulated decision, filed June 15, 2022, is recharacterized as a stipulation of settlement. It is further
ORDERED that the petition in this case, filed April 19, 2021, is deemed to have been ratified and affirmed by petitioners because of their signatures appearing on the stipulation of settlement.