Opinion
24344-17
11-04-2022
SUNIL S. PATEL & LAURIE MCANALLY PATEL, Petitioners v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
ORDER
Courtney D. Jones Judge
The Court received a request from a non-party to this proceeding for copies of Record Document Nos. 1-61 and 124-262. After a preliminary review of the voluminous request, we noted multiple failures to redact taxpayer identification numbers, dates of birth, and financial account numbers among several different documents.
Rule 27(a) of the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure provides that a party or non-party should refrain from including or should take appropriate steps to redact the following information in any paper or electronic filing with the court:
(1) Taxpayer identification numbers (e.g., Social Security numbers or employer identification numbers).
(2) Dates of birth. If a date of birth is provided, only the year should appear.
(3)Names of minor children. If a minor child is identified, only the minor child's initials should appear.
(4) Financial account numbers. If a financial account number is provided, only the last four digits of the number should appear.
Rule 27(h) further provides that a party may correct an inadvertent disclosure of identifying information in a prior filing by submitting a properly redacted substitute filing within 60 days of the original filing without leave of Court, and thereafter only by leave of Court.
The onus is on the filing party to ensure its documents are properly redacted, however, we acknowledge the potential for inadvertent disclosure of sensitive information and appreciate the privacy interest of litigants and third parties. As a court of public record, we intend to provide the requested copies on November 18, 2022, and the parties shall have until November 17, 2022, to review the documents identified documents below, and if necessary, correct any omissions of redactions pursuant to Rule 27(a), and request leave to file properly redacted substitute documents. It is therefore
ORDERED that petitioners': (1) "Motion for Continuance", originally filed on October 25, 2019 (Doc. No. 0020), and (2) "First Request for Admissions", originally filed on December 18, 2019 (Doc. No. 0032), are placed under temporary seal. It is further
ORDERED that the petitioners shall, on or before November 17, 2022, file redacted copies of the above-referenced documents that are exact duplicates of the originals, but with all references to petitioners' confidential taxpayer information redacted from the attachment thereto. If petitioners do not file the redacted documents as directed, the Court will lift the temporary seal on the unredacted versions of the above-referenced documents. It is further
ORDERED that the parties shall, on or before November 17, 2022, file with the Court a joint status report and specifically inform the Court, after thorough review of Record Document Nos. 1-61 and 124-262, if all the requested documents are properly redacted in compliance with Tax Court Rule 27.