The Anonymous Tax Court Case

Today for the first time, the Tax Court has allowed a taxpayer to proceed anonymously.  Anonymous v. Commissioner, 127 T.C. No. 6 (9/6/06):

Petitioner is a foreign national. At the time petitioner filed the petition, petitioner resided outside the United States. A member of petitioner’s family was kidnapped and held for ransom several years ago. Kidnappings are a rampant problem in the country where petitioner and most of petitioner’s family reside. Petitioner fears that petitioner or other members of petitioner’s family might also be kidnapped and their lives placed in jeopardy if petitioner’s identity or petitioner’s financial circumstances were made public in this case....

Petitioner also requests permission to proceed anonymously. There is no provision in our Rules that permits a taxpayer to proceed anonymously....When there is no applicable Rule, we may prescribe the procedure, giving particular weight to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to the extent adaptable to the matter at hand. Rule 1(a)....Several U.S. Courts of Appeals have permitted litigation to proceed anonymously. The Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit have occasionally permitted anonymous litigation to proceed.

[W]e find that the demonstrated risk of severe physical harm to petitioner and petitioner’s family outweighs the public interest in access to judicial records and to the identity of the parties. There is little prejudice to respondent in permitting petitioner to proceed anonymously. Accordingly, we shall grant petitioner’s motion to seal the entire record and permit petitioner to proceed anonymously. We do not address whether or to what extent any later opinions in this case will be sealed.