Rule 20 — Commencement of Case

(a) General: A case is commenced by filing a petition with the Court. See Rule 13.

(b) Statement of Taxpayer Identification Number: The petitioner must submit with the petition a statement of the petitioner’s taxpayer identification number (e.g., Social Security number or employer identification number) or lack thereof. The statement must be substantially in accordance with Form 4 (Statement of Taxpayer Identification Number) shown in the Appendix.

(c) Disclosure Statement:

(1) Who Must File; Contents. A nongovernmental corporate party or a nongovernmental corporation that seeks to intervene must file a disclosure statement that:

(A) identifies any parent corporation and any publicly held corporation owning 10% or more of its stock, or

(B) states that there is no such corporation.

(2) Time to File; Supplemental Filing. A party or proposed intervenor must:

(A) file the disclosure statement with its first appearance, pleading, motion, response, or other request addressed to the Court; and

(B) promptly file a supplemental statement if any required information changes. For the form of a disclosure statement, see Form 6 (Corporate Disclosure Statement) shown in the Appendix.

(d) Filing Fee: A fee of $60 must be paid at the time of filing a petition. The payment of any fee under this paragraph may be waived if the petitioner establishes to the satisfaction of the Court by an affidavit or a declaration containing specific financial information the inability to make the payment.

(As amended and effective March 1, 2008, 130 T.C. 381–83; as amended, effective January 1, 2010, 134 T.C. 306–08; effective May 5, 2011, 136 T.C. 605–07; effective July 6, 2012, 139 T.C. 523–24; generally effective November 30, 2018, 153 T.C. 248–49; effective March 20, 2023, 160 T.C. 582–83. For prior history, see 60 T.C. 1073 (1973); 71 T.C. 1182 (1979); 77 T.C. 1428 (1981); 85 T.C. 1124–25 (1985); 90 T.C. 1356 (1988); 93 T.C. 851 (1989); 109 T.C. 535–36 (1997); 120 T.C. 512–13 (2003).)