Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; ETC. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Tax 
Court Improvement Act’’. 
(b) AMENDMENT OF 1986 CODE.—Except as otherwise 
expressly provided, whenever in this Act an amendment is 
expressed in terms of an amendment to a section or other 
provision, the reference shall be considered to be made to 
a section or other provision of the Internal Revenue Code 
of 1986. 
(c) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of this 
Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; etc. 
Sec. 2. Authorization of subpoenas before hearings to facilitate settlements. 
Sec. 3. Authorization of special trial judges to hear additional cases and address 
contempt. 
Sec. 4. Disqualification of judges and special trial judges. 
Sec. 5. Clarification of Tax Court jurisdiction to apply equitable tolling in defi-
ciency cases. 
SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF SUBPOENAS BEFORE HEAR-
INGS TO FACILITATE SETTLEMENTS. 
Section 7456(a) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 
‘‘(1) ADMINISTRATION OF OATHS.—For the effi-
cient administration of the functions vested in the 
Tax Court or any division thereof, any judge or spe-
cial trial judge, the clerk or the clerk’s deputies, as 
such, or any other employee of the Tax Court des-
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ignated in writing for the purpose by the chief judge, 
may administer oaths or affirmations. 
‘‘(2) SUBPOENA AUTHORITY.—Any judge or spe-
cial trial judge may examine witnesses and require, 
by subpoena ordered by the Tax Court or any divi-
sion thereof and signed by the judge or special trial 
judge (or by the clerk of the Tax Court or by any 
other employee of the Tax Court when acting as dep-
uty clerk), any of the following: 
‘‘(A) The attendance of parties or witnesses. 
‘‘(B) The production of books, papers, docu-
ments, electronically stored information, or tan-
gible things from any place in the United States 
by any party or witness having custody or con-
trol thereof for purposes of discovery or for use 
of the things produced as evidence in accordance 
with the rules and orders of the Tax Court. 
Any such subpoena shall be issued and served, and 
compliance therewith shall be compelled, as provided 
in the rules and orders of the Tax Court. 
‘‘(3) DEPOSITIONS.—Pursuant to rules and or-
ders of the Court, the deposition of a witness may be 
taken before any designated individual competent to 
administer oaths under this title. Any deposition tes-
timony shall be reduced to writing by the individual 
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taking the deposition, or under such individual’s di-
rection, and shall be subscribed by the deponent.’’. 
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF SPECIAL TRIAL JUDGES TO 
HEAR 
ADDITIONAL 
CASES 
AND 
ADDRESS 
CONTEMPT. 
(a) CONSENT TO ASSIGNMENT.—Section 7443A(b) is 
amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph (6), 
by redesignating paragraph (7) as paragraph (8), and by 
inserting after paragraph (6) the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(7) upon the consent of the parties, and pursu-
ant to rules promulgated by the Tax Court, any pro-
ceeding not described in paragraphs (1) through (6), 
and’’, and 
(b) AUTHORIZING SPECIAL TRIAL JUDGE.—Section 
7443A(c) is amended by striking ‘‘or (6)’’ and inserting 
‘‘(6), or (7)’’. 
(c) CONTEMPT AUTHORITY.—Section 7443A is amend-
ed by adding at the end the following new subsection: 
‘‘(f) INCIDENTAL POWERS.—A special trial judge ap-
pointed under this section shall have the power to punish 
for contempt of the authority of the Tax Court as provided 
in section 7456(c), except the sentence imposed by such a 
special trial judge for any contempt shall not exceed the 
penalties for a Class C misdemeanor as set forth in sections 
3571(b)(6) and 3581(b)(8) of title 18, United States Code. 
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This subsection shall not be construed to limit the authority 
of a special trial judge to order sanctions under any other 
statute or any rule of the Tax Court prescribed pursuant 
to section 7453.’’. 
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
subsections (a) and (b) shall take effect on the date the 
United States Tax Court adopts rules implementing the 
consent procedures of section 7443A. 
SEC. 4. DISQUALIFICATION OF JUDGES AND SPECIAL TRIAL 
JUDGES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Part II of subchapter C of chapter 
76 is amended by adding at the end the following new sec-
tion: 
‘‘SEC. 7467. DISQUALIFICATION OF JUDGE OR SPECIAL 
TRIAL JUDGE. 
‘‘Section 455 of title 28, United States Code, shall 
apply to judges, special trial judges, and proceedings of the 
Tax Court.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections for 
such part is amended by adding at the end the following 
new item: 
‘‘Sec. 7467. Disqualification of judge or special trial judge.’’. 
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SEC. 5. CLARIFICATION OF TAX COURT JURISDICTION TO 
APPLY EQUITABLE TOLLING IN DEFICIENCY 
CASES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7451(b) is amended to read 
as follows: 
‘‘(b) TOLLING OF TIME.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Tax Court shall have ju-
risdiction to toll the period for filing a petition under 
section 6213(a) in cases in which the Tax Court de-
termines based on the facts and circumstances that 
equity warrants such tolling. 
‘‘(2) RULES
FOR
INACCESSIBLE
FILING
LOCA-
TIONS.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 
other provision of this title, in any case (includ-
ing by reason of a lapse in appropriations) in 
which a filing location is inaccessible or other-
wise unavailable to the general public on the 
date a petition is due, the relevant time period 
for filing such petition shall be tolled for the 
number of days within the period of inacces-
sibility plus an additional 14 days. 
‘‘(B) FILING
LOCATION.—For purposes of 
this paragraph, the term ‘filing location’ 
means— 
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