When is a US Tax Court deficiency petition due?

An established ordinary deficiency petition period is 90 days after IRS mailing, or 150 days where that longer period applies under section 6213(a). Confirm the applicable period before calculating. A domestic notice address alone does not conclusively establish 90 days. Exclude mailing day and carry a final weekend or DC legal holiday forward. Check the printed last date and any statutory suspension or tolling.

Responsible actor. Taxpayer petitioning the United States Tax Court to redetermine an asserted deficiency.

Find the actual statutory notice of deficiency. A proposed adjustment letter, balance-due letter or math-error notice is not interchangeable.

Establish when the IRS mailed the notice, using the notice and mailing evidence. The date you opened or received it ordinarily does not restart the period.

Confirm that the selected 90 or 150-day period actually applies. A notice addressed to a person outside the United States falls within the express 150-day wording. A domestic address alone does not conclusively establish 90 days.

If the notice uses a domestic address but the addressee was abroad, establish the relevant facts and controlling authority before selecting a period. This page does not resolve that distinct issue.

Read the last filing date specified in the notice. Section 6213(a) separately treats a petition filed on or before that specified date as timely.

Use the ordinary section 6213(a) period after identifying the actual notice and mailing date. Select only an independently established applicable 90 or 150-day period. This does not determine notice validity, forum-specific foreign-presence issues, a later printed date, bankruptcy suspension, disaster or military relief, filing-location closure, or equitable tolling.

1. Identify the actual petition route and established mailing date.
2. Exclude the trigger day and use the applicable statutory period.
3. Count all intermediate calendar days.
4. Carry a final weekend or DC legal holiday to the next permitted day.
5. Check statutory protection and relief facts before treating the ordinary date as applicable.
6. File through an authorized channel and preserve evidence.

Exclude the established IRS mailing day. Count all following calendar days, including intermediate weekends and legal holidays. Include day 90 or day 150 according to the independently established applicable period, subject to the final-day rule.

A final Saturday, Sunday or District of Columbia legal holiday carries to the next day that is none of those days. April 16, DC Emancipation Day, counts even when the Tax Court is open. Check additional presidential, congressional and DC declarations. A qualifying petition filing-location closure is governed separately by section 7451(b), not the ordinary next-accessible-day rule for nonpetition papers.

Fictitious example

Fictitious established IRS mailing on Tuesday, August 4, 2026. A valid statutory notice of deficiency is addressed within the United States. The taxpayer remained within the United States, and the ordinary 90-day period is established as applicable. No later printed last date, filing prohibition, section 7451 closure, special disaster or military relief, disputed mailing or allowed equitable tolling applies.

Fictitious established facts. These examples do not establish eligibility, effective service, relief or a direction.

Notice addressed outside the United States

The express statutory 150-day branch concerns a notice addressed to a person outside the United States. Select it from the notice and established address facts. Different foreign-presence questions need their own factual and legal review.

Domestic-address notice with foreign residence or presence

A domestic notice address alone does not conclusively establish the 90-day period. Official National Taxpayer Advocate guidance describes decisions applying 150 days where an addressee was temporarily abroad, even with a domestic address. Establish the facts and controlling authority before selecting the applicable period.

Printed last date

The final sentence of section 6213(a) protects filing on or before the last date specified by the Secretary in the notice. Compare that date with the computed ordinary date. This calculator does not silently import or replace a printed date.

Bankruptcy suspension

Section 6213(f)(1) suspends the filing period while a title 11 case prohibits filing, and for 60 days thereafter. Establish the actual prohibition and dates. An ordinary 90/150-day calculation does not compute the suspended clock.

Late filing and controlling forum

Equitable tolling and jurisdictional treatment have developed differently across courts. Maniktala held the deficiency deadline nonjurisdictional and equitably tollable in the Eighth Circuit in August 2026. Do not describe relief as limited to the Third Circuit, or assume it is available or granted in every case. This page computes only the ordinary timely filing date.

Petition filing-location inaccessibility

Section 7451(b) addresses an inaccessible clerk office or Tax Court online petition portal on the due date. Its statutory tolling is the inaccessibility period plus 14 days. Establish the actual facts; this ordinary calculator does not compute it. Rule 25(a)(2) expressly excludes petitions from its simple next-accessible-day rule.

Timely mailing is conditional

Section 7502(a) requires timely United States mailing, proper addressing and prepaid postage, with statutory delivery conditions. Non-USPS postmarks and designated private delivery services have separate rules. The calculator gives the last ordinary filing date, not a finding that a mailed petition was timely.

• Use the ordinary section 6213(a) period after identifying the actual notice and mailing date. Select only an independently established applicable 90 or 150-day period. This does not determine notice validity, forum-specific foreign-presence issues, a later printed date, bankruptcy suspension, disaster or military relief, filing-location closure, or equitable tolling.
• A deficiency petition contests the asserted deficiency under section 6213. A collection due process petition reviews an Appeals determination under section 6330. A notice of appeal follows a Tax Court decision and has another trigger.

• Preserve the statutory notice, envelope and proof of IRS mailing.
• Confirm the notice-address branch and any distinct foreign-presence issue.
• Compare the ordinary date with the last date specified in the notice.
• Check bankruptcy, military or disaster relief, actual filing-location access and controlling late-filing law.
• File through an authorized channel and retain the dated receipt or qualifying mailing evidence.
• Electronic filing ends at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time under Rules 22(d) and 25(a)(3)(A), unless a statute or order sets another time. Other filing means use scheduled clerk closing. Section 7502 may treat qualifying timely mailing or a designated private delivery service as timely filing. Preserve the postmark, permitted service and delivery evidence. A draft, upload attempt or overseas postmark alone does not establish timely filing.