Prefatory Comment to the 2025 Amendments

In 2002, a committee composed of tax practitioners from the private and public sectors who practice in the Arizona Tax Court, chaired by the Honorable Paul A. Katz, Presiding Judge of the Arizona Tax Court, undertook a revision of the Arizona Tax Court Rules of Practice. The committee sought to simplify procedures, eliminate redundant and inconsistent rules, and increase the efficiency of case processing. Part of the committee's recommendation to the Supreme Court, which was adopted in January 2003, was to delete numerous tax court rules that were duplicative of or inconsistent with the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure and the Local Rules of Practice, Maricopa County Superior Court, as these sets of rules govern proceedings in the Arizona Tax Court. In 2024, the Arizona Supreme Court established the Task Force on the Arizona Tax Court Rules of Practice. The Court adopted its work in these 2025 amendments, which further restyle the Arizona Tax Court Rules of Practice, in a manner similar to the 2017 restyling of the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure. Clearer language and improved syntax should make these rules even easier to understand. The 2025 restyling also makes greater use of section titles and uses more consistent formatting conventions and terminology, which should also add clarity and assist readers in locating pertinent provisions.