Civil Litigation: Branerton Letter

Summary

This template is an informal request, often called a Branerton Letter, for the production of documents and interrogatories as part of informal discovery. This request is referred to as a Branerton Letter in reference to the Branerton Corporation v. Commissioner case which exposed the limited nature of the Tax Court discovery provisions. This template includes practical guidance and drafting notes. Tax Court procedures allow a party to obtain discovery through written interrogatories, production of documents, electronically stored information, depositions, or other methods. However the procedures also encourage the parties to make a meaningful, good faith attempt to attain the objectives of discovery through informal consultation or communication. rather than formal methods. See T.C. Rules 70(a), 90(a); Branerton Corp. v. Commissioner, 61 T.C. 691 (1974); and I.R.M. 35.4.3, Gathering Information from the Petitioner. For an overview of tax litigation see, Tax Court Litigation: Fundamentals, Comprehensive Tax Treatise § 8:18.04, Tax Court, and Tax Controversies - Audits, Investigations, Trials § 2.04, Tax Court and see Tax Controversies - Audits, Investigations, Trials § 12.03, Procedure for Making FOIA Request. For a full listing of key content covering general tax practice, procedure and controversy, see Tax Practice, Procedure and Controversy Resource Kit.