DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
INTERNAL REVENUE 
WASHINGTON, DC 20224

 

vancv. GOVERNMENTAL
Larson AND DiscLosuaE

August 17. 2017

American Oversight

Attn: Austin Evers

1030 15th Street NW, Suite B255
Washington, DC 20005

Dear Austin Evers:

This is our final response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request dated
August 7, 2017 that we received on August 7, 2017.

You asked for ?Records re?ecting communication relating to potential legislation
regarding the federal tax code between any individual listed in Category A below and
any employee or representative of an entity listed in Category below" from January
20. 2017 through the date of the search.

Unfortunately. we are unable to process your request as it does not meet the
requirements of the FOIA or the applicable agency regulations. The FOIA requires that
requests (1) ?reasonably describe? the records sought and (2) be made in accordance
with published agency rules. 5 U.S.C. IRS regulations at Treas. Reg. 
601 require that the request describe the documents in suf?cient detail to
enable us to locate the records ?without placing an unreasonable burden upon the 

A request for ?Records re?ecting communication relating to potential legislation
regarding the federal tax code" which includes un-named employees would be
unreasonably burdensome for the IRS to process.

Courts have agreed that requests of the type you have submitted seeking "any and all?
records without reference to subject matter or timeframe is not valid. See, for example,
Dale v. IRS, 238 F. Supp. 99. 104-05 (D.D.C 2002), where the court held that
requests seeking ?any and all that refer or relate in any way" to requester
failed to reasonably describe the records sought and ?amounted to an all-encompassing
?shing expedition of at taxpayer expense"

We encourage you to consider revising your request, possibly by making it more
speci?c as to subject matter and specifying personnel that might have the documents
you are seeking.

If you would like to discuss our response. you may contact me, the FOIA Public Liaison,
for assistance at:

2

IRS Disclosure Of?ce 10
1999 Broadway. MS 7000 DEN
Denver. CO 80202-3025
303-603-4734

cy Act requests for copies of

The FOIA Public Liaison respon
ere is no provrsron In either Act to resolve tax,
egarding

documents maintained by the Th
collection, or processing issues and our staff isn?t trained to answer questions 
those issues. if you tance with tax related issues, you may call the IRS toll

eed assis
free number at 1-800-829-1040.

lf you have any questions please call Tax Law Specialist John Quigley lD 
1000247712. at 510-907-5337 or write to: internal Revenue Service. Centralized
Processing Unit-Stop 211, PO Box 621506, Atlanta. GA 30362. Please refer to case
number F17220-0002. 
Sincerely,

. (INC

Laura A 
Disclosure Manager
Disclosure Of?ce 1

7