Second Person Perspective

When one writes in the second person, it transforms the reader, brings the reader into the story and makes them experience it as if they themselves are the main character. But it can be a little wierd in an IRS Private Letter Ruling*:

You purchased Residence... and immediately used it as your principal residence. You occupied one of the bedrooms and your three sons occupied the remaining two bedrooms.

After moving into Residence, you decided that you wanted to adopt an orphan girl from a foreign country. You contacted various agencies about adopting a foreign child. You learned that under State law you could not adopt a girl unless she had a separate sizable bedroom. Thus, you could not pass the home study, which is the first step toward adoption, at Residence because you could not provide a girl with a separate bedroom. (PLR 200613009 - IRC Section 121 - Exclusion of Gain From Sale of Principal Residence)

Oh the humanity. Can you feel the pain as your own? All you wanted was to adopt "an orphan girl from a foreign country," but you were thwarted by red tape.

I found this entertaining and thought I'd share. I didn't provide a link because I get all my tax information off of private research databases that require subscriptions, but these things are also published somewhere on the IRS's website (I assume).

*I don't know a whole lot about tax procedure, but my understanding is that anyone can write a letter to the IRS asking for advice on the proper tax treatment of a confusing transaction. If the IRS wants to, I guess, it can respond in the form of a private letter ruling in which they restate the taxpayer's question, names and amounts removed, and publish their response for the edification of all. Theses rulings are not precedential.