fortax-plain-writinglisted

# Plain writing ## Why this matters here A client can tell when a mail was machine-written, and so can an officer reading a reply to a notice. Both then trust the content less. The firm's name is on it, so it has to sound like the firm. Run this on any text that leaves the office: client mails, deadline reminders, document requests, notice replies, WhatsApp updates, cover letters on a filing. ## The one rule that outranks style **Rewriting never changes a fact.** Every figure, date, section, form number, ARN, name and qualifier survives untouched. You may cut a sentence that says nothing, merge paragraphs, or change the order. You may not add a claim, soften a caveat, or drop a condition to make a line read better. If a sentence needs a detail you do not have, write a shorter sentence or ask the CA. This sits above everything below. ## Match the register before you edit Read the firm's own past letters first — whatever the CA points you to, a firm templates folder, or the client's `Correspondence/` folder (`fortax-client-folder`). That is the voice. Where the firm writes plainly, write plainly; where it writes formally, stay formal. Three registers, and they are not the same: | Going to | Register | |---|---| | A client, routine | Warm, direct, short. Hinglish is fine if the firm already writes that way | | A department, in reply to a notice | Formal, impersonal, point-wise against the notice's own paragraph numbers. Do not "simplify" this into casual prose | | Whats