174. Appearance by authorised representative.-

174.  Appearance  by  authorised  representative.-

(1)  Any  assessee,  who  is entitled or required to appear before any income tax authority or the Appellate Tribunal  in  connection  with  any  proceedings  under  this  Ordinance,  may, except  when  required  under  section  122  to  attend  personally,  appear  by  an authorised representative.

(2)  For  the  purpose  of  this  section,  "authorised  representative"  means  a person, authorised in writing by the assessee to appear on his behalf, being-

(a) a relative of the assessee who is his parent, spouse, son, daughter, brother or sister;
(b) a whole time regular employee of the assessee;

¹[(c)]any officer of a scheduled bank with which the assessee maintains a current account or has other regular dealings;]
(d) a legal practitioner who is entitled to practice in a Civil Court in Bangladesh;
(e) a chartered accountant or a cost and management accountant or a member of an association of accountants recognised in this behalf by the Board; or

(f)  an  income  tax  practitioner  registered  as  such  by  the  Board  in accordance  with  the  rules  made  in  this  behalf  and  subject  to  such conditions as may be laid down in those rules ²[:

Provided that such an income tax practitioner shall be a member of any registered Taxes Bar Association.]

(3)  Notwithstanding  anything  contained  in  sub-section  (1),  the  following persons shall not be qualified to represent an assessee under that sub-section, namely:-

(a) a person who has been dismissed from Government service;
(b)  a  legal  practitioner,  or  a  chartered  accountant,  a  cost  and management accountant, or other accountant mentioned in clause (e) of  sub-section  (2),  or  an  income  tax  practitioner,  who,  having  been found guilty of misconduct in his professional capacity-

(i)  by  any  authority  empowered  to  take  disciplinary  action against him, or
(ii)  by  the ³[Board],  in  connection  with  any  income-tax proceeding,  and,  on  account  of  that  finding,  he  stands disqualified from practising his profession for so long as such disqualification continues [:

⁴[Provided that no person shall be disqualified under this subclause  unless  he is  given a  reasonable  opportunity of  being heard:

⁵[Provided  further  that  any  person  disqualified  under  this sub-clause  may,  within  one  month  of  his  disqualification, appeal  to  the  Government  to  have  the  disqualification removed :]

⁶[Provided  further  that  no  disqualification  under  this  subclause shall take effect until one month from the date of such disqualification has elapsed or, when an appeal is preferred, until the disposal of the appeal;]]

(c)  a  person  who  has  become  insolvent  for  so  long  as  the  insolvency continues;

(d)  a  person  who  has  been  convicted  of  any  offence  connected  with  any income tax proceeding under this Ordinance unless the Commissioner, with the  approval  of  the  Board,  by  order,  remove  his  disqualification  under  this sub-section; and

(e) any Government servant in the Income-tax Department who has resigned or  retired  from  such  service,  for  a  period  of  three  years  from  the  date  of acceptance of resignation or a  period of one year from the date of retirement, as the case may be.

.......................................................

¹Omitted by F.A. 1993

²Subs. "colon" for "full-stop" and ins. proviso by F.A. 2006
³Subs. for "Commissioner" by F.A. 1992
⁴Ins. clauses by F.A. 1988
⁵Omitted by F.A. 1992, re-ins by F.A. 1993
⁶Ins. by F.A. 1993

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