§ 8.52 Disreputable conduct.

Disreputable conduct for which an attorney, certified public accountant, or enrolled practitioner may be disbarred or suspended from practice before the Bureau includes, but is not limited to:

(a) Conviction of any criminal offense under the revenue laws of the United States; under any other law of the United States which the Bureau enforces pursuant to Treasury Department Order No. 221 (37 FR 11696) effective July 1, 1972; or for any offense involving dishonesty or breach of trust.

(b) Giving false or misleading information, or participating in any way in the giving of false or misleading information, to the Bureau or any officer or employee thereof, or to any tribunal authorized to pass upon matters administered by the Bureau in connection with any matter pending or likely to be pending before them, knowing the information to be false or misleading. Facts or other matters contained in testimony, Federal tax returns, financial statements, applications for enrollment, affidavits, declarations, or any other document or statement, written or oral, are included in the term “information”.

(c) Solicitation of employment as prohibited under § 8.41, the use of false or misleading representations with intent to deceive a client or a prospective client in order to procure employment, or intimating that the practitioner is able improperly to obtain special consideration or action from the Bureau or an officer or employee thereof.

(d) Willfully failing to make a Federal tax return in violation of the revenue laws of the United States, or evading, attempting to evade, or participating in any way in evading or attempting to evade any Federal tax or payment thereof; knowingly counseling or suggesting to a client or prospective client an illegal plan to evade Federal taxes or payment thereof, or concealing assets of himself or herself, or of another in order to evade Federal taxes or payment thereof.

(e) Misappropriation of, or failure properly and promptly to remit funds received from a client for the purpose of payment of taxes or other obligations due the United States.

(f) Directly or indirectly attempting to influence, or offering or agreeing to attempt to influence, the official action of any officer or employee of the Bureau by the use of threats, false accusations, duress or coercion, by the offer of any special inducement or promise of advantage or by the bestowing of any gift, favor, or thing of value.

(g) Disbarment or suspension from practice as an attorney or certified public accountant by any duly constituted authority of any State, possession, Commonwealth, the District of Columbia, or by any Federal court of record.

(h) Disbarment or suspension from practice as an attorney, certified public accountant, or other person admitted to practice before the Internal Revenue Service.

(i) Knowingly aiding and abetting another person to practice before the Bureau during a period of suspension, disbarment, or ineligibility of the other person. Maintaining a partnership for the practice of law, accountancy, or other related professional service with a person who is under disbarment from practice before the Bureau or the Intenal Revenue Service is presumed to be a violation of this provision.

(j) Contemptuous conduct in connection with practice before the Bureau, including the use of abusive language, making false accusations and statements knowing them to be false, or circulating or publishing malicious or libelous matter.

(k) Willful violatin of any of the regulations contained in this part.

[42 FR 33026, June 29, 1977; 42 FR 36455, July 15, 1977]