copies are made one for each member of the whole Board. If a member or members of the division still dissent from the division decision, as adopted, a decision representing his or their view is likewise mimeographed and circulated to all the members of the Board. The Board meets in full conference on Friday and Saturday of each week. During the customary period of a week to ten days between the mimeographing of the division decision and the review of such decision by the entire Board, each member of the Board studies the division decisions circulated. At the Board meeting, the division decisions coming before it are discussed at such length as the importance of the particular decisions warrant. At the conclusion of the discussion, a motion to adopt is voted upon. It is not unusual for decisions to be sent back to be rewritten, with a view to reaching the proper result as the Board sees it. When the Board has reached a decision in an appeal, a certified copy thereof is sent to the taxpayer and likewise one to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Section 54. Business Hours.39 The office of the Board at Washington, D. C., will be open each business day from 9 o'clock a. m. to 4: 30 o'clock p. m. Section 55. Admission to Practice.40 A register of persons entitled to practice before the Board will be maintained by the Board in which will be entered the names of all such persons. Firms will not be admitted or recognized. The following classes of persons whom the Board 39 See Rule 1 of "Rules of Practice," Appendix, p. 134. 40 See Rule 2 of "Rules of Practice," Appendix, p. 134. finds, upon consideration of their applications, to be of good moral character and to possess the requisite qualifications to represent others may be admitted to practice before the Board: (a) Attorneys-at-law who are admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States or the highest court of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia. (b) Certified public accountants duly qualified under the law of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia. An application under oath for admission to practice should be addressed to the United States Board of Tax Appeals, Washington, D. C., and must state the name, residence, address and business address of the applicant, and the time and place of his admission to the bar, or qualification as a certified public accountant. Such application should also state whether the applicant has ever been suspended or disbarred as an attorney in any court, or his right to practice as a certified public accountant suspended or revoked in any jurisdiction. Such application should be accompanied by a certificate of the clerk of the court in which the applicant is admitted to practice to the effect that he has been so admitted and is in good standing; or a certificate by the proper State, Territorial or District authority to the effect that the applicant is a certified public accountant in good standing, duly qualified and entitled to practice in such State or Territory or the District of Columbia. The Board may, in its discretion, deny admission, suspend or disbar any person who it finds does not possess the requisite qualifications to represent others, or is lacking in character, integrity or proper professional conduct.41 An attorney or certified public accountant who has been admitted to practice may be disbarred only after he is afforded an opportunity to be heard. The Board shall have the right at any time to require a statement under oath of the terms and circumstances of any contract of employment of an attorney or certified public accountant with the taxpayer he represents. Any individual taxpayer or member of a taxpayer partnership may appear for himself or such partnership upon adequate identification to the Board. A taxpayer corporation may be represented by a bona. fide officer of the corporation upon permission granted, in its discretion, by the Board or the division sitting. Section 56. Computation of Time-Sundays and Holidays.42 When the time prescribed by these rules for doing any act expires on a Sunday or a legal holiday in the District of Columbia, such time should extend to and include the next succeeding day that is not a Sunday or such legal holiday. 41 The authority of the Board to make and enforce reasonable rules for the admission of persons to appear before it as agents and attorneys has been upheld by the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia. The Court affirmed on March 2, 1925, a decision of the Supreme Court of the District, in the case of Goldsmith v. United States Board of Tax Appeals, dismissing a petition for a writ of mandamus to compel the Board to enroll the petitioner as attorney. In this case, the Court of Appeals, after sustaining the right of the Board to make and enforce reasonable rules for admission to practice, stated that the real question was whether there had been an abuse of discretion, or an arbitrary exercise thereof by the Board, and held that no such abuse was shown. This case also involved a ruling by the Board that a person barred as an attorney for the taxpayer may be refused admission to appear as an officer of the taxpayer company. 42 See Rule 44 of "Rules of Practice," Appendix, p. 145. See however, the rule applicable to the filing of petitions, Section 37. Section 57. Reports of Board and Evidence as Public Records. All reports of the Board and its divisions and all evidence received by the Board and its divisions (including, in cases where the oral testimony is reduced to writing, the transcript thereof) shall be public records open to the inspection of the public.* 43 Publication of Reports. The Board shall provide for the publication of its reports at the Government Printing Office in such form and manner as may be best adapted for public information and use, and such authorized publication shall be competent evidence of the reports of the Board therein contained in all courts of the United States and of the several States without any further proof or authentication thereof.44 43 Revenue Act of 1924, Section 900 (h) 44 Ibid. |