Rules 2026

Rule 255 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026

Rule 255 — Register of income-tax practitioners.

Where this rule sits

What this rule does

The rule requires every specified authority to maintain a register of authorized income-tax practitioners to whom certificates of registration have been issued by him under rule 257. The register is to be kept in such form and in such manner as may be specified by the Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or Director General of Income-tax (Systems), as the case may be, with the prior approval of the Board.

Why it is there

Registration of an income-tax practitioner under rule 257 has to be recorded somewhere that later proceedings can rely on — removal of a name follows a disqualification order, and representation depends on the name being on the register. The rule creates that record, and leaves its form to be specified centrally so that every specified authority keeps it the same way.

Who it applies to

Every specified authority that has issued certificates of registration under rule 257
An authorized income-tax practitioner whose name is entered in the register
The Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) or Director General of Income-tax (Systems), specifying the form and manner with the Board's prior approval

What this means in practice

The register covers only practitioners to whom that specified authority itself has issued certificates under rule 257, so it is a local record and not a national roll. The rule prescribes no format: the form and manner are to be specified by the Principal Director General or Director General of Income-tax (Systems) with the prior approval of the Board, so the register's contents are found in that specification and not in the rule. The register matters most when a name is removed — a disqualification order under rule 265(2) directs removal for the period determined, and it is this register the name is removed from.

An example

Illustrative only, and invented for this page. The figures are chosen to show the requirement biting, not taken from any real matter.

A specified authority issues a certificate of registration to a practitioner under rule 257 and enters him in its register. When an order under rule 265(2) later disqualifies that practitioner for a stated period, his name is removed from this register for that period.

Where you meet this rule

A practitioner meets it as the entry that follows his certificate of registration. A taxpayer meets it only indirectly, when checking that the person appearing for him is an authorized income-tax practitioner on the specified authority's register.

The words themselves

Every specified authority shall maintain a register, of authorized income-tax practitioners to whom certificates of registration have been issued by him under rule 257

Rule 255, Income-tax Rules, 2026.

What people get wrong

Looking in the rule for the register's contents. The form and manner are to be specified by the Principal Director General or Director General of Income-tax (Systems) with the Board's prior approval.
Treating the register as a single national list. Each specified authority maintains a register of the practitioners it has itself registered under rule 257.
Assuming the Systems authority may set the format alone. The rule requires the prior approval of the Board.

Read with

What this page does not tell you. It does not reproduce the rule. Everything above was written from the rule’s own text as the Income Tax Department publishes it — the text is here. A rule is subordinate legislation: it prescribes the method, the form or the period, and it cannot enlarge the charge the section imposes. Where a figure matters, read the sub-rule it comes from.