GST dominates and Customs is the reliable minority. The paper moves with the law, so currency of material matters more than volume of practice.
Indirect Tax is largely a GST paper with a Customs section that students routinely under-prepare and then find sitting there worth real marks. The GST questions test the same chain every attempt — is it a supply, when, where, at what value, and what credit is available — while Customs tests valuation, duty computation and procedure. Because GST changes frequently, the risk here is studying the right topic from the wrong year.
Marks
100 marks
Duration
3 hours
Negative marking
None in the descriptive part; check the notification for the objective part
Pass requirement
40% in the paper, 50% in group aggregate
Paper format
GST and Customs; part objective and part descriptive — confirm the current split in your exam notification
Confirm the pattern, marks split and any objective component against the ICAI notification for your own attempt before planning around it.
Computation, application and provisions
The dominant section of the paper.
Valuation, duty computation and procedure
Compact, predictable and often under-prepared.
Bands follow the weightage published by ICAI for the current scheme. Read them as a guide to study order, not as a prediction of any one paper.
The classification chain that opens most questions.
Blocked credits, apportionment, reversal.
Threshold and timeline recall.
Procedural, and reliably present.
The most computational part of the Customs block.
Short questions, cheap marks.
Small, self-contained, frequently skipped.
These are the forms that come back attempt after attempt. Each one has an opening move — the thing to write down before you start computing.
Outward and inward supplies, credit eligibility, and net liability in cash.
How to attack it
Tabulate with a reason column for every credit allowed or denied. The reasons carry marks independently of the final figure.
Whether a transaction is a supply, its time, place and value.
How to attack it
Answer in the statutory order — supply, time, place, value. Skipping a link loses the mark for it even if the conclusion is right.
Assessable value from a transaction value with additions, then the duty ladder.
How to attack it
Build the assessable value line by line before computing any duty. The additions to transaction value are where the marks sit.
Registration, return, refund, appeal or penalty provisions under GST or Customs.
How to attack it
Memory work with a high return. State the rule, apply the timeline to the facts, conclude.
A starting plan for the paper. Adapt the order to your own strengths — the point is to walk in with an order decided, because deciding it in the hall is what leaves questions unattempted.
Case scenarios first while reading stamina is high.
Take the main GST liability and classification questions with full reason columns.
Write the Customs answers. They are quicker than GST per mark — do not leave them stranded at the end.
Finish the procedural questions and verify that every credit denial has a stated reason.
Every one of these costs marks after the work was already done. They are the cheapest marks on the paper to recover.
What it costs
20–30 marks of comparatively easy content
Do this instead
The Customs block is compact and its question forms are stable. Per hour of study it is the best-value section of the paper.
What it costs
Right topic, wrong rule
Do this instead
GST moves. Confirm the amendments applicable to your attempt and prefer the current study material over older notes.
What it costs
The marks for each link you skipped
Do this instead
Supply, time, place, value — write each step even when the conclusion is obvious. Each is separately marked.
Still unsure about something? We're happy to help you figure it out.
Talk to usTypically a fifth to a quarter, including Foreign Trade Policy. That is enough to decide a marginal result, and it is the section students most often leave to the last week. Its question forms are also more stable than GST's.
Because GST rules, rates and procedures are amended frequently, and the exam tests the position applicable to your attempt. Unlike a technique, an outdated rule gives you a confidently wrong answer with no signal that anything is off.
It is more balanced than it appears. The computations are prominent, but a large share of the marks sits in classification reasoning and procedural provisions — both of which are written answers rather than arithmetic.
Taxation
Two half-papers with different personalities. Income Tax rewards computation discipline; GST rewards knowing the rule cold. Neither forgives an outdated amendment.
Final · Paper 4Direct Tax Laws and International Taxation
A volume and currency paper. International taxation has become a reliable block, and last year's material is actively dangerous here.
Final · Paper 6Integrated Business Solutions and Corporate Laws
A case-study paper that tests integration, not recall. Knowing each subject separately is necessary and nowhere near sufficient.
Please note
Weightage bands follow the skill-wise and chapter-wise weightage published in the ICAI syllabus and study material for the current scheme. Frequency labels (Every attempt / Most attempts / Alternate attempts / Occasional) describe recurring question forms observed across recent past papers and are editorial guidance, not an ICAI statistic — no breakdown here predicts what will be asked. Paper patterns, marks splits and the MCQ share change between schemes and notifications: always confirm against the exam notification and study material for your attempt before planning around any figure on this page.
Practise Indirect Tax Laws the way it is actually examined — past questions by chapter, full papers timed, and every answer evaluated step by step.
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