Paper 5 — Indirect Tax Laws
Input tax credit and place of supply anchor the GST half. Customs is smaller, finite and consistently underprepared.
Paper at a glance
Indirect Tax Laws is the CA Final paper most affected by amendment, which makes the MTP valuable for a reason beyond practice: it reflects the law as applicable to your attempt. Within GST, input tax credit, place of supply and the procedural chapters on returns and refunds carry the bulk of the marks. Customs and the Foreign Trade Policy form a smaller, more finite block that many candidates reach with too little time — which is precisely why it repays early preparation.
80:20
GST to Customs and FTP split
100
Total marks
3h
Duration
Input tax credit
Place of supply
Returns & refunds
Levy & exemption
Assessment & appeals
Customs & FTP
Marks allotted by section
Chapter repeat strip
One square per recent attempt, filled when the chapter was asked. Read across a row to see how consistently a chapter appears, and down a column to see how broad a single paper tends to be.
| Chapter | M24 | N24 | M25 | N25 | M26 | Typical weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input Tax Creditasked in 5 of 5 | M24: asked | N24: asked | M25: asked | N25: asked | M26: asked | 14–18 marks |
| Place of Supplyasked in 5 of 5 | M24: asked | N24: asked | M25: asked | N25: asked | M26: asked | 12–16 marks |
| Levy, Exemption & Reverse Chargeasked in 5 of 5 | M24: asked | N24: asked | M25: asked | N25: asked | M26: asked | 12–16 marks |
| Returns, Refunds & Paymentasked in 4 of 5 | M24: asked | N24: asked | M25: not asked | N25: asked | M26: asked | 10–14 marks |
| Assessment, Audit, Demands & Recoveryasked in 5 of 5 | M24: asked | N24: asked | M25: asked | N25: asked | M26: asked | 12–16 marks |
| Appeals, Advance Ruling & Offencesasked in 4 of 5 | M24: asked | N24: not asked | M25: asked | N25: asked | M26: asked | 8–12 marks |
| Customs — Valuation & Duty Computationasked in 5 of 5 | M24: asked | N24: asked | M25: asked | N25: asked | M26: asked | 12–16 marks |
| Customs — Import & Export Proceduresasked in 4 of 5 | M24: asked | N24: asked | M25: asked | N25: not asked | M26: asked | 8–10 marks |
| Foreign Trade Policyasked in 4 of 5 | M24: asked | N24: asked | M25: not asked | N25: asked | M26: asked | 5–8 marks |
Indicative pattern compiled from publicly available past papers, RTPs and MTPs. It is a revision-sequencing aid, not a prediction — and not a basis for leaving any chapter unprepared.
Revision priority
Revise first
P1Asked every attempt with the heaviest marks, and heavily amended — so revision must be against current material.
- Input Tax Credit
- Place of Supply
- Levy, Exemption & Reverse Charge
- Assessment, Audit, Demands & Recovery
Revise second
P2Procedural chapters with fixed timelines and forms — memorisable, and reliably examined.
- Returns, Refunds & Payment
- Customs — Valuation & Duty Computation
- Appeals, Advance Ruling & Offences
Do not skip
P3Small, finite and routinely reached with no time left. Prepare these early rather than last.
- Customs — Import & Export Procedures
- Foreign Trade Policy
- Miscellaneous GST Provisions
Typical question structure
Case scenario MCQs — GST and Customs
Scenario-based and detail-driven. Practise the format, not just the provisions.
Computation of net GST liability with ITC
State the set-off order first, then compute head-wise. Present a three-line summary.
Place of supply — cross-border scenarios
Determine the nature of supply before anything else. Every later conclusion depends on it.
Assessment, demands or appeals — procedural
Time limits and forms are the answer. State them precisely.
Customs valuation and duty computation
Follow the valuation sequence and show each addition to transaction value separately.
How to use this paper
- Confirm the applicable law date first. ICAI states the cut-off for amendments applicable to each attempt. Studying superseded provisions causes direct mark loss in this paper.
- Prepare Customs early, not last. It is roughly a fifth of the paper, finite in scope, and the block most often reached with no revision time remaining.
- Maintain a single amendment sheet. Notifications and circulars move constantly. One consolidated running list beats annotated notes from a previous attempt.
- Practise procedural questions as tables. Time limits, forms and thresholds are best revised in tabular form and best answered precisely rather than descriptively.
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Talk to usHow do I keep up with GST amendments for CA Final?
Work from ICAI's current study material and the statutory update for your attempt, and maintain one running amendment sheet. ICAI announces the cut-off date for applicable amendments each attempt — verify it on icai.org rather than relying on notes from a previous cycle.
How much weight does Customs carry?
Roughly a fifth of the paper. It is finite and highly scoreable, but it is also the section students most often reach with insufficient revision time, which is why preparing it early is worth more than its share of marks suggests.
Is Indirect Tax Laws more procedural than conceptual?
Substantially procedural. Time limits, forms, thresholds and sequencing rules carry a large share of the marks, which means precision and recall matter more here than in most other Final papers.
Please note
These are study aids, not ICAI publications. Kartavvya is not affiliated with ICAI. Chapter-frequency patterns are indicative, compiled from publicly available past papers, Revision Test Papers and Mock Test Papers to help you prioritise revision — they are not a prediction of any future paper and should not be used to skip syllabus. Always download the official RTP, MTP and Suggested Answers from icai.org and treat those as authoritative.
Other papers
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