Taxation

Why this paper matters

Taxation is the most directly employable subject in the CA course and the foundation for Final Direct Tax and Indirect Tax. Articleship work will assume this knowledge from week one.

Chapter-wise weightage

Indicative distribution based on the published syllabus structure. Always confirm against the ICAI study material for your attempt.

• Income Tax — Heads of Income30 marks
• Income Tax — Total Income & Deductions20 marks
• GST — Supply, Levy & Charge20 marks
• GST — ITC, Registration & Returns20 marks
• GST — Valuation, Time & Place of Supply10 marks

How to actually score it

• Learn the computation format first. The total income computation and the GST liability computation are fixed skeletons. Once the skeleton is automatic, provisions simply fill the lines.
• Check the assessment year for your attempt. Rates, slabs and thresholds change annually. Studying from last year's material is the single most expensive mistake in this paper.
• Input tax credit is the highest-yield GST topic. Eligibility, blocked credits, reversal and the conditions under section 16 recur every session and carry disproportionate marks.
• Practise both halves every week. Students who study Income Tax for a month then GST for a month forget the first half. Alternate weekly so both stay live.

Mistakes that cost marks

• Using outdated slab rates or thresholds from an earlier assessment year
• Skipping working notes in a computation, which carry independent marks
• Treating GST as pure theory when the paper is heavily computational
• Ignoring clubbing, set-off and carry-forward provisions, which appear reliably