The taxation paper is divided into two sections one is Income Tax and the other one is Indirect Taxes. Income Tax covers 60 marks and Indirect Taxes covers 40 Marks. Taxation paper is perfectly blended in theory and practical portion.

The first question of the paper has a lot of concepts amalgamated together which becomes very scary for many students as they wonder how to even begin to solve such a question. Well, here is something you can try. Break down the question into the different chapters or concepts that it has and cater to them one by one. This way you will not only answer the question completely but properly also.

After practicing problems pertaining to different heads, attempting multiple problems related to total income will help you gain confidence in the overall application of theory in Taxation.

While making copious notes is not possible during preparation time, do not fall on multiple sources of such notes as they may end up confusing you. While reading through the material and subsequently solving sums, you may note down tricky parts that you need to remember and revise at the end.

Any new amendments, such as those introduced in Capital Gains, etc. are important and need to be known by every CA aspirant attempting the CA intermediate taxation paper.

Go through the illustrations provided in the study material. They can help you give an edge over many aspirants.

Understand each and every clause not just to crack this exam but also to perform well in your articles. Heads should be the top priority. Salary and House Property are considered very much important at the Intermediate level. You will always find a question from the Salary Head in your paper. Section number is also important to learn at least the charging section.

Thoroughly prepare the computation of Total Income and this is possible when your provisions are clear.

Besides the various heads, some case laws are expected from the TDS and TCS.  Short questions are expected from the Basic Concepts and Residential Status. Deductions and carry forward of losses generally become part of total income so don’t forget to treat them in the computation of Total Income.

Ignoring smaller topics can come at a great cost- remember to cover even the smaller topics like TDS, Provisions of filing returns, Exempt Income, and the like. These are easy ones and can be really scoring.