The subject of International Taxation is seen as a good option for aspirants who have pursued their articleship in taxation. One advantage of choosing this elective is that preparation for the next examination is also half-done if this elective is chosen. While the sixth paper is the elective, paper 7 for CA final is Direct Tax and International Taxation.

The major issue that CA aspirants talk about is the insufficiency of time for revision for the Direct Tax paper that costs them dearly in scoring. However, if elective 6 is International Taxation, 35-40% of the syllabus is already covered in the previous paper. This helps them get way ahead of the competition.

There are two parts the paper can be divided into-

1. Taxation of International Transactions & Non-resident Taxation in India, accounting for 50 marks
2. Other aspects of international taxation for 50 marks. The second part includes tax treaties, anti-avoidance measures, tax conventions, etc.

Transfer pricing, advanced ruling, taxation for foreigners, non-residents, primary/secondary adjustments are all common topics figuring in both paper 7 and paper 6C, which would make it an advantage in terms of scoring.

Strategies for CA Final International Taxation

We have put together to help you prepare better for the International Taxation paper:

• You need to get comfortable with case study format and familiarize yourself with the methods of decoding case studies
• The ICAI material is highly recommended and considered the best in terms of preparation. In an open case study format, it is important that one goes through the mock test papers and last years’ case studies to prepare well
• Revision Test Papers – attempting previous papers is one way of gaining confidence as the new formats may tend to be confusing.
• It is important to not get overwhelmed by unfamiliar formats/questions as undue panic can lead to a lot of wastage of time
• Make notes while learning each chapter, since taxation is a vast subject and it is practically impossible to remember everything with a first reading.
• Taxation by itself is a vast topic. Understanding the logic behind introduction of certain laws and postulates will help you retain the actual theory.