DTC and GST likely be taught to commerce students in universities

The proposed Direct Taxes Code (DTC) and the goods and services tax (GST) will likely be taught to commerce students in universities on the initiative of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). The ICAI is in talks with several universities to soon introduce courses dealing with the nuances of these new tax regimes.

“By the time the current B.Com and M.Com students pass out, these new laws will be in place,” said Amarjit Chopra, president of Icai. “Whether they become CAs (chartered accountants) or MBAs (masters of business administration) or do anything else, the students will have the knowledge about it.”

“We have received positive response from university vice-chancellors and commerce departments,” he added.

DTC has received the cabinet’s nod and is currently in Parliament. Expected to come into effect on 1 April 2012, it will replace the five-decade-old Income-Tax Act and bring in many changes in personal and corporate taxation.

GST is aimed at replacing Central excise duty and service tax, value-added taxes as well as local levies, cesses and surcharges. The proposed law is still being discussed and its announced implementation from 1 April 2011 is likely to be delayed.

Some universities said they would be happy to include GST and DTC in their curricula if ICAI helps them prepare course material and train faculty members.

“We are open to new ideas and new subjects. GST and DTC are new concepts in tax and accounting fields. We have already started subjects like e-commerce,” said K.K. Deka, vice-chancellor of Dibrugarh University in Assam. “ICAI is a professional body and their help can be beneficial for our students.”

Malabika Deo, head of the commerce department at Pondicherry University, said a B.Com degree is not considered as a professional degree currently.

B.Com students need to learn about contemporary issues and it will be good to study DTC and GST, she said. “By the time these laws are in force, at least one or two batches of students would be well versed on it.”

Icai is likely to soon hold a second meeting with the stakeholders, including the ministry of human resource development.

It says the courses will help create a pool of professionals who understand the nuances of the new laws.

Icai estimates there were 1.6 million B.Com and M.Com students in 2006.

Vijay Kapur, director, board of studies at Icai, said some of the universities that don’t have material would require Icai’s help. “We have enough material and this can be taken care of. We can even help in teachers’ training for such subjects.”