Written by : Anirudh Garg, Law Student , Lovely Professional University
INTRODUCTION
Law students and internships are a never-ending love story! It would not be wrong to say that internships act as a stepping stone in a student’s career who aspires to be a successful legal professional. As soon as a person develops or delves deep in to the idea of pursuing law as career the first thing that strikes into his/ her mind is courts and then of course the black coat. Even the reputed law schools in the country recommend interning under practicing advocates who are generally found in district courts in respective states, non-governmental organizations, or independent law firms, wherein the district courts remain the most traditional form of interning. The NGOs and law firms are relatively new additions to the dimension of the legal field.
MAJOR AREAS OF PRACTICE
When you come across a law student in their early days in law school, the major areas of practice or interest that they are aware of are Constitutional Law, Criminal Laws, and Civil Laws. To kick start their legal journey a law student is taught Constitutional Law which is the need of the hour then as it is one form of law that gives birth or serves as a foundational stone for the formation of laws throughout the country.
Civil Laws form a part of a law school’s curriculum before criminal laws even come to the scene. Civil laws are majorly concerned with disputes between individuals, businesses, and organizations. Law of Torts, contract laws, laws on specific performance, laws pertaining to family matters, and matters of property are examples of some major subjects that fall under the ambit and umbrella of civil laws.
The Criminal Laws are the most stringent and strict form of laws in the country which oversees and governs the punitive and the procedural side of the picture, it covers an offence as small as Theft to as big as a Murder or Rape in the country. Prior to July 1st 2024 criminal laws had three primary booklets namely The Indian Penal Code, The Criminal Procedure Code and The Evidence Act but since the first of July 2024 these laws have been amended and have come to be known as Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharat Sakshya Sanhita respectively.
Adding to the tally are IPR Laws, Environmental laws, Real Estate, Technology, Arbitration, Banking, and Insurance are some of the other taught and practiced subjects or areas of Law.
TAXATION LAWS
The taxation laws in the country play a very important role in shaping the country’s economic face. The most prominent forms of taxation laws in the country in the contemporary stage are the Goods and Services Tax Act 2017 and the Income Tax Act, 1961 which are regulated by the CBIC (CENTRAL BOARD OF INDIRECT TAXES AND CUSTOMS) and CBDT (CENTRAL BOARD OF DIRECT TAXES) respectively which are both a part of the department of revenue under the Ministry of Finance, Government of India. These two laws are the most important legislations from an economic and developmental viewpoint of the country as these are majorly responsible for the collection of taxes and generation of tax revenues which in turn results in the availability of requisite funds with the GOI and the same could be put to many infrastructural and developmental activities.
But from an academic viewpoint, the students are a bit reluctant to read tax laws as these majorly revolve around subjects of commerce, and being student of law students majorly read Political Science and History as subjects even if they are pursuing an integrated degree (BA. LLB) and they cannot relate to accounts, audits, gains, losses and other like terms.
Nevertheless, students who belong to the commerce background or have read commerce as a subject in classes 11 and 12 may at some point in time be fascinated with the nature of work and are used to the terms that they often come across or expect to encounter while practicing taxation. Consequently, a B.COM LLB student is more likely to be inclined towards Taxation laws as an area of practice.
INTERNSHIP OPTIONS
As soon as a law student wants to take up any subject or area of law as his main forte or specialization he is recommended to join an advocate to undergo training to get a know-how of a particular area of law. The procedure or the style of learning tax law is no different. If you want to practice Tax Laws you are advised to see an advocate who is practicing tax laws, a tax consultant or a taxation advisor who can teach you the intricacies of taxation as a subject of law.
More interestingly apart from Tax lawyers, advisors, or consultants, Chartered Accountants are another form of professionals dealing with the Tax laws (including GST and Income Tax). I know many of the readers would have been taken by surprise upon learning the fact that a Law student can be interning with a Chartered Accountant for the purposes of learning tax laws and pursuing it as a career. The next section of the article would make the picture clearer.
THE INTERRELATION OF TAX LAW FIRMS AND CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT FIRMS
As discussed in the last section of the article that as a law intern aiming to be an Income Tax practitioner or for instance a GST practitioner you can walk into a LAW cum CA firm to intern under experienced advocates. Various firms have practicing chartered accountants and tax law practitioners (advocates). The setup of such dual-character firms is very interesting wherein you come across advocates and chartered accountants under one roof. The role of chartered accountants is to prepare the financial documents, conduct audits of firms and companies, analyze various financial documents of the clients. The financial document prepared by the chartered accountants during a financial year is of huge relevance for advocates who are practicing income tax or GST since these serve as evidences during the phase and stage of tax litigation.
There could be situations where Income Tax practitioners or say advocates have problems while understanding the complexities of an audited financial statement and that is when the advocate would want a CA friend around him who can guide him on the information and interpretation of balance sheets, profit and loss accounts, trading accounts, ledgers etc and the items in them.
For an advocate to be able to litigate and contest a tax case efficiently it is very crucial that he has all the proper knowledge and requisite accounting acumen to frame and deliver his arguments efficiently in a court or a tribunal as the case may be.
Similarly, if you are a law intern at such a firm which is having CAs and Advocates you could be doing both preparing and analyzing financial documents and also learning litigation and advocacy. One day you could be studying balance sheets, bank statements, ledgers, and other financial accounts of a company and be asked to research various aspects of such financial documents which could very surprisingly form the first step to your journey as a tax law intern. Now thinking of such a situation might confuse the readers as to the role of a law intern at a law cum CA FIRM. There are many people who lose their interest in tax laws just because they are not directly thrown in to litigation but are sometimes asked to do finance and accounts-related jobs which might be frustrating at times because as a law intern the person always aims to attend hearings, draft legal documents such as replies and written submissions but that might not be the case being a law intern at such a dual characterized firm.
Moreover, with the outbreak of Covid-19 in early 2020, the government announced the Faceless Appeal Scheme, 2020 vide Notification no. 76 dtd. 25.09.2020. Rule 12 of the said notification which states that no assessee or his duly authorized representative shall not be required to appear in person in the court or the tribunal in relation to any proceedings or cases. So with the introduction of the said provision, you cannot expect to attend hearings in person.
Consequently, most of your time during the first few years as a tax law intern could feature only reviewing financial statements and accounts of various assesses and entities which could well be very unlike an advocate’s job but this is something that’s going to enable you to learn identification of incomes, expenses, gains, losses, nature of transactions and then help you to be able to draft an effective legal document pertaining to legal submissions in any court or tribunal. Another important task as a tax law intern would be to learn Income Tax Law which is provided in the Income Tax Ready Reckoner. Being a law student, you could never undermine importance of learning legal provisions or the law and that becomes all more important when you are tax law intern owing to the ever-amending nature of the subject and law.
Chartered Accountant firms in the contemporary era are not limited to accounting, auditing, and financial services but many CAs have extended their services to litigation in income tax and GST. Section 288 sub-section 2 Clause IV of the Income Tax Act, 1961 authorizes a chartered accountant to appear as the counsel for any assesse in a tax proceeding. So if a tax law intern wants to learn litigation and drafting they can also go for an internship in a chartered accountant firm which is dealing in litigation as well. Interning in a CA firm helps you learn the intricacies of finance and accounts. Both CAs and Advocates can act as tax planners and advisors and can serve greater purposes for their clients provided, they get both services under one roof.
CONCLUSION
Tax law interns could be a great asset for CA firms aiming to expand their services to litigation and also for advocates practicing tax law (GST and Income Tax). CAs could act as a great asset in preparing efficient financial documents catering to the needs of their clients. Drafting efficient legal documents, their identification, and analysis could well be a very important aspect of better tax planning and advisory which could lead to ultimate client satisfaction. So if you are aiming to be a tax law practitioner as an advocate it would not be a bad idea to have a friend who aspires to be a CA as it could result in a fruitful partnership running a Law cum CA firm together.
References:
The Indian Penal Code [Equivalent Citation: Indian Penal Code, 1860]
The Criminal Procedure Code [Equivalent Citation: Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973]
The Evidence Act [Equivalent Citation: Indian Evidence Act, 1872]
Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 [No change]
Income Tax Act, 1961 [No change]
Faceless Appeal Scheme, 2020 [Equivalent Citation: Notification No. 76/2020 – Central Board of Direct Taxes
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