CA Final IDT Paper Analysis November 2026: The 23 MCQs Counted

CA Final Paper 5, Indirect Tax Laws (IDT), on 11 November 2026 opened with 23 MCQs for 30 marks, against 15 in May 2026. The student-shared copy we had contained only Part I, without the 70 marks of descriptive questions, so this analysis covers the MCQs alone. GST kept 26 of the 30 MCQ marks and customs 4, exactly as in May, and foreign trade policy (FTP) again had none. Half the marks, 15 of 30, needed a calculation.

The GST share did not change, but its chapters did: e-commerce and registration, with no MCQ marks in May, now carry 13 of the 30, while charge of GST and input tax credit, May's two biggest chapters, carry 1 between them.

TL;DR

• 23 MCQs: 7 of 2 marks and 16 of 1, in three cases of six MCQs plus five standalone. May had 15 MCQs of 2 marks.
• GST 26, customs 4, FTP 0, the same as May. 15 marks need a calculation (14 in May), and 6 of the 7 two-markers are calculations.
• Marks are spread over 13 chapters, up from 9. ICAI's official paper and suggested answers are not yet out, so every answer here is my reading.

Were the CA Final IDT Nov 2026 MCQs tough?

1. Length: long cases. Part I fills 16 printed pages. Case I, on a Mumbai housing society, runs over three pages and two tables before MCQ 1, and Case III, on an e-commerce operator, gives a five-row table and seven notes, one of them a rate table, for six questions.
2. Arithmetic: moderate. Nine MCQs worth 15 marks need a calculation, against 23 of 30 MCQ marks in the DT paper two days earlier. The only 2-mark MCQ without arithmetic is MCQ 9, on customs relief for pilfered goods.
3. Recent law: 4 MCQs worth 6 marks draw on ICAI's Statutory Update for November 2026. They cover crew baggage under the Baggage Rules, 2026, deferred duty payment for an Eligible Manufacturer Importer, and the omnibus rule for e-commerce operators from 22 September 2025, which decides MCQ 21 and 22.
4. Traps in the facts: the society collects Rs 7,450 per member a month, Rs 50 under the Rs 7,500 limit in the exemption for resident welfare associations, and two of the three government receipts in MCQ 1 are printed inclusive of tax.

On a marks-to-time split, the 30 MCQ marks are worth about 54 of your 180 minutes. Case I and Case III, the two longest fact sets, get about 14 minutes each for their 8 marks.

How did I count the marks?

I read Part I from a student-shared scanned copy (booklet MPL). Every MCQ prints its marks, so none had to be set by difference. I counted the paper twice, independently. The two counts agreed on each MCQ's marks, its law and whether it needs a calculation; they differed on the chapter for six MCQs, which I settled from the chapter text of ICAI's September 2025 study material.

An MCQ is a calculation when you must work out an amount. One that asks for a rule, a date or a set of conditions, or picks one given figure by a rule, is concept. MCQ 1 counts as a calculation even though my answer is Nil, as you take tax out of two amounts to get there.

Source: Part I of the November 2026 paper from a student-shared copy; ICAI's suggested answers for May 2026 and January 2026, which reprint every MCQ; and ICAI's Statutory Update for the November 2026 exams.

Which chapters carried the most marks in the IDT MCQs?

MCQ marks for November 2026, with May 2026 in brackets:

• Electronic commerce transactions: 8, the whole of Case III (0).
• Registration: 5, from MCQs 4, 6 and 13 (0).
• Value of supply: 3 (2).
• Exemptions from GST: 2 (2).
• Payment of tax (TDS under s.51): 2 (0).
• Customs levy and exemptions: 2 (0).
• Customs importation and exportation of goods: 2 (4).
• Place of supply, time of supply, input tax credit, returns, demands and recovery, and offences and penalties: 1 each (4, 0, 6, 0, 0, 0).

Charge of GST, which covers composition and reverse charge, had 6 marks in May and none of its own now; its rules sit only in the background of Case III. Accounts and records, liability to pay in certain cases, and appeals and revision lost their 2 marks each.

What changed from May 2026?

Part I changed shape. May had 15 MCQs of 2 marks: two cases of six worth 12 marks each, plus three standalone. November has three cases of six worth 8 marks each, plus five standalone MCQs printed between Case I and Case II. Case and standalone marks stay at 24 and 6.

IDT is the fifth CA Final paper in a row with 16 MCQs of 1 mark and 7 of 2, after FR on 2 November, AFM on 4 November, Audit on 6 November and DT on 9 November. DT also put 24 marks in cases, but used four of them.

By module, Module 1 (supply, charge, place, time and value of supply, and exemptions) fell from 14 marks to 7. Module 2, which runs through input tax credit, registration, payment, e-commerce and returns, rose from 8 to 17. Module 3 went from 4 to 2, and customs stayed at 4. Calculation marks barely moved from May: 14 then, 15 now, after 20 of 30 in January 2026.

Some frames repeat. January 2026 also gave a whole case to an e-commerce operator, with the GSTR-8 late fee, an operator's tax on restaurant service under s.9(5) plus commission, and TCS under s.52; Case III asks all three again. TDS under s.51 by a government body returns from January. Baggage returns from May, now under the Baggage Rules, 2026 instead of the 2016 Rules, and so does the bar on a composition supplier making inter-State supplies, this time through an e-commerce operator.

Which IDT MCQs were tricky?

The working below is mine, not ICAI's. In eight MCQs (1, 7, 10, 12, 13, 18, 21 and 22) my figure matches a printed option, which supports the reading but is not a key.

• MCQ 1 (2 marks) asks for TDS under s.51, and by my working the answer is Nil. BSNL's registered office and contracting office are in Delhi, while the supplier and the place of supply, towers on the Mumbai buildings, are in Maharashtra, so the proviso to s.51 rules out TDS. The RBI and Municipal Corporation amounts include tax; net of 18% they are Rs 2,50,000 and Rs 2,15,000, and neither exceeds Rs 2.5 lakh.
• MCQ 4 and MCQ 5, on the society's aggregate turnover and when it must register, turn on which statutory dues count and how a wholly exempt society is treated. I leave both open.
• MCQ 9 (customs, 2 marks): relief for pilfered goods under s.13 of the Customs Act covers pilferage up to the order for clearance, not actual clearance, and the relief is that duty is not levied, not a refund. That makes statements (ii) and (iii) the incorrect ones.
• MCQ 11 follows the Statutory Update. An Eligible Manufacturer Importer needs a valid IEC, a CA's solvency certificate, turnover above Rs 5 crore and at least two financial years in business, so only (i) and (iv) hold.
• MCQ 21 and 22, 4 marks between them, both turn on one fact: the omnibus belongs to a company, Jeet Transport Pvt. Ltd. Since 22 September 2025 that ride is taxed in the company's hands, not the operator's under s.9(5), so it adds no output tax for Procto but does attract TCS.
• In MCQ 21, the restaurant sits in a hotel charging Rs 6,500 a unit a day, so it is not in specified premises and the 5% rate applies: Rs 12,500 each on Rs 5 lakh. With 8% commission, my total is Rs 34,964 CGST and SGST each plus Rs 8,496 IGST. My MCQ 22 answer is Rs 3,850 each plus Rs 2,700 IGST.

Where can I get the CA Final IDT Nov 2026 question paper?

We have retyped Part I from the student-shared copy into a free GradeHunt PDF, so you can download the November 2026 IDT MCQs and attempt them in 54 minutes. The PDF has the 23 MCQs only. Our CA Final November 2026 question papers page has the other papers.

When will ICAI release the IDT suggested answers?

ICAI's official question paper and suggested answers for November 2026 are not yet published. Our CA Final question papers and suggested answers post links ICAI's papers by attempt. Until ICAI's answers are out, every MCQ key, mine included, is unofficial.

What should May 2027 IDT students practise?

Two of the last three IDT papers built a whole case on an e-commerce operator, so practise the GSTR-8 late fee, s.9(5) services and TCS under s.52 as one set. Read the Statutory Update for your attempt too; this paper took 6 MCQ marks from it. Choosing classes? Our IDT faculty comparison lists the courses side by side.

Get your answers checked

If you will write IDT in May 2027, the Gradehunt CA Final test series has full papers you write by hand and upload. Ex-examiners check them within 48 hours of upload, and your first paper is checked free.