CMA Final DT and IDT: Preparing the Tax Papers for December 2026

CMA Final direct tax preparation for December 2026 starts with the law. ICMAI's circular of 15 September 2026 applies the Finance Act, 2025 to Paper 15 and Paper 19, with amendments up to 31 May 2026. For Paper 15 that means the Income-tax Act, 1961 and AY 2026-27, the same law the June 2026 paper tested. ICMAI's timetable puts Paper 15 on Monday 14 December and Paper 19 on Tuesday 15 December, both from 10 am to 1 pm.

The Income-tax Act, 2025 governs tax year 2026-27 in real life, but it is not the law for this attempt.

TL;DR

• Law: Finance Act, 2025, amendments to 31 May 2026, Income-tax Act, 1961 for AY 2026-27.
• Last two papers: direct tax laws took 79 and 81 of 128 printed marks in Paper 15, and GST took 90 of 128 in Paper 19 both times.
• ICMAI's December supplementary for Paper 19 runs to 94 pages, 80 of them on customs. The Paper 15 one has three pages of content.
• From 4 November to 9 December, one group gives about 72 hours a paper: 43 direct tax and 29 international taxation, or 50 GST and 22 customs.

Which law applies to the CMA Final tax papers in December 2026?

ICMAI's Directorate of Studies circular DoS-Academics/09/2026 lists the Finance Act, 2025 for Paper 7 (Inter), Paper 15 and Paper 19, with amendments up to 31 May 2026. GST amendments up to the same date apply to Papers 7 and 19.

The circular does not mention the Income-tax Act, 2025, in force from 1 April 2026 with tax year in place of assessment year. The December supplementary for Paper 15 cites sections 292B and 292BA of the 1961 Act and the Income-tax Rules, 1962. The June 2026 paper, under the same Finance Act, set its income computations for AY 2026-27 under the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Prepare the 1961 Act for AY 2026-27 (previous year 2025-26). For Paper 19, ICMAI's supplementary applies the GST and customs Acts as amended by the Finance Act, 2025, plus notifications and circulars up to 31 May 2026.

How has ICMAI's cut-off moved over the last four terms?

ICMAI's circulars for the last four terms give these tax rows:

• June 2025 (circular of 13 March 2025): Finance Act, 2024, amendments up to 30 November 2024.
• December 2025 (17 September 2025): Finance Act, 2024, up to 31 May 2025.
• June 2026 (16 March 2026): Finance Act, 2025, up to 30 November 2025.
• December 2026 (15 September 2026): Finance Act, 2025, up to 31 May 2026.

Source: ICMAI Directorate of Studies circulars DoS-Academics/03/2025, 09/2025, 03/2026 and 09/2026, Gradehunt analysis.

Each Finance Act has covered a June term and the December term after it, and the cut-off date sits about six months before the exam. Do not add Finance Act, 2026 changes on your own. For anything after the 2025 Act, study what the supplementary lists.

December 2026 is the second term on the Finance Act, 2025. ICMAI issued its June circulars on 13 March 2025 and 16 March 2026, so expect the June 2027 rules in March.

What did the last two Paper 15 and Paper 19 papers actually ask?

Both papers print 128 marks: 15 compulsory MCQs of 2 marks, then Questions 2 to 8 at 14 marks each, of which you answer five. I put every MCQ and part under its syllabus section:

• Paper 15, December 2025: direct tax laws 81 marks (63.3%), international taxation 47 (36.7%).
• Paper 15, June 2026: direct tax laws 79 marks (61.7%), international taxation 49 (38.3%).
• Paper 19, both terms: GST 90 marks (70.3%), customs and Foreign Trade Policy 38 (29.7%).

Source: ICMAI Final Paper 15 and Paper 19 question papers, December 2025 and June 2026, marks counted by Gradehunt.

The question slots did not move. In Paper 15, Questions 2 to 5 were direct tax: trusts, firms, individuals, companies, restructuring, non-residents, appeals and ICDS. Questions 6 and 7 were international taxation: double taxation relief, arm's length price and section 94B. Question 8 paired MAT with a transfer pricing part.

In Paper 19, Questions 2 to 5 and Question 8 were GST, and Questions 6 and 7 held customs and the Foreign Trade Policy. Our CMA Final weightage post has the same kind of count for SFM, SCM and CFR.

Printed marks sat within 4 points of ICMAI's 60:40 and 70:30 weights, and no set of five Paper 15 questions avoided international taxation.

What is new in the December 2026 supplementaries?

ICMAI's supplementary page lists the December files, and the two Final tax files differ a lot:

• Paper 15: four pages, three of them content. They cover CBDT Circular 4/2026 on the document identification number, crypto-asset reporting in Rules 114F to 114H, ITR-1 and ITR-4 allowing two house properties, and Rule 10U, which keeps GAAR off income from transferring investments made before 1 April 2017.
• Paper 19: 94 pages. GST takes 12, on local delivery through e-commerce operators and retail sale price valuation under Rule 31D. Customs takes 80, and 68 of those are on the Baggage Rules, 2026. The Foreign Trade Policy gets one page, on RoDTEP.

Source: ICMAI supplementaries for the December 2026 term, Papers 15 and 19, pages counted by Gradehunt.

The Paper 19 file says the June 2026 supplementary still applies. The Paper 15 file does not say so, but both terms use the Finance Act, 2025, so I would read the 29-page June 2026 Paper 15 file too.

How do the Baggage Rules, 2026 change a baggage sum?

The December 2025 paper set a baggage question at an effective rate of 38.5% including social welfare surcharge. The Baggage Rules, 2026 apply from 2 February 2026, and ICMAI's supplementary takes ordinary baggage at 35% basic customs duty, with IGST, surcharge and cess nil. A resident who flies in with ₹1,00,000 of eligible goods gets a ₹75,000 general free allowance, so the duty is ₹25,000 × 35% = ₹8,750.

How should you split your hours for CMA Final direct tax preparation?

From 4 November to 9 December, the day before the first Final paper, there are 36 days. At 8 hours a day that is 288 hours: 72 a paper for one group of four papers, 36 for both groups. Split by ICMAI's weights and rounded:

• Paper 15, direct tax laws (60%): 43 hours for one group, 22 for both.
• Paper 15, international taxation (40%): 29 hours, or 14.
• Paper 19, GST (70%): 50 hours, or 25.
• Paper 19, customs and FTP (30%): 22 hours, or 11.

Source: section weights from ICMAI's CMA prospectus (Syllabus 2022), Gradehunt calculation. Our 45-day CMA plan splits these weeks into phases for all your papers.

1. Keep 2 to 3 hours of each tax paper's share for the December supplementary, and in Paper 19 spend most of it on baggage sums.
2. Revise international taxation in the same weeks as direct tax. Questions 6 and 7 were international taxation in both recent papers.
3. Write one full Paper 15 and one full Paper 19 at 10 am, on consecutive days if you write both groups, and check them against the ICMAI question papers and suggested answers.

In tax answer sheets, the slip I would guard against is the wrong year at the top of a computation, so write AY 2026-27 before the first figure. Direct tax and GST get the larger share of hours, but international taxation and customs belong in every week until 13 December.

To see how your Paper 15 or Paper 19 answers score, the Gradehunt CMA Final test series has full papers for both. You write by hand and upload, and CMA professionals check each sheet within 48 hours of upload, with marks and remarks on each answer. Notes, MCQs and ABC analysis are included, and your first paper is checked free.