Former finance minister T M Thomas Isaac MLA inaugurated the two-day National Conference on Indirect Taxes, organised by The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India at TDM Hall here on Friday.

Thomas Isaac in his inaugural address congratulated the ICAI for organising a conference at a time when indirect tax assumes greater significance. The ICAI should conduct such seminars not only for the members in the profession but also to educate the public, he added. India is one of the countries with least tax GDP ratio and reducing the indirect tax rates further would increase the revenue deficit, he commented.

Indirect Taxes Committee chairman Atul Kumar Gupta, Professional Development chairman Shyam Lal Agarwal, and Ernakulam Branch of SIRC of ICAI chairman M O Poulose spoke at the occasion. Central Council Member of ICAI Babu Abraham Kallivayalil welcomed the gathering and T N Suresh proposed the vote of thanks. Atul Kumar Gupta (New Delhi), K Vaitheeswaran (Chennai), V Raghuraman (Bengaluru) presented papers on various topics of Service Tax.

On the second day, the technical sessions will be handled by Bimal Jain, New Delhi, and Dinesh Kumar Agrawal, Mumbai. Deputy commissioner of Central Excise Biju Thomas V K will cover the topics of ‘Taxability of works contract and construction service’, ‘Reverse Charge Mechanism’, ‘Negative List’.