Income Tax Law and Practice: Q&A with Dr T. Srinivasan

Dr. T. Srinivasan is Professor of Commerce, Annamalai University, Chidambaram. Earlier he served as Deputy Director and Public Information Officer in the Directorate of Distance Education, Annamalai University. He has more than 25 years of teaching experience both at the UG and PG levels. He has authored one textbook and edited four books. He has published 51 papers in reputed journals and has presented 30 papers at national and international conferences. He has successfully guided 24 MPhil and 4 PhD students. Presently he is guiding 6 students in their PhD programmes. His areas of specialization are finance, accounting and taxation.

How long have you been writing books?

My first Income Tax (self-published) book was written about 12 years ago. It was discontinued. This completely revised book on Income Tax was resurrected at the invitation of my current publisher, Vijay Nicole. As a faculty of Annamalai University’s Distance Education Wing, I have been a prolific course content creator for more than 20 years.

What kind of planning did you have to do before beginning to write this book?

I believe that a textbook needs two crucial elements. The first is adequate teaching experience that provides the teacher and author insights into the sort of doubts that students have. Another crucial element is integrating appropriate pedagogy into the whole narrative. As such, a textbook should aid students even when they do not have recourse to a teacher. So, in effect, the planning is in preparing assiduously for class, documenting class notes, working out university examination papers, and dealing with difficult topics all of which come in handy. In the preparation of writing per se, the biggest chunk of time is reserved for revision and ironing out errors.

What made you write this book? / Why did you choose to write on this topic?

I have been teaching this paper on Income Tax for the last 25 years. Students find this paper the toughest in their entire undergraduate course. I developed formats and methods that helped students understand concepts and apply them to solve problems with ease. It is also not an easy topic to write on for an author as tax laws and rates change every year. The author has to keep abreast of the changes and revise the book annually. Since not many authors venture to write on such a topic, I thought I shall put my experience and success to use.

Which courses would this book be suitable for?

This course is suitable for the paper on Income Tax Law and Practice, which is offered as a two-semester paper in most universities and also as a one-semester paper in some. This book is suitable for both.

How is this book different from other similar books available on this topic?

This book differs as follows:

  • Provides necessary formats to help solve problems
  • Includes 442 graded illustrations of all types and from previous year’s question papers of various universities
  • Includes a similar type of exercise problem to every illustration
  • Provides elaborate notes for illustrations with respect to provisions of tax laws.

Who will benefit most from this book?

As a textbook for students of BCom. It will also be a quick reference for students of PG and professional courses.

Are you planning to write another book on a related topic?

My next book is a textbook on Financial Management.

What was your experience of writing this book and seeing your work published?

It is a joyous experience seeing my book in print and successful at that. It is even more thrilling when faculty members from far and wide call or write and tell me that they are using my book for their reference and teaching from it.

Written by:
Madhavan PK
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