Tax lawyers in India litigate and advise on direct and indirect tax disputes before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Customs Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), Authority for Advance Rulings (AAR / Board for Advance Rulings), and the High Courts and Supreme Court — fields where Harish Salve, Arvind Datar, Sohrab Dastur, S. Ganesh, and Tarun Gulati command ₹5–50 Cr per matter and set the standard for advocacy. Unlike Chartered Accountants who file returns and give advisory opinions, or tax auditors who sign Form 3CD, the tax lawyer's core function is courtroom argumentation — drafting grounds of appeal, framing jurisdictional objections, writing writ petitions challenging CBDT circulars, and appearing before tax authorities from the Assessing Officer to the Supreme Court bench. Practice runs across income tax (Sections 9, 40A, 56, 68, 115BB, 153A, 263), GST and legacy indirect taxes (CESTAT appeals, DRC-07/08 SCN responses), transfer pricing litigation (TPO orders to ITAT Special Bench), and international treaty disputes (equalization levy, royalty vs FTS under Section 195, Vodafone-type capital gains re-characterization). Firms defining the field include Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan, Vaish Associates, Nishith Desai Associates, Khaitan & Co tax litigation team, Economic Laws Practice (ELP), and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas.