When (i) liability to pay a tax and (ii) the burden of that tax falls on the same person, the tax is called a direct tax. When (i) liability to pay a tax is on one person and (ii) the burden of that tax falls on some other person, the tax is called an indirect tax.
Direct taxes include tax varieties such as income tax, corporate tax, wealth tax, gift tax, expenditure tax etc. Some examples of indirect taxes are sales tax, excise duty, VAT, service tax, entertainment tax, custom duty etc.
