Emphasis in Taxation

For students wishing a deeper focus in taxation, we offer the Master of Accounting degree with an Emphasis in Taxation. To graduate with this formal recognition, a student is required to take nine credits of tax courses beyond the introductory level (Introduction to Taxation or its equivalent). We strongly recommend that three of these credits be taken as Federal Tax Research.

The following is a course description for Federal Tax Research:

Focusing on federal income tax law, this course will explain how to do federal tax research and how to reduce the results of one's research to writing, essential skills for the tax practitioner.  The course will cover (1) the research process (identifying issues, finding relevant authorities, analyzing authorities, drawing conclusions, and communicating conclusions); (2) types of authorities, both primary (such as statutes, regulations, other administrative pronouncements, and judicial decisions) and secondary (such as periodicals and treatises); and (3) the use of research services.    Online research tools will be emphasized.

Other courses from which the remaining credits towards an Emphasis in Taxation might be taken include:

• Influence of Taxation on Business Decisions
• Tax Compliance, Tax Research and Tax Planning
• Estate and Financial Planning
• Key Business Taxation Topics and Related Planning
• Corporate Tax

Please note that not all electives are offered in each year or every semester. It is possible that in some years appropriate courses may be offered in the Law School that would qualify for the Emphasis in Taxation.