Master of Science in Taxation

The Master of Science in Taxation (MST) is a professional graduate degree (Master's degree) specifically designed for individuals that desire to become tax specialists.^[1] An alternate degree title is "Master of Taxation" (MTax) or "Master Business Taxation" (MBT). A student taking a MST program studies tax law and its application to business tax issues. Thus, the MST graduate applies tax law to business situations.

Graduate tax students come from many different undergraduate backgrounds. These programs require no previous tax law training. Students from varying undergraduate backgrounds that have a strong interest in tax law may wish to explore this degree further. However, traditional state universities run the graduate tax program out of their accounting school. Thus, these schools normally require students to complete a series of accounting undergraduate courses as a prerequisite to entering the Masters Tax program. While large city private colleges catering to law and business students tend to see the graduate tax program as a separate program. These schools may require only one or two basic accounting courses as a prerequisite.

An MST program may consist of 30 semester credit hours and contain from five to ten three semester credit tax classes. Some programs may allow business electives to make up the MST electives. Other programs may require all ten courses to come from graduate tax classes.

Thus, the MST program will have required tax courses and tax electives and or non tax electives. MST required tax courses may include: Tax Research, Individual Tax, Corporate Tax, Partnership Tax, and Property Transactions Tax.

Programs may have a wide range of tax electives such as International Tax, Estate and Gifts Tax, Trust Tax, Real Estate Tax, Financial Instruments Tax, Tax accounting, and IRS Procedure.

See also

• Master of Laws -- LL.M. in Tax is master tax program for attorneys.

References

1. ^ Napolitano, John P. (2007). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Success as a Personal Financial Planner. Penguin. ISBN 1592576869. http://books.google.com/books?id=W8OIiTuJEUUC&pg=PT163&dq=%22Master+of+Science+in+Taxation%22&hl=en&ei=teEUTejEHIX7lwfmhLisDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Master%20of%20Science%20in%20Taxation%22&f=false.