M.S. Taxation

The MS-Taxation degree program (MST) prepares students for professional tax careers in the public, private, or governmental sector.

As part of this objective the program is designed to provide the educational background to become a Certified Public Accountant. The MST degree is designed for individuals who hold an undergraduate degree in accounting who wish to specialize in taxation. Students who want to specialize in an area other than taxation should consider the MS-Accounting degree.

Coursework

The MS-Taxation degree requires a minimum of 37 semester hours of coursework. Included in this total are:

• 15 semester hours of required accounting courses
• 6 semester hours of restricted accounting electives
• 6 semester hours of taxation electives
• 9 semester hours of business electives
• 1 semester hour of accounting professionalism
• 37 total semester hours

The required accounting coursework includes an advanced accounting course that may have been completed by the student at the undergraduate level. If the student already has credit for this course then the graduate requirement is waived and the student will have an additional accounting elective. All of the business electives may be concentrated in a single business discipline (economics, finance, information systems, management, marketing).

No accounting courses may be used in the business electives category. Due to the new CPA exam eligibility requirements, it is strongly recommended that BCOM 5375 (Business Communications) and ACCT 5380 (Ethics in Accounting) be selected as two of the student's business electives. Ethics is not considered an accounting course, but rather a business elective.