[leglock]

I’m seeing schools offering Online Degrees for a Masters in Tax and am inquiring if anyone here has researched any online Tax programs or know anyone who’s completed an online degree for a masters in tax. If so, what research or experiences can you share regarding how intensive the courses are, workload, timeframe to complete, etc.

[Andyred04]

DePaul in Chicago has the top rated program in the US. It can be completed entirely online and the GMAT is waived as long as you've passed all 4 CPA exams. I'm not positive but I think the “typical” length is 1-2 years but I believe they will extend that if you have a good reason. I've personally requested information on their website and received a packet of information in the mail. I would definitely recommend doing this as well. https://kellstadt.depaul.edu/academics/ms-programs/taxation-mstax/Pages/default.aspx

I've also heard people on here talk about Golden Gate University.

FAR 80
REG 87
BEC 87
AUD 96

Primarily Gleim, supplemented with Ninja Notes & Ninja MCQs

Missouri CPA as of January, 2017

FAR: 80 (Gleim, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQs)
REG: 87 (Gleim, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQs)
BEC: 87 (Gleim, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQs)
AUD: 8/27/16

PA Candidate

[leglock]

DePaul was one I was looking at knowing people who've completed the non-online version from them. I see University of Cincinnati also offers an online version.

[Anonymous]

University of Cincinnati has one – https://businessonline.uc.edu/Programs/1095/master-science-taxation

I didn't complete the masters program, but I did do one of the related certificate programs. ( https://businessonline.uc.edu/Programs/1096/certificate-corporate-taxation ) I did the certificate rather than the masters because the certificate got me to the 150 credit hours. But as far as the courses go, I did the same classes that I would be doing for the masters – just not as many of them.

Looking back it was much easier than the CPA exam. It's laid out much like a live class – you are given a syllabus, there is homework you are expected to complete each week, and test dates are scheduled out. The nice part is you don’t have a set class time, so it's not a situation where if you can’t make it then you miss it. The lectures are posted online, and you watch the lectures/complete the coursework as it works with your schedule. I did most of my work on the weekends.

I think it took me about a year to get the 12 credit hours for the certificate. The masters is a little more than double that, so I'd expect it to take 2 years. But that also depends on how much time you have to commit. I was/am working full-time, so I did one course at a time.

Overall it was a good experience. Once I get the CPA done I may consider going back to finish out the masters.

[taxgeek83]

Denver University and Golden Gate are my top two contenders for hopefully a Spring semester start, though Denver costs almost twice as much as Golden Gate and requires 45 credit hours vs. 30 for Golden Gate, so that will certainly factor in. Also, Golden Gate offers a Masters of Science in Taxation, while Denver University offers a Masters in Taxation. Anyone know the difference??

The thing I really like about Denver University is that most of the classes are the same ones that the LLM students take – Golden Gate's program is separated from its law program, so you won't have that same benefit (or what I perceive to be a benefit, anyway).

DePaul used to be ranked #1, but I think Golden Gate took them over this year on the Tax Talent survey. There are probably more ranking programs out there though.

[Anonymous]

Since Denver requires about 15 credit hours more – maybe it's an MBA with a focus in tax? Just pondering the difference between Masters of Science vs Masters.

University of Cincinnati has a Masters of Science in Tax that is 30 credit hours.
UC's MBA with a Corporate Taxation Concentration Certificate is 38 – 48 credit hours (depending on what your undergrad is in). I'm guessing if you added the Individual Tax Certificate it'd be close to that 45.

[Anonymous]

I was poking around the Denver website seeing if I could figure out the Masters v MBA thing and saw this

“…and taking examinations with a proctor in your local community.”

For better or worse, (and maybe this has changed since I completed the program) UC's program did not do this. I was given a 24 hour window to complete the exam. Once I started the exam within that designated window, I had to finish within 1 or 2 hours (just depended on the exam). So basically every exam/quiz was open book – which sounds nice, but the exams took the full 1 to 2 hours and didn't leave you with much time to look things up; so you still needed to know what you were doing.

[taxgeek83]

The only difference I can think of is that the Masters in Tax at Denver is essentially an LLM for non-law students, while the Masters of Science is mostly a program for business and accounting undergrads. Maybe the straight Masters holds a bit more weight then? The entrance counselor I talked to at Denver didn't see much of a difference between the two, so I really don't know….

Also, as far as the proctor thing goes, if I remember right, there are only certain exams that are proctored, and those are classes that have little to no other assignments or exams in them. I think it's still up to the individual professor though.

[leglock]

In reading the U of Cincinnati courses, it seems like the course content covers that which we studied in undergrad and CPA studies. Do these courses go much more in depth?

[taxgeek83]

They should go into more depth – I hope, anyway. It seems like undergrad tax classes lumped individuals and businesses into one class, whereas grad level courses are focused on just individuals, or just corporations, or just partnerships, etc. Some have a single semester just on “choice of entity” which is usually a blip in a textbook at the undergrad level.

[Anonymous]

like @taxgeek said – the topics are the same, but it was a blip in undergrad; when you are taking one class, say partnerships, and partnerships is it's only focus then you will dig in a lot more to the different situations you could run into. My boss took his law courses before taking REG and said it killed him because he learned too much in those classes and the CPA is just skimming the surface of the topic.

[Author]

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