Florida Atlantic University Executive Master of Taxation (EMTAX) in 2027

Florida Atlantic University's Executive Master of Taxation runs fully online on a guaranteed cohort schedule, with a flat fee per course and a Saturday lecture you can stream or watch later.

The Executive Master of Taxation (EMTAX) comes from Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in Boca Raton, Florida, and carries accreditation from AACSB. You can take it entirely online. Each cohort starts together and moves through the same sequence of classes, so you know your schedule from the first day to the last, and an advisor handles your course registration for the whole program.

The program starts twice a year, admits on a rolling basis, and takes people with a bachelor's degree in any discipline, so you don't need accounting or business prerequisites. The student body represents more than 35 states and multiple countries, which gives your cohort a wide professional mix.

The school says EMTAX courses may satisfy education requirements for the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and other professional licenses. FAU's CPA resources page suggests a graduate degree for the additional educational requirement, and it names the Master of Taxation among the suggested programs. The faculty are drawn from nearly 90 full-time faculty in the College of Business, and instructors and practitioners collaborate in designing and teaching the courses.

The school's student profile lists where students work, including banks and credit card companies, the Department of Treasury, divorce and family law offices, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the IRS, and local, regional and national accounting firms. Job titles on that list include tax accountant, forensic accountant, auditor, controller, chief financial officer and special agent.

Where this degree can lead: Masters in Taxation Jobs.

Who It Fits

• Full-time professionals: lectures can be live streamed on Saturdays or watched as recordings any time during the week, so your job doesn't dictate your class time.
• Career changers without an accounting degree: no accounting or business prerequisites are required, and the curriculum builds in two additional courses for non-accounting majors.
• Planners who like a fixed path: the cohort model and a guaranteed schedule for the entire program mean you can plan work and family around known semesters.
• Future CPAs: the school says EMTAX courses may be used to satisfy the education requirements of the CPA and other professional licenses.
• Students outside Florida: program fees are the same for Florida residents, out-of-state residents and international students.

Your required courses depend on your educational background, and every course is 3 credit hours. The tax core starts with Concepts of Federal Income Tax, which ties together statutes, case law, committee reports and administrative pronouncements. Tax Research teaches you how to locate, understand and interpret source material. Corporate Taxation and Advanced Corporate Taxation take you from forming and liquidating a corporation to reorganizations, consolidated returns and multinational questions.

Partnership Taxation covers formation, partner compensation and taxing partnership income. Estates and Trusts: Planning and Taxation looks at estate tax, gift tax and fiduciaries. International Taxation surveys U.S. tax law for citizens and corporations abroad and for foreign investors here.

The program also includes Contemporary Tax Topics on recent law changes, IRS Practice and Procedures for working with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and Communication Strategies for Tax Accountants, which treats writing as part of tax practice. There's also a forensic accounting course on tax fraud. If you haven't taken a financial accounting or finance course, you take foundation courses first.

Teaching methods include case studies, computer simulations, team presentations, guest speakers and assigned readings.

Courses the School Names

• Tax Research
• Corporate Taxation
• Advanced Corporate Taxation
• Partnership Taxation
• Estates and Trusts: Planning and Taxation
• International Taxation
• IRS Practice and Procedures
• Communication Strategies for Tax Accountants
• Contemporary Tax Topics

Standout Features

• Courses may be used toward the education requirements of the CPA and other professional licenses
• Each cohort follows the same sequence of classes with a guaranteed schedule for the entire program
• Fees include career services, a business mentor program and graduation regalia
• Live-streamed Saturday lectures with 24/7 access to recorded lectures; students can mix online and in-person lectures at no extra cost

Your credits depend on your degree. Business majors complete 30 credits, accounting majors complete 30, and non-business majors complete 36. The program page lists a length of 12 to 36 months. Fall and spring terms run 16 weeks with two courses each, and summer runs 12 weeks with one course.

You can raise or lower your course load from one semester to the next, and your tuition adjusts to the credits you take. Admission is rolling, and qualified candidates may apply a year in advance of the semester start. Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) and Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores aren't required if the last 60 credits of your undergraduate degree are at a 3.0 or higher.

FAU charges $900 per credit hour, which works out to $2,700 per 3-credit course. Program fees total $27,000 to $32,400. Which amount you pay depends on whether you need 30 or 36 credits. The fees cover tuition, recorded lectures, advising, career services, a graduation banquet and regalia. They are the same for Florida residents, out-of-state residents and international students, so you don't pay more for living elsewhere.

Median earnings for FAU's taxation master's graduates come to $100,001 in federal Scorecard data, which helps you size up that fee. The fees also include a business mentor program, professional development, coaching, a professional headshot, resume writing, salary negotiation help, lifetime discounted rates on professional development courses, and 24/7 access to dedicated group study rooms.

EMTAX is fully online, and the program page says it's asynchronous with no set class meeting times. Lectures are live streamed on Saturday mornings from 9 AM to 1:15 PM, and you can also view the recordings whenever you like during the week.

If you want some face time, optional in-person lectures happen on the FAU Davie Campus three times a semester, and you can mix online and in-person lectures at no extra cost. You don't have to be on campus for any requirement. A pre-program orientation includes team building, a networking reception, and faculty and alumni panels.

The school also gives you access to workshops and seminars throughout the program.

The full rubric is on the methodology page.

Outside writers have praised the format. An online-degree review site in 2026 pointed to instruction from industry experts and said students can mix online and in-person lectures at no extra cost, which it called flexibility for working professionals. The same site named the program best for people on the CPA and Enrolled Agent track.

Forbes recognized it in 2026 as a best online master's in taxation program, according to the FAU college rankings page. FAU also published a 2020 video in which alumni of its School of Accounting executive programs share tips for success in online learning.

• Will you need 30 or 36 credits, and which foundation courses apply to your undergraduate background?
• Which semesters does the next cohort start, and how far ahead should you apply on the rolling schedule?
• How often do the optional in-person lectures at the Davie Campus happen, and can you attend as a guest first?
• How does the mentor program match you with a business mentor, and when does it begin?
• Do you qualify for the GMAT and GRE exemption based on your last 60 undergraduate credits?

A public research university based in Boca Raton, Florida, whose School of Accounting Executive Programs offers the Executive Master of Accounting with a Forensic Accounting concentration.

• Best Master's in Taxation Rank 59 of 78, master's
• Online Master's in Taxation Rank 33 of 41, master's
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• AACSB Accredited Programs Rank 15 of 16, master's
• Master of Taxation Rank 6 of 8, master's
• Best Programs in Florida Rank 5 of 6, master's

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