St. John's University-New York Taxation, Master of Science in 2027

St. John's University offers its 31-credit Master of Science in Taxation (MST) entirely online or on the Queens campus, taught by the same instructors and charged at the same $1,280 per credit. You get a tax-only curriculum, a research project that aims at a publishable article and faculty who are CPAs with law degrees in taxation.

If you want a deep tax education rather than a general accounting degree, that's what the MST is built for. You'll complete 31 credits across a maximum of 11 courses: 13 credits of required tax courses, nine credits of tax electives and nine credits of general electives.

Required work covers tax research and writing, corporate taxation, partnerships and the procedures for resolving disagreements with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The school offers the degree on campus in Queens, New York and through distance learning, and it says the online version covers the same curriculum with the same instructors.

As a graduate, you're connected to an alumni network and to relationships with the Big Four accounting firms.

The full rubric is on the methodology page.

The MST is accredited by AACSB, and the school says fewer than 6% of business schools worldwide hold that distinction. The faculty includes experienced CPAs who hold Juris Doctor and Master of Laws degrees in taxation. The program's designed to fit New York CPA licensure requirements, which call for 150 credits.

On the career side, the school points to a strong alumni network and relationships with the Big Four firms, and it names employers that have hired its graduates, among them Deloitte, Grant Thornton, KPMG, PwC and Protiviti. The school also says nearly all graduates of its business college are employed or continuing their education within six months of graduating.

Where this degree can lead: Masters in Taxation Jobs.

Who It Fits

• Working professionals: the online courses have no set class times, only assignment deadlines and test dates, so you can study around your job.
• Future New York CPA candidates: the accountancy department designs its programs to meet New York's 150-credit licensure requirement, and the MST can be combined with the Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Accounting.
• Writers and researchers: the required research project asks you to write an article of publishable quality on a current tax topic.
• Students who want a specialty: three tax electives let you move toward international tax, estates and gifts, real estate, financial products or state and local tax.
• Applicants without test scores: the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) and Graduate Record Examination (GRE) can be waived, and every applicant is considered for a waiver automatically.

You'll start with TAX 600, Tax Research and Writing, a one-credit course on how to research tax questions using legislative, administrative and judicial sources. TAX 603, Corporate Taxation, studies the choice of business organization, corporate stockholder transactions and tax accounting.

TAX 612, Partnerships and Partners, follows partnerships from formation through termination, including family partnerships. TAX 683, Practice and Procedure, shows you how to resolve disagreements with the IRS both before and after an audit.

Electives let you choose a direction. TAX 651 covers international taxation for U.S. persons operating abroad and foreign persons operating in the United States. TAX 611 focuses on tax planning for wealthy people, including qualified plans, investment planning and estate planning.

Other options include real estate, estates and gifts, financial products such as derivatives, corporate reorganizations, state and local income taxation, and special topics built around recent court decisions and legislation.

You'll finish with TAX 691, the Research Project, taken in your last 12 credits. It's where you research and write about a current taxation topic, with the goal of an article of publishable quality. If you want real-world practice, TAX 605 is an internship elective where you build tax skills at a work site and submit a research paper, a journal of accomplishments and employer evaluations.

Courses the School Names

• Tax Research and Writing
• Partnerships and Partners
• Corporate Taxation
• Practice and Procedure
• International Taxation I
• Tax Planning for High Net-Worth Individuals

Standout Features

• Alumni network with Big Four firm relationships
• Can be combined with the M.B.A. in Accounting to reduce total courses required
• Faculty include CPAs who hold J.D. and L.L.M. degrees in taxation

The program is 31 credits, and the school says it can be completed in 12 to 24 months. The credits come from five required courses, three tax electives and three general electives, and the research project falls in your final 12 credits.

Because the online sections have no set meeting times, you choose how many courses to carry at once. The school also offers a dual program that leads to both an MBA in Accounting and the Master of Science in Taxation, and says the combination lets you complete both with savings in time and cost.

Program tuition is $1,280 per credit hour for the current academic year, so 31 credits come to $39,680. The school says tuition and fees for the online program are identical to those for on-campus courses, which means the format you pick doesn't change the price.

The Tobin College of Business also awards scholarships of $5,000 to $10,000 to high-achieving students, chosen and notified by their program director. New full-time students (nine or more credits a semester) can apply for competitive graduate assistantships, which place you with a faculty or administrative office for 15 to 20 hours a week in exchange for partial or full tuition coverage and a possible stipend.

31 credits at $1,280 a credit comes to $39,680 in tuition, before fees.

You can earn the degree entirely online with no campus residency or campus visits, or take it at the Queens campus. Online, professors deliver lectures and post assignments through Canvas, the school's course management system, where you attend virtual classes, share documents, take exams and exchange ideas with faculty and classmates.

The school says you'll have specific assignment deadlines and test dates, but you can complete coursework at times that are convenient for you. Online tax services are available to all students, so you're doing research with the same tools as the campus cohort.

The clearest picture of tax students at work comes from the university's coverage of its free tax-preparation service. A 2024 university story said its 40-plus volunteers, drawn from the Tobin College of Business and other schools, had to pass an IRS certification test and finish tax-preparation training before helping low-income, disabled and limited English-speaking taxpayers through the federal Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program.

A 2023 release credited those volunteers with returning more than 20 million dollars to taxpayers in need over nearly two decades, work the university has done with the Food Bank for New York City since 2009.

On the review site OnlineU, a graduate writing in 2017 called St. John's a wonderful school for finishing a master's through its five-year accounting and tax program, and 91% of students surveyed there said they would recommend it.

• Which three-credit tax electives will run in the first two terms after you start, and can you take them online?
• How do you pick between the on-campus and online versions of a course in the same term?
• How would the dual MBA in Accounting and MST work for your timeline, and how many courses would it save?
• What does the internship elective involve if you already work in a tax role?

• Best Master's in Taxation Rank 11 of 78, master's
• Online Master's in Taxation Rank 4 of 41, master's
• Best 100% Online Programs Rank 3 of 40, master's
• No-GRE Programs Rank 4 of 17, master's
• Accelerated Programs Rank 11 of 33, master's
• Private University Programs Rank 3 of 43, master's
• AACSB Accredited Programs Rank 5 of 16, master's
• Internship or Practicum Rank 4 of 24, master's
• Best Programs in New York Rank 2 of 11, master's

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