University of Denver LLM in Taxation in 2027

The University of Denver's Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Taxation is a 24-credit online degree that studies nothing but tax, with courses delivered asynchronously and the Sturm College of Law's long-standing Low Income Taxpayer Clinic available fully remotely. Full-time students finish in one academic year.

Denver Law's Graduate Tax Program has trained tax professionals since 1975, and the LL.M. is its degree for lawyers. The school describes a curriculum that's nothing but tax, taught from the Internal Revenue Code, Treasury regulations and related primary material. Courses are online and asynchronous, with chances for live interaction with faculty and classmates, and you'll study alongside accountants from the Master of Taxation program.

Denver Law students can also pair it with their Juris Doctor (J.D.) as a dual degree, and four short micro-credential badges give you a way to start small and later apply credit toward the full LL.M.

The LL.M. requires a J.D. or its equivalent, such as a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.), from a law school approved by the American Bar Association (ABA), and you don't submit a Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) or Law School Admission Test (LSAT) score.

The program lists nationwide job placement support through job postings, on-campus recruiting, alumni connections and networking, and it profiles a graduate who went on to clerk for a judge of the U.S. Tax Court. The graduate tax internship course places you with an employer under faculty supervision.

Outside the school, the IRS Office of Chief Counsel Honors Program names graduating Tax LL.M. students among the people it recruits.

Where this degree can lead: Masters in Taxation Jobs.

Who It Fits

• Working lawyers who want to change practice areas: a graduate quoted by the program moved into tax after four years in regulatory law, and most working professionals study part time.
• Denver Law J.D. students: you can enroll in the J.D. and the LL.M. concurrently as a dual degree, which the school says saves time and money.
• Estate planners: an Estate Planning Path gives you a course sequence, with Estate and Gift Taxation, Estate Planning and Fiduciary Income Taxation among the electives.
• Lawyers who want hands-on tax controversy work from a distance: the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic can be done fully remotely, and the Tax Procedure Path adds Advanced Tax Procedure.

The core is seven required courses worth 16 credits. Federal Income Taxation is the entry point, and Corporate Taxation and Partnership Taxation (three credits each) cover business entities. Basic Tax Procedure, Taxation of Property Transactions and Tax Accounting add two credits apiece, and Tax Research and Writing, also two credits, teaches you to find authority and put it on paper.

The remaining eight credits come from electives you choose with an advisor, in any combination, as long as you meet the prerequisites some of them carry.

Three informal paths can guide your choices. The Corporate Path leans on Taxation of Corporate Reorgs and Divisions and S Corps, the Estate Planning Path draws on Estate and Gift Taxation, Estate Planning and Fiduciary Income Taxation, and the Tax Procedure Path builds on Advanced Tax Procedure.

Employment Tax covers worker classification and compensation planning, and an independent study, agreed with a faculty member, ends in a written work of publishable quality. The bulletin adds that the program includes courses in international taxation, individual taxation, entity taxation and tax controversy.

In the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic, open to Sturm College of Law students for credit or as volunteers, you handle work papers, research individual income tax issues and represent clients before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Tax Court.

Courses the School Names

• Federal Income Taxation
• Taxation of Property Transactions
• Corporate Taxation
• Partnership Taxation
• Tax Accounting
• Tax Research and Writing
• Basic Tax Procedure
• Estate and Gift Taxation
• Estate Planning
• Fiduciary Income Taxation
• Advanced Tax Procedure
• S Corps

Standout Features

• Dual JD and LLM in Taxation option for Denver Law students
• Four non-degree tax micro-credential badges can be applied toward the degree
• Generous scholarships are available
• Lawyers train side by side with accountants from the Master of Taxation program
• Low Income Taxpayer Clinic represents over 250 clients each year and is the preferred referral source for the U.S. Tax Court in Denver

A full-time student finishes the 24 credits in one academic year across three terms. Part-time students, who make up most of the working professionals in the program, generally finish in 18 to 24 months, and the graduate bulletin gives two to three years with a five-year limit from matriculation.

You'll need a 2.7 grade point average (GPA) to earn the degree. Students who earn one of the four non-degree tax badges can apply those credits if they later pursue the full degree, which lets you test the material before you commit to the whole program.

The school reports a graduate charge of $1,534 per credit to federal data. Denver says generous scholarships are available, and a current Tax LL.M. candidate was recently awarded an academic scholarship by the Executive Council of the Taxation Section of the Colorado Bar Association.

If you want only a few courses rather than the whole degree, the program's director of academic initiatives and advising can talk with you about special status.

Every Graduate Tax course is delivered in an asynchronous online format, so you fit lectures and assignments around work, and the program adds opportunities for live interaction with faculty and classmates. You use an online learning platform to open course media and materials, submit work and quizzes, and talk with professors and other students.

The one live piece is the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic: you can take it fully remotely, but you'll join its class times synchronously. Denver also holds onsite and hybrid events that bring students, alumni and tax professionals together. Faculty include professionals from local and national firms and the IRS, and the school describes a culture of cooperation rather than competition.

The full rubric is on the methodology page.

A graduate quoted on the program page said the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic offered real tax cases and a way to think about tax law from both a theoretical and a practical angle, and added that they now feel confident analyzing tax issues.

On a lawyers' discussion forum in 2025, a solo practitioner said they earned the degree part time while running the practice and they're still solo and doing well. In 2016, a tax recruiting firm's survey of hiring professionals placed Denver's LL.M. tenth among tax LL.M. programs.

Denver Law calls the Graduate Tax Program one of the oldest and largest of its kind in the nation, and says the clinic enrolled 32 students who represented 167 clients in 2024.

• Which of the three paths fits my current practice, and which electives are scheduled in my first two terms?
• When does the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic meet live, and how many credits does it carry?
• If I start with a tax badge, exactly how many credits transfer into the full LL.M.?
• Which live sessions and in-person events are planned this year, so I can join the ones that fit my schedule?
• What scholarship amounts have recent LL.M. students received?

• Best Master's in Taxation Rank 34 of 78, master's
• Online Master's in Taxation Rank 17 of 41, master's
• Best 100% Online Programs Rank 16 of 40, master's
• Part-Time Programs Rank 19 of 39, master's
• Best for Working Professionals Rank 22 of 46, master's
• Best for Parents Rank 22 of 46, master's
• Private University Programs Rank 19 of 43, master's
• Internship or Practicum Rank 13 of 24, master's
• LLM in Taxation Rank 16 of 22, master's
• Best Programs in Colorado Rank 3 of 5, master's

• Master of Taxation

  M.T., Master's

  Fully Online Score 45.0

• New York University

  Taxation

  New York Score 56.5

• University of Baltimore

  Master of Science in Taxation

  Maryland $1,125 per credit Score 56.3

• University of Washington

  Master of Science in Taxation

  Washington Score 57.0

• New York Law School

  LL.M. in Taxation

  New York $2,451 per credit Score 55.7