University of Houston Tax Law LL.M. in 2027

The University of Houston Law Center's Tax Law Master of Laws (LL.M.) is a 24-credit, on-campus degree for U.S. and foreign-trained attorneys, with about 20 tax courses offered each academic year and a tax faculty that includes professors who came from Cargill, BJ Services and Exxon Mobil.

Houston's graduate tax program started in 1983.

You study it in person at the Law Center in a city the school calls home to one of the most vibrant economies and legal practice areas in the U.S. Your degree is built around 18 credits of tax law, including two required courses, Tax Research and Tax Ethics, and the remaining credits can come from other Law Center specialties such as energy, health and intellectual property.

Full-time tax professors teach in the program, and adjunct professors from the Houston tax community, described by the school as nationally recognized leaders, teach many of the specialty classes. If you plan to practice in Texas, or your clients work in oil and gas, real estate or trusts, the course list aims squarely at that work.

If you're a U.S. applicant, you need a J.D. from an American Bar Association-accredited law school. If you were educated in another country, you need a law degree from an accredited university, or admission to practice before the highest court in your jurisdiction, plus evidence of a high grade-point average or superior class standing.

You'll apply through the Law School Admission Council with a transcript and two letters of recommendation. The degree requires a 2.5 grade point average. On the career side, the Career Development Office offers one-on-one advising, mock interviews and recruiting programs. Its recent energy tax conference featured seven panels with 28 specialists from law firms, accounting firms, energy companies and investment organizations.

Where this degree can lead: Masters in Taxation Jobs.

Who It Fits

• Attorneys aiming at the energy industry: Oil and Gas Taxation covers depletion allowances, intangible drilling expenses and exploration and development costs, and the Law Center hosts an annual international energy tax conference.
• Lawyers who want to practice tax in Texas: the school sits in Houston and its Career Development Office offers one-on-one advising.
• Estate and private client lawyers: Estate Planning, Post-Mortem Estate Planning and Income Taxation of Trusts and Estates are all on the course list.
• Foreign-trained lawyers: the program is open to attorneys with a law degree from outside the United States, who take Introduction to American Law and Legal Writing in their first semester, and both count toward the 24 credits.
• Students who like to write: you can add an optional 50-page thesis of publishable quality to your tax coursework.

You need 24 credit hours, and at least 18 must be in tax law. Tax Research teaches you how to investigate tax issues and write about them, and Tax Ethics covers the professional responsibility rules for lawyers who plan and litigate tax matters, including Treasury Circular 230. Both are required.

The business side includes Corporate Tax, Partnership Taxation, Business Planning, Tax Accounting and Taxation of Financial Instruments, which looks at options, futures, forwards and swaps. Real Estate Taxation follows a property from acquisition through rental and disposition, with basis, depreciation, passive loss rules and like-kind exchanges along the way.

Oil and Gas Taxation and Post-Mortem Estate Planning, which deals with disclaimers, special use valuation and estate tax audits, round out the specialty list. Tax Fraud and Money Laundering looks at how the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the U.S. Justice Department uncover and prosecute tax crimes. In Tax Policy Seminar you examine current proposals to revise tax law, and International Taxation covers U.S. tax laws and treaties.

Tax Litigation is a hands-on practicum that follows a case from audit through a simulated trial, often before a U.S. Tax Court judge.

Courses the School Names

• Bankruptcy Taxation
• Business Planning
• Corporate Taxation
• Employee Benefit Plans & Compensation
• Estate Planning
• Federal Income Taxation of Trusts & Estates
• Oil & Gas Tax
• Partnership Tax
• Real Estate Tax
• State & Local Taxation
• Tax Ethics
• Tax Fraud & Money Laundering
• Tax Policy Seminar
• Tax Procedure
• Tax Research
• Taxation of Exempt Organizations
• Taxation of Financial Instruments
• U.S. International Tax

Standout Features

• About 20 separate tax courses offered each academic year
• Established in 1983 and open to both U.S. and foreign-trained attorneys
• Full-time tax faculty include Johnny Rex Buckles and Bret Wells, with adjuncts from the Houston tax community
• Students can pair tax courses with specialty areas such as energy, health and intellectual property

You can start in the fall, in August, or in the spring, in January. You'll need to finish within three years of admission and stay enrolled every fall and spring term for at least three credits. A basic Federal Income Tax course is a prerequisite, and it doesn't count toward the 24 credits.

The school says it's typically finished before you enter but can be taken in your first semester. If you're a Juris Doctor (J.D.) student at Houston, the joint J.D./LL.M. totals 105 credits instead of 114 for the two degrees separately, which the school puts at about one additional semester.

The Law Center's 2026-27 budget for a full-time, 24-hour LL.M. lists tuition and fees. They come to $34,397.28 for Texas residents and $46,349.28 for non-residents. A limited number of merit scholarships go to each entering class, and every admitted student is considered automatically with no separate application. Awards vary in size and cover one academic year. A non-resident who receives a merit scholarship also receives an in-state tuition waiver.

Houston runs the Tax LL.M. as a Law Center program in Houston, so it isn't an online degree. The pacing is flexible: you need to stay enrolled each fall and spring for at least three credits and finish within three years of admission, so a lighter schedule alongside work fits inside the rules as well as a full load.

Course offerings rotate, since about 20 tax courses are offered each academic year but not every course runs every year, and Tax Litigation is ordinarily scheduled early in the spring semester. Outside class, the Law Center's Denney L. Wright International Energy Tax Conference, paired with the Houston Business and Tax Law Journal symposium, drew 165 people in person and 175 online, which puts practicing specialists in front of you.

The full rubric is on the methodology page.

A commenter on a legal forum in 2025 said attending Houston makes it easier to land a job in Texas, because you have more career resources for the local area. You'll see employers at the school's events.

BakerHostetler, a national law firm, listed itself as a sponsor of the Law Center's 2026 energy tax conference and sent two partners to its panels, and the Houston Bar Association promoted the conference to its members. Rankings by others are positive too.

preLaw magazine named the Law Center a Top School for Tax Law for 2025-2026, LLM Guide named it a Top Budget LL.M. in 2025, and Corporate Counsel's Best of 2020 list placed the Tax Law LL.M. among the top programs in the country.

• Which of the roughly 20 tax courses will run in the semesters I plan to attend?
• Can I count courses from the energy, health or intellectual property specialties toward my 24 credits, and how many?
• If I'm a non-resident, how are merit scholarships and the in-state tuition waiver decided, and when will I hear?
• Would the optional 50-page thesis fit into my schedule, and who would supervise it?
• Which Houston firms and companies recruit through the Career Development Office for tax roles?

A public research university in Houston, Texas. Its Law Center has offered a Tax Law LL.M. since 1983.

• Best Master's in Taxation Rank 21 of 78, master's
• On-Campus Master's in Taxation Rank 11 of 37, master's
• Public University Programs Rank 11 of 35, master's
• LLM in Taxation Rank 9 of 22, master's

• University of California-Irvine

  LL.M. in Taxation (Graduate Tax Program)

  California Score 60.2

• Taft University System

  Master of Laws in Taxation (LLM)

  Colorado $600 per credit Score 59.5

• Walsh College

  Master of Science in Taxation

  Michigan $991 per credit Score 59.0

• University of Cincinnati

  Master of Science in Taxation (Online)

  Ohio $1,260 per credit Score 61.7