University of North Texas M.S. in Taxation and Data Analytics in 2027

The Master of Science in Taxation and Data Analytics at the University of North Texas (UNT) is a 33-credit, on-campus degree in Denton that pairs a full tax core with data courses. It's open to any qualified student with an interest in taxation, whatever you studied before, once you've completed the accounting background courses.

You take this degree on the Denton campus as part of a full-time cohort, and the school estimates 1.5 years to complete it. The program is taught mostly in the daytime, and each cohort follows a set course sequence, so you move through the material alongside the same classmates.

The curriculum treats data as a tax skill: alongside Taxation of C Corporations and Taxation of Flow-Through Entities, you take Data Analysis in Accounting and Data Visualization for Analytics. The school lists data and analysis skills in a tax context among the marketable skills you leave with. The College of Business is accredited by AACSB International, and the Department of Accounting holds its own separate AACSB accreditation.

Your degree finishes with a Professional Exam Competency course in the graduating semester.

The final-semester Professional Exam Competency course is aimed at professional exams, and the department fact sheet shows where graduates land. Master's students in accounting and taxation begin their professional careers with an average starting salary of $68,000 and an average sign-on bonus of $5,015.

In Fall 2025, 90% of master's students in the accounting and taxation programs were employed or had received offers, and 45% of the group went into tax work at professional accounting services firms. The track sheet lists career possibilities including Tax Accountant, Tax Compliance Specialist, Tax Supervisor/Auditor and Tax Director.

For accountants who start at the university as undergraduates, the combined bachelor's and master's accounting path meets the 150-hour requirement for the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam in Texas. The degree sits inside an AACSB-accredited college and a separately accredited accounting department.

Where this degree can lead: Masters in Taxation Jobs.

Who It Fits

• Students from other majors who've done the accounting groundwork: the program is open to any qualified student with an interest in taxation, and the track sheet lists the background courses, such as Intermediate Accounting, Federal Income Tax I and II and Auditing, to finish before you apply.
• Students who want a cohort: full-time cohort style means you move through the sequence with the same group, mostly in daytime classes on the Denton campus.
• Future tax analysts: Data Analysis in Accounting and Data Visualization for Analytics sit in the required list next to the tax courses.
• Students drawn to energy work: Oil and Gas Taxation is a required course in the degree.
• Students who like firm contact: Meet the Accounting Firms Night connects students seeking internship, part-time or full-time work with public accounting employers.

The degree is 33 credit hours: 30 hours of concentration courses plus a 3-hour accounting elective, either an Internship or, for spring admits, Accounting Communication. The tax core starts with Tax Research and Administrative Procedure, which develops the technical and research skills to address contemporary tax issues.

Taxation of Flow-Through Entities is a comprehensive study of federal income taxation of partnerships, S corporations, fiduciaries and their owners and beneficiaries, and Taxation of C Corporations does the same for C corporations and their shareholders. Taxes and Business Strategy and Oil and Gas Taxation are also required, which gives the degree an energy-sector angle.

The data side is Data Analysis in Accounting and Data Visualization for Analytics. You also take Professional Ethics and Corporate Governance, an examination of professional ethics from both a philosophical and business perspective, and Law for Accountants and Managers. Professional Exam Competency, a capstone you can only take in the graduating semester alongside no more than one other course, closes the degree.

The track sheet says the program is designed for students who want a career as a tax specialist in public accounting, industry or government.

Courses the School Names

• Tax Research and Administrative Procedure
• Taxation of Flow-Through Entities
• Taxation of C Corporations
• Multijurisdictional Taxation
• Family Tax Planning
• Oil and Gas Taxation
• Taxes and Business Strategy
• Data Visualization for Analytics

Standout Features

• Open to any qualified student regardless of previous program of study

The degree is 33 credit hours, and the school's estimate to complete is 1.5 years. It's a full-time cohort program, so you take the courses in a fixed order with your group, and the school says students must follow the course sequence exactly. You can start in the fall or the spring, and the track sheet lays out four terms of study, including a summer.

Fall admits, for example, begin with Taxation of Flow-Through Entities, Taxes and Business Strategy and Data Analysis in Accounting, take ethics, tax research and the elective in spring, cover data visualization, business law and C corporations over the summer, and finish the next fall with Oil and Gas Taxation and the capstone.

If you want work experience along the way, the accounting elective can be an Internship, and for-credit internships are reported through Handshake.

The university reports a graduate charge of $808 per credit to federal data, and that's your starting point across the 33 credit hours. The Department of Accounting reports that scholarships to master's students in accounting and taxation totaled $351,684 in 2025-2026, so ask about awards early in your application. Tax-focused students in for-credit internships averaged $32.59 an hour in Spring 2025.

It's an on-campus program. It's taught on the Denton campus as a full-time cohort, with most classes held during the day. Because the cohort follows one sequence, you move through each term with the same group of classmates.

Student life around the degree includes Beta Alpha Psi, which meets Thursday evenings, plus accounting student organizations such as the Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting (ALPFA) and the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA). Meet the Accounting Firms Night brings public accounting employers to campus for students who are seeking internship, part-time or full-time opportunities.

Faculty members are involved in behavioral, empirical, archival, historical and theoretical research.

The full rubric is on the methodology page.

A graduate of the university's combined bachelor's and master's tax route, posting on Reddit in 2019, said you can have your pick of offers with good grades and described working at a Big Four firm afterward. Another alumnus posting that year said the master's helped pin down which area of tax to specialize in.

A student on Reddit in 2024 said the accounting program has amazing professors who are willing to help, and an alumnus quoted on the school's page for the combined program said it fully prepared them to sit for the CPA exam and that they passed all four sections before graduating.

And on Course Advisor's 2023 list, North Texas came out as the most popular Texas school for taxation students at the master's level.

• How are courses sequenced for the cohort I'd join, and when does Taxes and Business Strategy run?
• Which accounting elective fits me better, Accounting Communication or an Internship?
• Which scholarships are open to master's students in taxation, and what's the deadline?
• How do the Data Analysis in Accounting and Data Visualization for Analytics courses connect to the tax courses?

• Best Master's in Taxation Rank 40 of 78, master's
• On-Campus Master's in Taxation Rank 21 of 37, master's
• Public University Programs Rank 19 of 35, master's
• AACSB Accredited Programs Rank 9 of 16, master's
• Taxation and Data Analytics Rank 3 of 8, master's

• LSU New Orleans

  Master of Science in Tax Accounting

  Louisiana Score 54.7

• University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

  Online Master of Business Taxation

  Minnesota $1,695 per credit Score 54.9

• Washington University in St Louis

  LL.M. in Taxation (In Person)

  Missouri Score 55.1

• Washington University in St Louis

  LL.M. in Taxation (Online)

  Missouri $2,375 per credit Score 53.9