Villanova University Master of Laws in Taxation in 2027

Villanova's Master of Laws in Taxation gives lawyers a 24-credit tax degree delivered fully online in live classes, finishable in under two years, with Tax Court simulation, specialty law certificates and a Tax Clinic assistantship that can cover full tuition.

The Master of Laws (LLM) in Taxation is the lawyer's track in the Graduate Tax Program at Villanova's Charles Widger School of Law in Villanova, Pennsylvania. You apply with a Juris Doctor (JD) from an institution accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA), and you study for 24 credits made up of six required courses and three electives.

The school calls it a rigorous and immersive degree for lawyers that can be completed in less than two years. It's taught part time to working professionals, and the program has served part-time adult learners since 1980. The faculty includes more than 45 members, drawn from full-time tax scholars and practitioners at Big Four accounting firms, law firms and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The full rubric is on the methodology page.

It's a law degree built on top of your JD, so the credential you earn is the Master of Laws in Taxation from an ABA-approved law school. The school says the Charles Widger School of Law is approved by the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar of the American Bar Association.

Senior practitioners sit on the program's advisory board, among them the tax managing partner of Deloitte Tax LLP, a partner at KPMG LLP and CBRE Group's chief tax officer. The 2026-27 U.S. News tax law rankings, as reported by TaxProf Blog, list Villanova tied at 12 among law schools with graduate tax programs.

A new International Tax Certificate has been offered since fall 2024.

Where this degree can lead: Masters in Taxation Jobs.

Who It Fits

• Practicing attorneys who need tax depth: the degree starts from your JD and sets aside nine courses of focused tax law.
• Lawyers with a day job: courses are built for part-time adult learners and run in eight-week blocks, and a 2020 graduate quoted by the school said the term structure let him balance work, study and parenting.
• Litigators and future litigators: Tax Litigation Training walks you through a United States Tax Court trial, modeled on training given to new lawyers at the Office of Chief Counsel.
• Attorneys who want a specialty: you can add a certificate in Estate Planning, Employee Benefits, State and Local Taxation or International Taxation, together with the LLM or on a stand-alone basis.
• Applicants who need funding: the Tax Clinic assistantship offers full tuition remission and a stipend, and scholarships go up to $10,000 for new students.

Six required courses anchor the degree. Survey of Tax gives you a tour of tax policy, individual, employment, corporate, estate and gift, state and local, employee benefits and international tax. Tax I and Tax II move through individual income tax, including basis, timing, depreciation and character.

Taxation of Corporations and Shareholders covers corporate formation and distributions, Partnership Taxation covers how partners and partnerships are taxed, and Professional Practice and Tax Procedure treats procedure as a skill every tax professional needs. You then choose three electives from more than 25 options.

Estate planners can take Fundamentals of Lifetime Estate Planning or Wealth Tax. Business lawyers can take Taxation of Corporate Acquisitions and Reorganizations or Negotiating and Drafting Tax Provisions in Corporate Acquisition Agreements. Others lean toward Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation, or State and Local Tax courses on sales and use taxes and on controversies and litigation.

Tax Litigation Training is the elective to look at if you're after courtroom practice.

The school says you can complete the LLM in less than two years, studying part time. Each course runs eight weeks, and classes are held in the evening. Villanova accepts students three times a year. The deadlines are April 1 for the summer session, July 31 for the fall session and November 30 for the spring session.

Because you take six required courses and three electives, you can see the full path from the first term. You can also begin with a specialty law certificate and keep the option of adding the degree, since the school treats the certificates as something you can pursue together with the LLM or alone.

Tuition is $1,675 per credit hour for 2025-2026. Across the 24 credits, that's $40,200. New LLM students can be considered for scholarships of up to $10,000, subject to funding. If your job is in public interest work, the Caritas Scholarship halves what you pay, at 50% off tuition.

The largest award is the Tax Clinic graduate assistantship: recipients earn the LLM with full tuition remission and draw a stipend from the clinic while they study.

24 credits at $1,675 a credit comes to $40,200 in tuition, before fees.

The LLM is taught fully online, and classes meet in the evening. Each week's live session is synchronous, and the school records every live discussion, so a hearing that runs long doesn't cost you the lecture. Around that live hour, each course mixes asynchronous peer discussions, polling and quizzes, and then faculty take you and a small group of peers through an in-depth analysis of the week's topic.

A 2020 LLM graduate quoted by the school describes each term as two consecutive eight-week intensive classes followed by a final exam, which let him focus on one subject area at a time. You're assigned a staff adviser for the length of the degree. Leadership sits inside the law school itself: a professor of practice directs the Graduate Tax Program, and an associate professor of law runs the Tax Clinic.

A former student posting on Reddit in 2024 said Villanova is much cheaper and still a solid school, and added that they had a great experience and chose it because of the cost. In a 2025 Reddit thread, a commenter answered an attorney asking about the Philadelphia region with a simple recommendation to go with Villanova.

A 2020 LLM graduate quoted by the school said he appreciated how Villanova structured its terms, because balancing work, study and parenting would have been difficult otherwise, and that he gained both depth and breadth while focusing on estate and gift tax.

On the employer side, TaxTalent's 2016 Top in Tax Educational Survey, based on the views of tax hiring authorities, placed Villanova's LLM sixth, up from eighth the year before, and a member of that forum said they could personally recommend Villanova and knew many successful graduates of its LLM program.

• Which three electives best fit my practice area, and how often does each one run?
• How do I apply for the Tax Clinic graduate assistantship, and what does the stipend involve?
• Can I earn a specialty law certificate while I'm completing the LLM, and which electives count toward both?
• If a court date lands on a class night, how quickly is the recording posted?
• Which start term should I target if I want Survey of Tax in my first eight weeks?

A private Catholic university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. Its Charles Widger School of Law runs the Graduate Tax Program.

• Best Master's in Taxation Rank 6 of 78, master's
• Online Master's in Taxation Rank 3 of 41, master's
• Best 100% Online Programs Rank 2 of 40, master's
• Part-Time Programs Rank 5 of 39, master's
• Best for Working Professionals Rank 5 of 46, master's
• Best for Parents Rank 5 of 46, master's
• Private University Programs Rank 1 of 43, master's
• LLM in Taxation Rank 3 of 22, master's

• Master of Taxation

  M.T., Master's

  Fully Online $1,675 per credit Score 63.6

• Portland State University

  Master of Taxation

  Oregon Score 69.2

• California State University-Northridge

  Master of Science in Taxation

  California $895 per credit Score 68.8

• Gonzaga University

  Master of Science in Taxation

  Washington Score 68.7

• University of Washington

  Tax Law LL.M.

  Washington Score 68.4