Haslam College of Business
Advanced Taxation Graduate Certificate
Tax law never holds still. The Advanced Taxation graduate certificate from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Haslam College of Business builds the technical command to keep pace and the judgment to explain what tax laws actually mean for a client, partner or CFO. The certificate consists of four graduate courses, taken on their own or alongside a master’s or doctoral degree.
Graduate Certificate
Program Overview
Haslam’s Advanced Taxation graduate certificate builds the technical command to apply tax law to businesses, partnerships and individuals with authority. The four-course curriculum moves past the survey level into the work tax professionals are actually paid for: researching an unsettled position and defending it, structuring corporate transactions and reorganizations, handling the pass-through entities that make up most of American business and planning across state and national borders. Courses are taught by faculty in the college’s Department of Accounting and Information Management (AIM), whose graduate accounting programs rank among the top 25 at public universities nationally and whose accounting program was among the first in the country to earn AACSB’s separate accounting accreditation. Take the certificate on its own, or complete it as part of a UT master’s or doctoral program. Applicants from disciplines outside accounting may be admitted after completing prerequisite coursework.
Graduate Certificate
Why Study Advanced Taxation?
Tax is the one area of accounting that rewrites itself. A statute changes, a court rules or a state redraws its nexus rules and a client’s structure suddenly needs rethinking. The tax professionals who thrive are the ones who can find the answer, defend it and act on it before the deadline. Haslam’s Advanced Taxation graduate certificate builds these skills within the college’s AIM department, whose Master of Accountancy program holds the top CPA pass rate among Tennessee public institutions and places 100 percent of its graduates.
Nationally Ranked Programs
Haslam’s graduate accounting programs placed No. 25 among public institutions and No. 48 nationally in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026 Best Graduate Business Schools specialty rankings. The accounting program holds AACSB’s separate accounting accreditation and was among the first in the country to earn it.
Become an Advanced Taxation Leader
Most tax courses teach the code as it stands today. Haslam’s Advanced Taxation graduate certificate teaches tax professionals what to do when that code changes: how to research an unsettled position in the primary authority, build a defensible conclusion and advise on it.
Built Around Your Path
The certificate stands alone, or counts toward a UT master’s or doctoral program. Students have five years from the date they apply to complete the certificate, so it fits around a full-time role. An accounting degree is not required to begin the program, as prerequisite coursework in principles and intermediate financial accounting can be completed.
Graduate Certificate
Advanced Taxation Careers
Tax is where accounting gets closest to the decision. Graduates move into tax manager roles in public accounting, in-house corporate tax teams, transaction and reorganization work, and state, local and international tax specialties at Big Four firms, at the regional firms that anchor Tennessee’s professional services economy, and inside the finance functions of the companies they advise. This certificate draws on the same faculty and the same employer network that place Haslam’s Master of Accountancy graduates. Nationally, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects about 124,200 openings for accountants and auditors every year through 2034, most of them created by workers retiring or moving to other roles and tax is among the specialties employers report the most difficulty filling.
Graduate Certificate
Featured Courses
The certificate program consists of four graduate-level accounting courses, with three required classes and choice of one elective.
The three required courses include:
- ACCT 530 — Tax Research, Accounting Practice and Procedures
3 credit hours
Methods of researching tax issues within the federal tax system with emphasis on internet-based research tools; tax accounting periods and method; tax procedures for dealing with the Internal Revenue Service; tax practice standards and ethical concerns - ACCT 532 – Corporate Taxation and Reorganizations
3 credit hours
Current issues in corporate taxation, including organization and capital structure, distributions, liquidations, acquisitions and reorganizations; course emphasizes group projects and presentations and web-based research tools are used extensively - ACCT 533 — Taxation of Partnerships and S Corporations
3 credit hours
Current issues in partnership and S corporation taxation, including partnership formation, operations, allocations and distributions; LLCs; S corporation election and operations; and comparisons of different flow-through entities; the course emphasizes group projects and presentations and web-based research tools are used extensively
Elective options include:
- ACCT 531 — Tax Strategy and Corporation Tax Issues
3 credit hours
Current issues in tax strategy and planning, including investment models, implicit taxes, organizational form and other selected topics; income taxation of corporate operations, including financial statement implications of income taxes; course is intended for Master of Accountancy students in the taxation concentration - ACCT 539 — Multi-Jurisdictional Tax Planning and Policy
3 credit hours
International and state tax law as it pertains to business transactions; particular emphasis is placed on identifying tax planning opportunities and designing tax strategies to meet planning objectives
To receive the certificate, students must:
- Complete the Graduate Certificate Course Verification Form
- Apply to graduate from the certificate program through MyUTK
Graduate Certificate
Admissions & Aid
Applications are submitted through Haslam’s application portal.
Who Can Apply
Applicants can be currently admitted to a UT master’s or doctoral program or can apply solely for the Advanced Taxation graduate certificate. Applicants are expected to have a baccalaureate degree in accounting. Students from other disciplines may be admitted but may be required to take prerequisite courses as described in the graduate catalog. Recommended background knowledge includes principles and intermediate I/II financial reporting/accounting.
Academic Standards
Students must maintain an average 3.00 graduate GPA across all certificate courses in the program and complete the requirements within five years of applying for a certificate.
Ready to learn more?
Have a question about prerequisites, courses or how the certificate might fit with a degree you’re already pursuing? Contact Haslam to learn more.