Tax Law Certificate Program
The Tax Law Certificate Program allows students to explore a broad range of tax curriculum.
Apply for the Tax Law CertificateTo receive the Tax Law Certificate, students must complete all of the certificate requirements and all of the requirements for the JD degree. Students intending to complete the requirements for the Tax Law Certificate are subject to all of the law school's academic policies, including rules governing enrollment priorities.
Course Requirements
To earn a Tax Law Certificate, a student must complete at least 15 units of approved course work in the subject area. The course work must include Federal Income Taxation (3 units) plus at least nine additional units of core tax courses. The final 3 units may be from either core tax courses or from the list of Tax Law Certificate elective courses.
Note: the curriculum below is subject to change and not all courses are offered every year.
| Required Courses |
Units |
| Federal Income Taxation | 3 |
| Core Tax Courses |
Units |
| Corporate Taxation | 3 |
| Family Wealth Transfer Taxation | 3 |
| International Taxation | 3 |
| Partnership Taxation | 2 or 3 |
| State & Local Taxation | 3 |
| Elective Courses |
Units |
| Accounting for Lawyers | 3 |
| Corporate Transactions | 3 |
| International Business Transactions | 3 |
Scholastic Requirements
Tax Law Certificate recipients must achieve a grade of C+ or higher in each course applied to meet the requirements for the certificate and achieve a cumulative grade point average of 2.700 or higher for all courses applied to the certificate.
A student achieving a cumulative grade point average of 3.500 or higher for all courses applied to meet the requirements of the certificate is awarded the certificate with honors.
All course work for the certificate must be taken for a letter grade except for any approved elective course in which credit/no credit or pass/fail grading is mandatory. For any course in which a letter grade is not provided, a "credit" or "pass" must be achieved in order for the course to be applied to meet the certificate requirements.
Writing Requirement
To earn the certificate, a student must complete a substantial research paper analyzing an issue relevant to tax law. The paper must demonstrate the ability to identify, describe, and analyze the subject matter, and, should, where possible, propose a resolution. The paper must meet the standards for an Upper Level Research and Writing Requirement project and may be used to satisfy that requirement and/or the requirements of a course taken for credit.
Transfer Units
All course work must be taken at USF with the exception of one course (for a maximum of three units of credit). If a student wishes to apply a course taken at another law school to meet the requirements of the Tax Law Certificate, prior approval must be obtained by the assistant dean for academic services. The student must take the course for a letter grade and earn a grade of C+ or higher for credit to be applied to the Tax Law Certificate.
A course taken at another law school will be transferred as "credit" only for purposes of determining the Tax Law Certificate grade point average as well as for calculating the USF semester and cumulative grade point averages.
Applying for the Certificate
To be eligible to receive a Tax Law Certificate, a student must submit an application to the USF School of Law Office of the Registrar. Applications will not be accepted until the student's last semester. Applications must be submitted on or before the last day to drop classes in that semester.
Students may obtain only one certificate. No student will be awarded more than one certificate upon completion of the JD degree, even if such student completed the requirements to more than one certificate program.
It is each student's responsibility to ensure that all requirements for the Tax Law Certificate are satisfied in a timely manner.