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Studies & Degrees in Tax Law

Tax law is the branch of law that governs how a state raises its revenue: who pays tax, on what, at which rate, and how the tax authority assesses, collects and reviews what is owed. It covers income and corporate taxes, VAT and other indirect taxes, inheritance and wealth taxes, local taxes, and the international rules that decide which country may tax a person or a company. The Chartered Institute of Taxation in the United Kingdom describes tax as a mixture of law, accountancy and administration, and the subject is taught that way: students read statutes and case law, and they also work through accounts and calculations.

A typical programme goes through the main taxes one by one, then tax procedure (assessment, collection, inspection, review and penalties), international and European tax law, and enough accounting to read a company's books.

Qualifications and levels

Tax law is rarely a first degree in its own right. Most students meet it as a course inside a law, economics or business degree and specialise afterwards.

  • Courses within a bachelor's degree. Uppsala Universitet, for example, offers Taxation Law as a 15-credit course at bachelor's level, taught in Swedish.
  • Master's degrees. The Tax Law (LL.M.) of Leiden University covers Dutch, European and international developments in tax law and is offered only in Dutch. The Máster en Tributación of the Universidad de Montevideo lasts 580 hours, of which 380 are class hours and 200 are research for the final thesis, and is aimed at accountants, lawyers, economists, notaries and business graduates.
  • Spain. Official university degrees follow a fixed structure: a bachelor's degree (grado) of 240 ECTS credits and master's degrees of 60, 90 or 120 ECTS credits. Many tax programmes are instead a Máster de Formación Permanente, a university's own lifelong-learning qualification of 60, 90 or 120 ECTS credits that universities must keep clearly apart from official degrees. One example is the Máster de Formación Permanente en Tributación of the Universidad de Alicante, taught in collaboration with the Instituto de Estudios Fiscales of the Spanish Ministry of Finance: 60 ECTS credits, from 21 September 2026 to 11 June 2027, with a listed price of €4,650 for the 2026-27 edition.
  • United States. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, becoming a lawyer usually takes seven years of full-time study after high school, and tax lawyers may add a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in tax after the J.D.
  • Professional qualifications. In the United Kingdom the Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) qualification has seven modular exams, which most students complete in two to three years. It is awarded only after three years of relevant professional experience.

Shorter and online courses also exist, as do legal English courses for lawyers who work across borders.

Where to study

SpainExchange lists 14 active schools for tax law. Five are in Spain and two in the United States; the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Ireland, Ukraine, Uruguay and Ecuador have one each. In Spain the list includes the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, the business school of the Universidad de Alicante, ADEIT (the university-business foundation of the Universitat de València) and, in Barcelona, ESADE and the online institute AFIGE. Elsewhere it includes Leiden University, Uppsala Universitet, the University of Bern, Washington University in St. Louis, the Universidad de Montevideo and the Universidad Espíritu Santo (UEES) in Guayaquil.

Tax law is national law, so most programmes are taught in the language of the country: Dutch in Leiden, Swedish in Uppsala, Spanish in Spain, Uruguay and Ecuador. Check the language of instruction of each programme before applying.

Careers

Graduates work as tax advisers and tax lawyers in law and accounting firms, in the tax departments of companies and banks, and in the public tax administration. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics describes tax lawyers as helping clients with complex tax regulations, handling tax disputes and representing clients in court, and notes that they may also work for government agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service. It projects employment of lawyers as a whole to grow 5 percent from 2025 to 2035. In Spain, the Alicante master's programme states two aims: tax advice, and preparation for the competitive entrance examinations of the state, regional and local tax administrations. The Chartered Institute of Taxation notes that qualified advisers commonly move between tax consultancy, commerce, industry, the legal profession and the tax authority.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a law degree to study tax law?

Not always. Several master's programmes also admit graduates in economics, business administration or accounting; the Universidad de Montevideo, for example, addresses its Máster en Tributación to accountants, lawyers, economists and notaries. Acting as a lawyer in court does require a law qualification in the country concerned.

How long does a master's in tax law take?

It depends on the country. Official master's degrees in Spain have 60, 90 or 120 ECTS credits; the Alicante tax master's has 60 ECTS credits and runs for one academic year.

Can I study tax law in English?

Often not: many programmes are taught in the national language because they cover national law. The Tax Law (LL.M.) in Leiden is offered only in Dutch, and the Taxation Law course in Uppsala is taught in Swedish.

Is a Máster de Formación Permanente an official degree in Spain?

No. It is a university's own lifelong-learning qualification of 60, 90 or 120 ECTS credits, and Spanish rules require universities to distinguish it expressly from official university degrees.