Some Unsolicited Winter Quarter Registration Advice from Sam

Full-time students must, of course, take both Partnership Tax (T511) and Estate & Gift Tax (T510). In addition, remember the “core elective requirement”: you must complete two of the four “core” elective courses. Three of the four core electives are offered in winter quarter—Compensation & Benefits I (T521), Corporate Reorgs (T530), and International Tax II (T516). If you did not take International Tax I this quarter, you must take two of these three core elective courses in winter quarter. (And yes, you can take International Tax II even if you did not take International Tax I—they cover different topics, but you can expect to spend the first couple of weeks getting caught up on basic concepts like residency classification and the sourcing rules.) If you are taking International Tax I now, you need only take one of the three “core” electives in winter quarter, although it is common for folks to take two or even all three.

Depending on how the required and core courses shake out, then, full-time students will have used up 8 – 13 credits. If there is room for one or two more elective courses, there are a lot of choices. Even though we are blessed with a quarter system that lets you take a lot more courses than any other graduate tax program, there are still some difficult choices to make. Some basic advice appears below (after the next paragraph on part-time students).

Part-time students have a little more flexibility when it comes to winter quarter choices. Still, some general advice might be helpful. If this is your first year in the program, you should limit your course selections to those classes that are appropriate at this early stage. The Estate & Gift Tax course is a good selection because there are no formal or functional prerequisites for that class. If you have completed International Tax I, this would be a good time to take International Tax II. You might want to stay away from Partnership Tax until you have completed Property Dispositions and Corporate Tax. Likewise, both the S Corporations course (T518) and the Corporate Reorgs class (T530) should come only after you have completed Corporate Tax. Otherwise, your choices are wide open.

There are a number of other electives to consider, depending on your interests. Those who see themselves as estate planners should strongly consider the Income Taxation of Trusts & Estates course (T532). Those more interested in business transactions should look at the Taxation of S Corporations course (T518). Also, note that enrollment in the Federal Tax Clinic (T526) is limited to those who took the course in the fall quarter.

Finally, let me put in a plug for two courses. First, the Advanced State & Local Tax course (T542) is debuting this year. Several of our graduates in the past few years have gone to work in state & local tax, so we thought it would be helpful to beef up our offerings in this area. The Advanced course will be taught by Reid Okimoto from KPMG. Professor Okimoto is an alumnus of the Graduate Program in Taxation who has published a number of articles on state & local tax issues in well regarded professional journals. If you are hesitant to take the course because of its “Advanced” label, don’t worry. Professor Okimoto has indicated that students who have not completed the first State & Local Tax course are welcome to enroll in his course. He will provide additional background readings for those new to the area.

Second, I want to make special mention of the Federal Tax Policy seminar (T507). Note that this is our only 4-credit course (it spans winter and spring quarters, two credits each quarter). It is taught by Professor Ron Hjorth, the Dean Emeritus of the law school and a long-time tax professor. Students in the Tax Policy seminar have uniformly raved about it. It is not a technical “bring-your-Code-and-Regs-to-class” type of course. Instead, it seeks to give context to the structure and objectives of the federal tax system. If you are interested in why the Code and regulations read as they do, and whether alternate tax structures would be superior to the status quo, the Tax Policy seminar is exactly the kind of course you should make it a point to take. You will have other chances in your professional careers to learn about the substantive areas of tax law you are unable to take in this program, but there will most likely be no other opportunity for formal study of the important policy implications at play in the tax law. We have considered making this a required course because it really is that important (but we like to keep it in a seminar format to encourage discussion). You should seriously consider enrolling in this seminar for both winter and spring (you must enroll in both quarters).

I am happy to answer any specific course selection questions you may have, and I know our other full-time tax faculty are happy to offer their advice as well. But hopefully these general comments will be useful in your planning.

Sam Donaldson