Advice sought on master's degree in taxation

I'm considering a career change, and am giving some thought to going into taxation as a full-time job. My experience in taxation is as a tax preparer for Block, a local bank, and a local accountant (sequentially, not simultaneously) for 15 years. My bachelor's is in political science with no business courses except economics. Is obtaining a master's degree in taxation a good way to proceed? Would it help me in seeking full-time work? Would I have to take undergraduate business courses first? I'm not interested in accounting apart from tax work, so I'm not planning on becoming a CPA. If a master's is a feasible route, can anyone recommend schools for me to consider? Preferred locations would be the Philadelphia area or south Florida, but I wouldn't rule out other locations As I am currently homebound due to injuries suffered in an accident (and expect to be such for the rest of the year, I would be particularly interested in online courses. Thank you very much for any help.

-- D.F. Manno snipped-for-privacy@mail.com

Moderator: A Masters is always a good idea. But "It depends." In this case, it depends on the quality of the program. Beware of straight correspondence course schools. Look at the accredidation of the school; look at the outline of the program. Sorry to learn about your being homebound. From first hand experience, I kmow it sucks.

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In your shoes, I'd sit for the EA exam (technically the Special Enrollment Exam). Relatively fast, relatively inexpensive, and it gives you a solid tax credential. An employer who doesn't want CPAs only IMHO would value it more than a degree (because you can represent clients before the IRS as an EA, but not with just as master's in tax), and an employer who wants CPAs only isn't going to care if you have a master's in tax. FWIW, I've got a BA in Psychology, and have been an EA for ~8 years. In 2005, I went back to school for accounting hours (48 hours but no additional degree) and sat for the CPA exam this past January & February. We only do tax (no traditional accounting or attest work), so it was more for sucession planning and to improve my compensation should I want to work elsewhere. Oklahoma has no audit experience requirement, so all I needed was to get my hours and sit for the exam. Phoebe :)