Make Taxes Work For You
New tax classes offer clear career path
Bellevue University is now offering a tax concentration that can be added to your MBA program or as a part of your undergraduate degree.
The benefit: A clear career path.
The classes were born out of the Internal Revenue Service’s desire to require a competency test for tax preparers. While that requirement is currently being litigated, passing the test differentiates those in the field.
“Even if it’s not a requirement, it should still be a competitive advantage,” said Dara Spivack, Assistant Professor in the College of Business. “You can say to prospective customers I’ve passed the IRS exam.”
Spivack developed the courses along with fellow professor Monica McElhaney. The courses consist of AC 433/633 Advanced Individual Tax Accounting, AC 434/634 Advanced Taxation of Business Entities, AC 435/635 Taxation of Flow-through Entities, and AC 439/639 Tax Planning and Strategies. AC 331 is a prerequisite for all of the classes.
“We’re trying to make the barriers to entry as low as possible,” McElhaney said.
The classes should be attractive to a wide variety of potential students including current undergraduate students in accounting and other business majors as well as graduate students in the MBA program.
“Anyone with an interest in knowing how income taxes impact life and business decisions can benefit,” said Spivack. “There is almost no decision you make; from how you form your business, to how you run it, to how you pay out your profits, to how you eventually go out of business. There is not a single decision that isn’t impacted by the tax consequences. It’s much easier to know ahead of time rather than try to do the damage control afterward.”
Even professionals already in the field can benefit.
“Everything from tax preparer to CFO — you’ve got to have an appreciation for taxes,” McElhaney said. “CPAs (Certified Public Accountants) may want to come back if they’ve been out of tax for a while. It doesn’t take long to get stale in tax.”
AC 434/634 will be offered in the Spring Term which begins March 11. AC 433/633 will be offered in the Summer Term which begins on June 3.
Want more information about these classes or any of Bellevue University’s offerings? Call us at 1-800-756-7920 or email OneStop@Bellevue.edu.
