| Academic admission requirements |
A limited number of students will be admitted to the programme through a selection procedure.
Entry requirements
The entry requirements are:
Your previous education must satisfy the requirements listed below:
Your study programme must have included at least 15 ECTS in tax law, or you must have acquired the equivalent competencies through work experience in tax law (see ‘Tax law’ below);
You must have obtained a minimum standard in English language proficiency – see further below;
You must be willing to participate actively in the classroom; and
You must have an open mind towards different cultures.
It is possible to apply while finishing a previous degree or English-language proficiency test, in which case acceptance to the programme is conditional on satisfactorily completing the previous degree and/or proficiency test. We will need these documents before the deadline stated in step 1. Please take into consideration that the English language proficiency tests often get booked up months in advance and the results take more than two weeks to be published.
Previous education
The candidate must satisfy one of the following sets of requirements:
Have completed a university degree in law that is the equivalent of a master’s degree in the Netherlands. An initial master’s degree from a university that follows the European BA-MA system is equivalent. Degrees from universities that do not follow the European BA-MA system must require a study of at least four years in order to be equivalent; if you are not sure whether your degree is the equivalent of a Dutch master’s degree, please consult us.
Have completed a university degree in law at bachelor level and be admissible to a traditional legal profession such as advocate, attorney, barrister, judge, notary, solicitor, etc.
Have completed a Master’s degree from a research university (Dutch: WO) in any discipline, who has obtained at least 30 EC of law courses during university education. An initial master’s degree from a university that follows the European BA-MA system is equivalent to a Dutch master’s degree. Degrees from universities that do not follow the European BA-MA system must require a study of at least four years in order to be equivalent; if you are not sure whether your degree is the equivalent of a Dutch master’s degree, please consult us. In some cases it may be possible to substitute work experience of three years or more for the 30 ECTS in law; if you wish to use this possibility, please mail us in advance to inquire about it. For more information about the ECTS system, see below under the heading “ECTS”.
Have completed an (advanced) Master’s degree from a technical college in a strongly related discipline, namely tax law, fiscal economics, or accountancy. An initial master’s degree from a university that follows the European BA-MA system is equivalent to a Dutch master’s degree. Degrees from universities that do not follow the European BA-MA system must require a study of at least four years in order to be equivalent; if you are not sure whether your degree is the equivalent of a Dutch master’s degree, please consult us.
Have completed a professional accountancy qualification.
Note: Tertiary education at a technical college is not sufficient in any category. The name of the tertiary education institution is not determinative; in each case the University of Amsterdam makes its own assessment of the academic level of the institution and the degree obtained. If you have any questions in this respect, we will be happy to provide you with our assessment of your degree. Please be specific about your degree course and education institution in your email.
Note: In respect of all these requirements there may be specific considerations in specific countries, for example in respect of admission to a traditional legal profession. If you are not sure whether you satisfy the entry requirements, please mail us in advance with details of your education and qualifications and we will be happy to advise on your admissibility to this programme.
Note: The Admissions Board can set additional requirements to compensate for insufficient prior knowledge. If a required course of the Master’s programme was the subject of a prior examination, the Examinations Board can determine which courses shall replace it.
Tax law
All applicants must have some prior knowledge of tax law, obtained either through university study or work experience. This study or work experience can be in either domestic or international tax law. Students entering this programme are expected to have a good understanding of the tax law of one country, usually the country in which they obtained their degree, and an awareness of, or interest in, the cross-border issues of tax law.
University study
A previous university study must have had a minimum study load of 15 ECTS or its equivalent in tax law subjects. A study load of 15 ECTS usually amounts to a quarter of a full-time academic year of study. The ECTS system is explained further below. The 15 ECTS in tax law need not have been earned in courses devoted entirely to law; it is also possible to aggregate them from courses that dealt partly with tax law and partly with other disciplines. In this case it is the responsibility of the applicant to demonstrate that he/she has earned the equivalent of 15 ECTS in tax law. Evidence to this effect may be the course descriptions, indicating where appropriate which part of the course dealt with law, and/or the reading lists for those courses.
Work experience
Applicants who have not obtained the equivalent of 15 ECTS in tax law will also be considered if they have sufficient work experience in tax law, provided the work experience required a conceptual understanding of the law. The completion and filing of simple tax returns is therefore not sufficient. It is sufficient if you have, for example, participated in discussions about tax planning ideas, completed or scrutinised complex tax returns, helped to develop arguments in respect of litigation or participated in discussions about tax law design.
If you wish to rely on this criterium, you should submit a description of your work experience explaining your responsibilities. You may also submit a supporting letter from your employer in this respect (which may be one of the two letters of reference that are required in support of your application).
Pre-programme preparation
Before you start the programme you will, if you wish, be given access to an online course developed by IBFD on the fundamentals of international tax law that you can complete before coming to Amsterdam. In some cases, we may make it a condition of following the programme that you complete this online course and take the final test; your score in the test will be known to IBFD and be made available to the UvA.
ECTS
ECTS refer to the European system of study points that is used in European universities to denote the study load of individual courses. 60 ECTS measure the workload of an average full-time student during one academic year. Based on an academic year of 36-40 weeks, one ECTS represents 25-30 hours of study (classes and own study combined). Further information about this system is available on the website of the European Commission. |
| Language requirements |
In an international environment, sufficient mastery of the English language is critical for academic success. Students must take an English-language proficiency test to demonstrate their ability. The Amsterdam Law School accepts the following tests and test results:
TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) - The minimum required TOEFL score is 100 iBT, with a minimum score of 24 for each subscore.
IELTS (International English Language Testing System) - The minimum required overall IELTS score is 7.0, with a minimum score of 6.0 for each individual component.
Cambridge English Language Assessment: minimum score 183. A Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) certificate (minimum grade B), or Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE) certificate (minimum grade C).
Please note: The Amsterdam Law School only accepts English language proficiency test results that are no more than two years old at the time of your start of the programme. Chinese applicants need to submit an IELTS or TOEFL iBT test and request a Nuffic certificate.
The following students are exempted from the above-mentioned test requirements:
Students who have received their prior education in one of the following English-speaking countries: Australia, Canada (except Quebec), Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States.
Students who have completed an English-language study programme (minimum level: a Bachelor’s programme).
Students in possession of an international or European Baccalaureate diploma (with English as the language of instruction).
Dutch students who have received their prior education in the Netherlands. |
