Early admission

Prospective students have the possibility to apply for an early admission procedure and be admitted by the end of February 2021. The deadline for application for the early admission procedure is the 1st of January 2021. In case you are selected in the early bird round you will be asked to confirm your place by paying a 1000 Euro early bird fee. This will later on be deducted from the tuition fee.

>> Read the flyer about early admission (PDF)

Normal admission 

The application period for the Academic year 2021-2022 starts on October 1, 2020.
For students outside the EU and student who wish to apply for a scholarship or housing, the application deadline is 1 April 2021.
For students within the EU, the deadline is 1 May 2021. 

Application timetable 

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 (see ‘Previous education’):
• It is highly valued during the selection process if your previous study programme included at least 15 ECTS in tax law, or if you have acquired relevant 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 consult 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

It is valuable to 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. This helps students entering this programme to have a good understanding of the content of the programme and give them the opportunity to share their knowledge in the field with their fellow students.

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 did not obtain 15 ECTS in tax law subjects during their studies nor have work experience in tax law, will also be considered, provided that they can show a genuine interest in the topic.

Please note that it does add value to your application file if you do have work experience in tax law. We recommend you to submit a description of your (work) experience explaining your responsibilities related to tax law or 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.

English language proficiency

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. When sending TOEFL results, please use our institutional code: 9011. Otherwise we cannot check your test scores online. We will accept the TOEFL Home Edition test for both for the September 2021-2022 intake. For students in mainland China we also accept the TOEFL ITP Plus for China.
• 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. Please note that the IELTS indicator test is not allowed.
• 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 the start of the programme. 
• Chinese applicants will need to submit an IELTS or TOEFL iBT test score 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 (at the Bachelor’s level or higher).

• Students in possession of an international or European Baccalaureate diploma (with English as the language of instruction).
• Dutch students who received their prior education in the Netherlands.

The application deadline is 1 April 2021 for all non-EU/EEA students, students that wish to apply for housing and students that will apply for a scholarship. You can apply online through the form below.

A complete application contains the following documents:

• Curriculum Vitae
• Certified copy of university diploma (if it has already been obtained), that meets the entry requirements for the advanced LLM and (if not in English, German or French), with an official English translation
• Certified copy of university transcripts including grades of your university degree, that meets the entry requirements for the advanced LLM and (if not in English, German or French), with an official English translation
• Proof of English language proficiency, e.g. English language test results (if the test has already been taken) or a test date
• Motivation letter; if you wish to be considered for one of the scholarships available for International Tax Law students, please send specific motivation letters to tax-llm-fdr@uva.nl
• Two recommendation letters
• If appropriate: evidence that your university education is equivalent to the ECTS standards set out in the list of entry requirements
• If appropriate: evidence that you have work experience in tax law at a sufficiently conceptual level

Application fee

Applicants with a non-EU/EEA nationality are charged an administrative fee of €100 to be paid before the application deadline. The fee is reimbursed to students who subsequently enrol successfully at the Amsterdam Law School.

The fee should be transferred to the following account:

Deutsche Bank  
Account no. 50.90.95.402 
Faculty of Law  
Amsterdam Law School 
1000 BA Amsterdam

IBAN no: NL69DEUT0509095402 
BIC/SWIFTcode: DEUTNL2N 

Applications will not be reviewed until all required application materials and the application fee have been paid and processed. 

After the deadline of 1 April or 1 May, your application will be evaluated by our admissions committee. Only those applicants who fulfil the entry requirements and are therefore eligible to the masters programme International Tax Law, will be presented to the Selection Committee. Qualified candidates could be invited for an interview with the members of the Committee. The Committee will then decide on admission. You will be notified about the decision by email before the 1^stof June.

Accept 

If you get selected for this programme, the university will send you a letter of acceptance by email. We request that you accept or decline within ten working days.

Certified documents

If you have been selected for our Master's programme we need to verify your previous education. This means that you have to send us certified copies of your transcripts and degree certificates by post. Photocopies or scans of the original certified documents are not accepted. Please send us the documents together with the printed version of the completed online application form. NB. If you can’t get a certified copy of your degree or transcript, please ask your university to send a copy of your degree and transcript directly to: tax-llm-fdr@uva.nl.

Your diploma and transcripts need to be officially certified (i.e., must bear the original stamp or signature of your university or a notary), and sent with the printed version of the completed online application form to the following address:

Amsterdam Law School - Admissions Office (room A6.01a)
P.O. Box 1030
1000 BA Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Or, if sent by registered post:

Amsterdam Law School – Admissions Office (room A6.01a)
Valckenierstraat 59
1018 XE Amsterdam
The Netherlands

If you are an international student, you will need to arrange a variety of practical matters before starting your studies. This includes your visa or residence permit, insurance and housing. You will receive an email with more information once you have been admitted.

A student ID card is a personal document which serves as proof of identity for examinations and library privileges. You will receive instructions explaining how to request your student ID card. 

Course registration

After you have been (conditionally) admitted to the LLM programme by the Amsterdam Law School you will be signed up for courses by the Amsterdam Law School automatically.

For questions on course registration, please contact our Education Desk.

Academic calendar

The academic year is divided into two semesters, each lasting 20 weeks. Semester 1 classes begin in the first week of September. Semester 2 classes begin in the first week of February. At the Faculty of Law, the semesters are further divided into two teaching periods. These begin in weeks 1 and 9 of each semester.

Once you are selected for the programme, you will receive information on how to pay the tuition fee.

Moving to another city, while exciting, can also be overwhelming. UvA Student Services organises Start Appointments each year (free of charge) to help with the practical issues you may encounter during your transition to Amsterdam, such as registering with the municipality or opening a Dutch bank account. You will receive an invitation for a Start Appointment once you have submitted your immigration application. There are two levels of Start Appointment: all-inclusive and regular.

To help you get started, the Amsterdam Law School organizes a (mandatory) Introduction Day for all new Master’s students. You will find information on the Introduction Day on the student website.