Tax Court to Update to DAWSON Case Management System

The U.S. Tax Court has recently announced that it will soon make the transition from its current case management system to DAWSON (Docket Access Within a Secure Online Network). “DAWSON is named after former Tax Court Judge Howard A. Dawson, Jr., who passed away in 2016. . .”

Due to the new transition, the Tax Court’s current w-filing system will become inaccessible beginning at 5:00pm EST on November 20, 2020. Also, all electronic files will become read-only. 

Cases will still be electronically viewable, but documents may not be e-filed and no orders or opinions are expected to be issued during the transition. 

It is likely that Tax Court judges will avoid setting deadlines during this period of transition due to the obstacles presented by doing so the “old-fashioned” way. 

DAWSON is expected to enhance the following features:

• Electronic filing of petitions and payment of filing fee
• More user-friendly interface
• Web-based, mobile-friendly and fully integrated system.

DAWSON is expected to bring a “significant upgrade” for Tax Court practitioners that will minimize delays and obstacles. 

See Jenny L. Johnson Ware, Andrew R. Roberson, & Kevin Spencer, Tax Court to Update to DAWSON Case Management System, McDermott Will & Emery: Tax Controversy 360, October 22, 2020. 

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.