DAWSON Archives - TAX CONTROVERSY 360

Tax Court Orders Are Searchable (Again)

by Kevin Spencer and McDermott Will & Emery | Dec 15, 2021 | Trial Courts

In late 2020, the US Tax Court transitioned to a new case management system, DAWSON (Docket Access Within a Secure Online Network), which was named after the late Judge Howard A. Dawson, Jr.. We previously discussed DAWSON here and here.

Over the past year, the Tax Court has made improvements to DAWSON in order to provide better access to taxpayers and their representatives. One of the helpful features of the old case management system was the ability to search Orders, however, that feature was not present in DAWSON—until now.

On December 14, 2021, the Tax Court announced that the Order search feature is once again available to the public. In addition to searching for Orders by case name or docket number, the public can also search by keyword or phrase, by judge or by date range. The Tax Court’s DAWSON Release Notes page provides the following additional information:

Implemented Order search for public users
- Includes keyword and phrase search
- Includes ability to find exact matches with “” (quotation marks) ex: “innocent spouse”
- Includes ability to combine two or more keywords or phrases with the + (plus sign) ex: “collection due process” + remand
- Includes ability to find documents with one or more keywords or phrases with the | (pipe character) ex: Lien | levy [Note: this search will return documents that contain the words “lien” or “levy”]
- Includes ability to filter by date, judge, case title, petitioner name, or docket number
Petitions and other documents with form fields now upload correctly for all browsers.

Similar guidance concerning searching for documents is also available on the Tax Court’s website. The Tax Court also updated its Public Guide, Self-Represented (Pro Se) Petitioner Guide and Practitioner Guide for DAWSON. The Public Guide indicates that the ability to search court opinions in DAWSON is coming soon. Additionally, cases that migrated from the prior case management system appear as sealed in DAWSON if there were any sealed documents in the case. It remains to be seen whether unsealed Orders in such cases will be searchable in the future.

The Tax Court’s announcement does not indicate how far back the public can go to search for Orders. Using the Order search function and restricting the date range, the earliest Order we were able to find dates back to May 22, 1980. Based on entering different date ranges, it appears that certain Orders are available back to this date but not all Orders dating back to May 22, 1980, are available. This is not surprising given that Tax Court records are sent offsite to storage after a set period of time. Regardless, the ability to search for Orders back to 1980, at least for those Orders that are available on the website, is an improvement over the prior Order search feature, which [...]

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Tax Court Announces New Case Management System to Go Live Before New Year’s

by Kevin Spencer and McDermott Will & Emery | Dec 18, 2020 | Court Procedure Matters, Trial Courts

We previously reported on the US Tax Court’s (Tax Court) announcement that it was changing its case management system, DAWSON (Docket Access Within a Secure Online Network). This morning, the Tax Court issued a press release confirming the launch of DAWSON on December 28, 2020. Temporary credentials for taxpayers and practitioners already registered for electronic access will be sent no later than December 28, 2020, and will be valid for seven days. Expanded guidance on using DAWSON, including FAQs, will be available shortly on the Tax Court’s website.

Tax Court to Update Case Management System

by Jenny L. Johnson Ware and Kevin Spencer | Oct 22, 2020 | Court Procedure Matters, Trial Courts

The US Tax Court (Tax Court) recently announced upcoming changes to its case management system. DAWSON (Docket Access Within a Secure Online Network), named after former Tax Court Judge Howard A. Dawson, Jr., who passed away in 2016, is expected to be active by the end of 2020.

To facilitate the transition to DAWSON, the Tax Court’s current e-filing system will become inaccessible and all electronic files will become read-only beginning at 5:00 pm EST on November 20, 2020. Cases will remain electronically viewable, but no documents may be e-filed during this time. Importantly, no orders or opinions are anticipated to be issued during the transition.

Due to the lack of e-filing during the transition, Tax Court judges are trying to avoid setting deadlines that fall within this period. If a filing is required, it must be done the old-fashioned way on paper and by mail, with a proper certificate demonstrating service on the opposing party.

Notable improvements in DAWSON include:

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

Practitioners should be on the lookout for an email from the Tax Court to set up their new account on DAWSON.

Practice Point: DAWSON will represent a significant upgrade for Tax Court practitioners. The addition of e-filing for petitions is particularly noteworthy as taxpayers and their representatives will not have to worry about potential problems and delays associated with physically mailing petitions to commence a case in Tax Court.