485BPOS

Filed electronically with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 16, 2012.

 File No. 002-81105

 File No. 811-03632

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D. C. 20549

FORM N-1A

REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

Pre-Effective Amendment

Post-Effective Amendment No. 59

And/or

REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE

INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT OF 1940

Amendment No. 59

DWS Tax Free Trust

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Charter)

345 Park Avenue, New York, NY  10154

 (Address of Principal Executive Offices)   (Zip Code)

Registrant’s Telephone Number, including Area Code:  (617) 295-2572

John Millette

Deutsche Investment Management Americas Inc.

One Beacon Street

Boston, Massachusetts  02108

 (Name and Address of Agent for Service)

It is proposed that this filing will become effective (check appropriate box):

/ X /	Immediately upon filing pursuant to paragraph (b)
/___/	On __________________ pursuant to paragraph (b)
/___/	60 days after filing pursuant to paragraph (a) (1)
/___/	On __________________ pursuant to paragraph (a) (1)
/___/	75 days after filing pursuant to paragraph (a) (2)
/___/	On __________________ pursuant to paragraph (a) (2) of Rule 485.
	If Appropriate, check the following box:
/___/	This post-effective amendment designates a new effective date for a previously filed post-effective amendment

This filing relates solely to the following Fund, a series of the Registrant:

·   DWS Intermediate Tax/AMT Free Fund – Classes A, B, C, Institutional Class and Class S

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Registrant certifies that it meets all of the requirements for effectiveness of this Registration Statement pursuant to Rule 485(b) under the Securities Act of 1933 and has duly caused this amendment to its Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereto duly authorized, in the City of New York and the State of New York on the 15th day of October 2012.

DWS TAX FREE TRUST

By:  /s/W. Douglas Beck

W. Douglas Beck*

President

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this Post-Effective Amendment to its Registration Statement has been signed below by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated:

SIGNATURE	TITLE		DATE
/s/W. Douglas Beck
W. Douglas Beck*		President		October 15, 2012
/s/Paul H. Schubert
Paul H. Schubert		Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer		October 15, 2012
/s/John W. Ballantine
John W. Ballantine*		Trustee		October 15, 2012
/s/Henry P. Becton, Jr.
Henry P. Becton, Jr.*		Trustee		October 15, 2012
/s/Dawn-Marie Driscoll
Dawn-Marie Driscoll*		Trustee		October 15, 2012
/s/Keith R. Fox
Keith R. Fox*		Trustee		October 15, 2012
/s/Paul K. Freeman
Paul K. Freeman*		Chairperson and Trustee		October 15, 2012
/s/Kenneth C. Froewiss
Kenneth C. Froewiss*		Trustee		October 15, 2012
/s/Richard J. Herring
Richard J. Herring*		Trustee		October 15, 2012
/s/William McClayton
William McClayton*		Trustee		October 15, 2012
/s/Rebecca W. Rimel
Rebecca W. Rimel*		Trustee		October 15, 2012
/s/William N. Searcy, Jr.
William N. Searcy, Jr.*		Trustee		October 15, 2012
/s/Jean Gleason Stromberg
Jean Gleason Stromberg*		Trustee		October 15, 2012
/s/Robert H. Wadsworth
Robert H. Wadsworth*		Trustee		October 15, 2012

*By:        /s/Caroline Pearson

Caroline Pearson**

Chief Legal Officer

** Attorney-in-fact pursuant to the powers of attorney that are incorporated herein by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 56 to the Registration Statement, as filed on September 28, 2011; and as filed on September 26, 2008 in Post-Effective Amendment No. 51 to the Registration Statement.

EXHIBIT INDEX

Index No.	Description of Exhibit
EX-101.INS	XBRL Instance Document
EX-101.SCH	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document
EX-101.CAL	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase
EX-101.DEF	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase
EX-101.LAB	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Labels Linkbase
EX-101.PRE	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase

XML

DWS Intermediate Tax/AMT Free Fund

DWS Intermediate Tax/AMT Free Fund

Investment Objective

The fund seeks to provide a high level of income exempt from regular federal income taxes and seeks to limit principal fluctuation.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

These are the fees and expenses you may pay when you buy and hold shares. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your immediate family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $100,000 in DWS funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional and in Choosing a Share Class (p. 21) and Purchase and Redemption of Shares in the fund's Statement of Additional Information (SAI) (p. II-15).

SHAREHOLDER FEES (paid directly from your investment)

Shareholder Fees DWS Intermediate Tax/AMT Free Fund	Class A	Class B	Class C	INST Class	Class S
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	2.75%	none	none	none	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	none	4.00%	1.00%	none	none

ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a % of the value of your investment)

Annual Fund Operating Expenses DWS Intermediate Tax/AMT Free Fund	Class A	Class B	Class C	INST Class	Class S
Management fee	0.32%	0.32%	0.32%	0.32%	0.32%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	0.24%	1.00%	1.00%	none	none
Other expenses	0.22%	0.25%	0.21%	0.18%	0.29%
Total annual fund operating expenses	0.78%	1.57%	1.53%	0.50%	0.61%

EXAMPLE

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example DWS Intermediate Tax/AMT Free Fund (USD $)	Class A	Class B	Class C	INST Class	Class S
1 Year	352	560	256	51	62
3 Years	517	796	483	160	195
5 Years	696	1,055	834	280	340
10 Years	1,214	1,460	1,824	628	762

You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your shares:

Expense Example, No Redemption DWS Intermediate Tax/AMT Free Fund (USD $)	Class A	Class B	Class C	INST Class	Class S
1 Year	352	160	156	51	62
3 Years	517	496	483	160	195
5 Years	696	855	834	280	340
10 Years	1,214	1,460	1,824	628	762

Class B converts to Class A after six years; the Example for Class B reflects Class A fees after the conversion.

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

The fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may mean higher taxes if you are investing in a taxable account. These costs are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the expense example, and can affect the fund's performance.

Portfolio turnover rate for fiscal year 2012: 48%.

Principal Investment Strategy

Main Investments. Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in securities issued by municipalities across the United States and in other securities whose income is free from regular federal income tax and alternative minimum tax (AMT). The fund does not intend to invest in securities whose income is subject to AMT.

The fund can buy many types of municipal securities of all maturities. These may include revenue bonds (which are backed by revenues from a particular source) and general obligation bonds (which are typically backed by the issuer's ability to levy taxes). They may also include municipal lease obligations and investments representing an interest therein.

Credit Quality Policies. This fund normally invests at least 65% of total assets in municipal securities of the top three grades of credit quality. The fund could invest up to 35% of net assets in debt securities rated in the fourth credit grade, which is still considered investment-grade.

Management Process. Portfolio management looks for securities that appear to offer the best opportunity to meet the fund's objective. In making its buy and sell decisions, portfolio management typically weighs a number of factors against each other, from economic outlooks and possible interest rate movements to characteristics of specific securities, such as coupon, maturity date and call date, and changes in supply and demand within the municipal bond market.

Although portfolio management may adjust the dollar-weighted average effective maturity of the fund's portfolio between three and ten years, it generally intends to keep it between five and ten years. In determining the dollar-weighted average effective maturity, portfolio management uses the security's stated maturity or, if appropriate, an earlier date, reflecting a maturity-shortening device (such as a call, a put, prerefunding, prepayment or redemption provision, or a demand feature) which will likely cause the instrument to be repaid earlier than the stated maturity date.

Derivatives. Portfolio management generally may use interest rate swaps, which are a type of derivative (a contract whose value is based on, for example, indices, currencies or securities), to manage the duration of the investment portfolio (i.e., reducing or increasing the sensitivity of the fund's portfolio to interest rate changes). Portfolio management may also use inverse floating rate securities to seek to enhance potential gains.

The fund may also use various types of derivatives (i) for hedging; (ii) for risk management; (iii) for non-hedging purposes to seek to enhance potential gains; or (iv) as a substitute for direct investment in a particular asset class or to keep cash on hand to meet shareholder redemptions.

Main Risks

There are several risk factors that could hurt the fund's performance, cause you to lose money or cause the fund's performance to trail that of other investments. The fund may not achieve its investment objective, and is not intended to be a complete investment program. An investment in the fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency.

Interest Rate Risk. When interest rates rise, prices of debt securities generally decline. The longer the duration of the fund's debt securities, the more sensitive it will be to interest rate changes. (As a general rule, a 1% rise in interest rates means a 1% fall in value for every year of duration.)

Credit Risk. The fund's performance could be hurt if an issuer of a debt security suffers an adverse change in financial condition that results in a payment default, security downgrade or inability to meet a financial obligation.

Focus Risk. To the extent that the fund focuses on investments from a single state, region or sector of the municipal securities market, its performance can be more volatile than that of a fund that invests more broadly. As an example, factors affecting a state, region or sector such as severe fiscal difficulties, an economic downturn, court rulings, increased expenditures on domestic security or reduced monetary support from the federal government could over time impair a states, region or sector's ability to repay its obligations.

Municipal Securities Risk. The fund will be impacted by events in the municipal securities market. Negative events, such as severe fiscal difficulties, an economic downturn, unfavorable legislation, court rulings or political developments, or reduced monetary support from the federal government could hurt fund performance.

Market Risk. Deteriorating market conditions might cause a general weakness in the market that reduces the prices of securities in that market. Developments in a particular class of debt securities or the stock market could also adversely affect the fund by reducing the relative attractiveness of debt securities as an investment. Also, to the extent that the fund emphasizes debt securities from any given state or region, it could be hurt if that state or region does not do well.

Inverse Floating Rate Securities Risk. The interest payment received on inverse floating rate securities ("inverse floaters") generally will decrease when short-term interest rates increase. Inverse floaters are derivatives that involve leverage and could magnify the fund's gains or losses.

Derivatives Risk. Risks associated with derivatives include the risk that the derivative is not well correlated with the security, index or currency to which it relates; the risk that derivatives may result in losses or missed opportunities; the risk that the fund will be unable to sell the derivative because of an illiquid secondary market; the risk that a counterparty is unwilling or unable to meet its obligation; and the risk that the derivative transaction could expose the fund to the effects of leverage, which could increase the fund's exposure to the market and magnify potential losses.

Security Selection Risk. The securities in the fund's portfolio may decline in value. Portfolio management could be wrong in its analysis of municipalities, industries, companies, economic trends, the relative attractiveness of different securities or other matters.

Counterparty Risk. A financial institution or other counterparty with whom the fund does business, or that underwrites, distributes or guarantees any investments or contracts that the fund owns or is otherwise exposed to, may decline in financial health and become unable to honor its commitments. This could cause losses for the fund or could delay the return or delivery of collateral or other assets to the fund.

Tax Risk. Any distributions to shareholders that represent income from taxable securities will generally be taxable as ordinary income at both the state and federal levels, while other distributions, such as capital gains, are taxable to the same extent they would be for any mutual fund. New federal or state governmental action could adversely affect the tax-exempt status of securities held by the fund, resulting in higher tax liability for shareholders and potentially hurting fund performance as well.

Liquidity Risk. In certain situations, it may be difficult or impossible to sell an investment in an orderly fashion at an acceptable price.

Prepayment and Extension Risk. When interest rates fall, issuers of high interest debt obligations may pay off the debts earlier than expected (prepayment risk), and the fund may have to reinvest the proceeds at lower yields. When interest rates rise, issuers of lower interest debt obligations may pay off the debts later than expected (extension risk), thus keeping the fund's assets tied up in lower interest debt obligations. Ultimately, any unexpected behavior in interest rates could increase the volatility of the fund's share price and yield and could hurt fund performance. Prepayments could also create capital gains tax liability in some instances.

Pricing Risk. If market conditions make it difficult to value some investments, the fund may value these investments using more subjective methods, such as fair value pricing. In such cases, the value determined for an investment could be different than the value realized upon such investment's sale. As a result, you could pay more than the market value when buying fund shares or receive less than the market value when selling fund shares.

Past Performance

How a fund's returns vary from year to year can give an idea of its risk; so can comparing fund performance to overall market performance (as measured by an appropriate market index). Past performance may not indicate future results. All performance figures below assume that dividends were reinvested. For more recent performance figures, go to www.dws-investments.com (the Web site does not form a part of this prospectus) or call the phone number for your share class included in this prospectus.

Prior to December 31, 2011, the returns in the bar chart and the after-tax returns in the performance table below were shown for Class S shares. The bar chart and the after-tax returns below are shown for Class A shares because the shares now have 10 or more years of annual returns and are available to most investors.

CALENDAR YEAR TOTAL RETURNS (%) (Class A)

These year-by-year returns do not include sales charges, if any, and would be lower if they did. Returns for other classes were different and are not shown here.

Best Quarter: 5.69%, Q3 2009       Worst Quarter: -4.02%, Q4 2010
Year-to-Date as of 6/30/2012: 3.05%

Average Annual Total Returns
(For periods ended 12/31/2011 expressed as a %)

After-tax returns (which are shown only for Class A and would be different for other classes) reflect the historical highest individual federal income tax rates, but do not reflect any state or local taxes. Your actual after-tax returns may be different. After-tax returns are not relevant to shares held in an IRA, 401(k) or other tax-advantaged investment plan. Index comparison for Institutional Class shares began on 12/31/2004.

Average Annual Total Returns DWS Intermediate Tax/AMT Free Fund	Class Inception	1 Year	5 Years	10 Years
Class A before tax	Jun. 11, 2001	6.47%	4.35%	4.16%
Class A After tax on distributions		6.47%	4.34%	4.14%
Class A After tax on distributions, with sale		5.06%	4.17%	4.06%
Class B before tax	Jun. 11, 2001	5.63%	3.94%	3.63%
Class C before tax	Jun. 11, 2001	8.64%	4.15%	3.65%
Class S before tax	Apr. 12, 1983	9.68%	5.12%	4.67%
Class S Barclays Seven Year Municipal Bond Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)		10.15%	6.38%	5.63%

Average Annual Total Returns DWS Intermediate Tax/AMT Free Fund	Class Inception	1 Year	5 Years	Since Inception
INST Class	Dec. 17, 2004	9.89%	5.25%	4.56%
INST Class Barclays Seven Year Municipal Bond Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)		10.15%	6.38%	5.36%

XML

Document and Entity Information	12 Months Ended
	Oct. 01, 2012
Risk/Return:
Document Type	485BPOS
Document Period End Date	May 31, 2012
Registrant Name	DWS TAX FREE TRUST
Central Index Key	0000711600
Amendment Flag	false
Document Creation Date	Sep. 26, 2012
Document Effective Date	Oct. 01, 2012
Prospectus Date	Oct. 01, 2012

XML

Label	Element	Value
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Registrant Name	dei_EntityRegistrantName	DWS TAX FREE TRUST
Prospectus Date	rr_ProspectusDate	Oct. 01, 2012
Document Creation Date	dei_DocumentCreationDate	Sep. 26, 2012

XML

Label	Element	Value
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Registrant Name	dei_EntityRegistrantName	DWS TAX FREE TRUST
Prospectus Date	rr_ProspectusDate	Oct. 01, 2012
DWS Intermediate Tax/AMT Free Fund
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Risk/Return [Heading]	rr_RiskReturnHeading	DWS Intermediate Tax/AMT Free Fund
Objective [Heading]	rr_ObjectiveHeading	Investment Objective
Objective, Primary [Text Block]	rr_ObjectivePrimaryTextBlock	The fund seeks to provide a high level of income exempt from regular federal income taxes and seeks to limit principal fluctuation.
Expense [Heading]	rr_ExpenseHeading	Fees and Expenses of the Fund
Expense Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock	These are the fees and expenses you may pay when you buy and hold shares. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your immediate family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $100,000 in DWS funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional and in Choosing a Share Class (p. 21) and Purchase and Redemption of Shares in the fund's Statement of Additional Information (SAI) (p. II-15).
Shareholder Fees Caption [Text]	rr_ShareholderFeesCaption	SHAREHOLDER FEES (paid directly from your investment)
Operating Expenses Caption [Text]	rr_OperatingExpensesCaption	ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a % of the value of your investment)
Portfolio Turnover [Heading]	rr_PortfolioTurnoverHeading	PORTFOLIO TURNOVER
Portfolio Turnover [Text Block]	rr_PortfolioTurnoverTextBlock	The fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may mean higher taxes if you are investing in a taxable account. These costs are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the expense example, and can affect the fund's performance. Portfolio turnover rate for fiscal year 2012: 48%.
Portfolio Turnover, Rate	rr_PortfolioTurnoverRate	48.00%
Expense Breakpoint Discounts [Text]	rr_ExpenseBreakpointDiscounts	You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your immediate family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $100,000 in DWS funds.
Expense Breakpoint, Minimum Investment Required [Amount]	rr_ExpenseBreakpointMinimumInvestmentRequiredAmount	100,000
Expense Example [Heading]	rr_ExpenseExampleHeading	EXAMPLE
Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock	This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Expense Example, No Redemption Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionNarrativeTextBlock	You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your shares:
Expense Example Closing [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseExampleClosingTextBlock	Class B converts to Class A after six years; the Example for Class B reflects Class A fees after the conversion.
Strategy [Heading]	rr_StrategyHeading	Principal Investment Strategy
Strategy Narrative [Text Block]	rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock	Main Investments. Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in securities issued by municipalities across the United States and in other securities whose income is free from regular federal income tax and alternative minimum tax (AMT). The fund does not intend to invest in securities whose income is subject to AMT. The fund can buy many types of municipal securities of all maturities. These may include revenue bonds (which are backed by revenues from a particular source) and general obligation bonds (which are typically backed by the issuer's ability to levy taxes). They may also include municipal lease obligations and investments representing an interest therein. Credit Quality Policies. This fund normally invests at least 65% of total assets in municipal securities of the top three grades of credit quality. The fund could invest up to 35% of net assets in debt securities rated in the fourth credit grade, which is still considered investment-grade. Management Process. Portfolio management looks for securities that appear to offer the best opportunity to meet the fund's objective. In making its buy and sell decisions, portfolio management typically weighs a number of factors against each other, from economic outlooks and possible interest rate movements to characteristics of specific securities, such as coupon, maturity date and call date, and changes in supply and demand within the municipal bond market. Although portfolio management may adjust the dollar-weighted average effective maturity of the fund's portfolio between three and ten years, it generally intends to keep it between five and ten years. In determining the dollar-weighted average effective maturity, portfolio management uses the security's stated maturity or, if appropriate, an earlier date, reflecting a maturity-shortening device (such as a call, a put, prerefunding, prepayment or redemption provision, or a demand feature) which will likely cause the instrument to be repaid earlier than the stated maturity date. Derivatives. Portfolio management generally may use interest rate swaps, which are a type of derivative (a contract whose value is based on, for example, indices, currencies or securities), to manage the duration of the investment portfolio (i.e., reducing or increasing the sensitivity of the fund's portfolio to interest rate changes). Portfolio management may also use inverse floating rate securities to seek to enhance potential gains. The fund may also use various types of derivatives (i) for hedging; (ii) for risk management; (iii) for non-hedging purposes to seek to enhance potential gains; or (iv) as a substitute for direct investment in a particular asset class or to keep cash on hand to meet shareholder redemptions.
Risk [Heading]	rr_RiskHeading	Main Risks
Risk Narrative [Text Block]	rr_RiskNarrativeTextBlock	There are several risk factors that could hurt the fund's performance, cause you to lose money or cause the fund's performance to trail that of other investments. The fund may not achieve its investment objective, and is not intended to be a complete investment program. An investment in the fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. Interest Rate Risk. When interest rates rise, prices of debt securities generally decline. The longer the duration of the fund's debt securities, the more sensitive it will be to interest rate changes. (As a general rule, a 1% rise in interest rates means a 1% fall in value for every year of duration.) Credit Risk. The fund's performance could be hurt if an issuer of a debt security suffers an adverse change in financial condition that results in a payment default, security downgrade or inability to meet a financial obligation. Focus Risk. To the extent that the fund focuses on investments from a single state, region or sector of the municipal securities market, its performance can be more volatile than that of a fund that invests more broadly. As an example, factors affecting a state, region or sector such as severe fiscal difficulties, an economic downturn, court rulings, increased expenditures on domestic security or reduced monetary support from the federal government could over time impair a states, region or sector's ability to repay its obligations. Municipal Securities Risk. The fund will be impacted by events in the municipal securities market. Negative events, such as severe fiscal difficulties, an economic downturn, unfavorable legislation, court rulings or political developments, or reduced monetary support from the federal government could hurt fund performance. Market Risk. Deteriorating market conditions might cause a general weakness in the market that reduces the prices of securities in that market. Developments in a particular class of debt securities or the stock market could also adversely affect the fund by reducing the relative attractiveness of debt securities as an investment. Also, to the extent that the fund emphasizes debt securities from any given state or region, it could be hurt if that state or region does not do well. Inverse Floating Rate Securities Risk. The interest payment received on inverse floating rate securities ("inverse floaters") generally will decrease when short-term interest rates increase. Inverse floaters are derivatives that involve leverage and could magnify the fund's gains or losses. Derivatives Risk. Risks associated with derivatives include the risk that the derivative is not well correlated with the security, index or currency to which it relates; the risk that derivatives may result in losses or missed opportunities; the risk that the fund will be unable to sell the derivative because of an illiquid secondary market; the risk that a counterparty is unwilling or unable to meet its obligation; and the risk that the derivative transaction could expose the fund to the effects of leverage, which could increase the fund's exposure to the market and magnify potential losses. Security Selection Risk. The securities in the fund's portfolio may decline in value. Portfolio management could be wrong in its analysis of municipalities, industries, companies, economic trends, the relative attractiveness of different securities or other matters. Counterparty Risk. A financial institution or other counterparty with whom the fund does business, or that underwrites, distributes or guarantees any investments or contracts that the fund owns or is otherwise exposed to, may decline in financial health and become unable to honor its commitments. This could cause losses for the fund or could delay the return or delivery of collateral or other assets to the fund. Tax Risk. Any distributions to shareholders that represent income from taxable securities will generally be taxable as ordinary income at both the state and federal levels, while other distributions, such as capital gains, are taxable to the same extent they would be for any mutual fund. New federal or state governmental action could adversely affect the tax-exempt status of securities held by the fund, resulting in higher tax liability for shareholders and potentially hurting fund performance as well. Liquidity Risk. In certain situations, it may be difficult or impossible to sell an investment in an orderly fashion at an acceptable price. Prepayment and Extension Risk. When interest rates fall, issuers of high interest debt obligations may pay off the debts earlier than expected (prepayment risk), and the fund may have to reinvest the proceeds at lower yields. When interest rates rise, issuers of lower interest debt obligations may pay off the debts later than expected (extension risk), thus keeping the fund's assets tied up in lower interest debt obligations. Ultimately, any unexpected behavior in interest rates could increase the volatility of the fund's share price and yield and could hurt fund performance. Prepayments could also create capital gains tax liability in some instances. Pricing Risk. If market conditions make it difficult to value some investments, the fund may value these investments using more subjective methods, such as fair value pricing. In such cases, the value determined for an investment could be different than the value realized upon such investment's sale. As a result, you could pay more than the market value when buying fund shares or receive less than the market value when selling fund shares.
Risk Lose Money [Text]	rr_RiskLoseMoney	There are several risk factors that could hurt the fund's performance, cause you to lose money or cause the fund's performance to trail that of other investments.
Risk Not Insured Depository Institution [Text]	rr_RiskNotInsuredDepositoryInstitution	An investment in the fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency.
Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading]	rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeading	Past Performance
Performance Narrative [Text Block]	rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock	How a fund's returns vary from year to year can give an idea of its risk; so can comparing fund performance to overall market performance (as measured by an appropriate market index). Past performance may not indicate future results. All performance figures below assume that dividends were reinvested. For more recent performance figures, go to www.dws-investments.com (the Web site does not form a part of this prospectus) or call the phone number for your share class included in this prospectus. Prior to December 31, 2011, the returns in the bar chart and the after-tax returns in the performance table below were shown for Class S shares. The bar chart and the after-tax returns below are shown for Class A shares because the shares now have 10 or more years of annual returns and are available to most investors.
Performance Information Illustrates Variability of Returns [Text]	rr_PerformanceInformationIllustratesVariabilityOfReturns	How a fund's returns vary from year to year can give an idea of its risk; so can comparing fund performance to overall market performance (as measured by an appropriate market index).
Performance Availability Website Address [Text]	rr_PerformanceAvailabilityWebSiteAddress	www.dws-investments.com
Performance Past Does Not Indicate Future [Text]	rr_PerformancePastDoesNotIndicateFuture	Past performance may not indicate future results.
Bar Chart [Heading]	rr_BarChartHeading	CALENDAR YEAR TOTAL RETURNS (%) (Class A)
Bar Chart Narrative [Text Block]	rr_BarChartNarrativeTextBlock	These year-by-year returns do not include sales charges, if any, and would be lower if they did. Returns for other classes were different and are not shown here.
Bar Chart Does Not Reflect Sales Loads [Text]	rr_BarChartDoesNotReflectSalesLoads	These year-by-year returns do not include sales charges, if any, and would be lower if they did.
Bar Chart Closing [Text Block]	rr_BarChartClosingTextBlock	Best Quarter: 5.69%, Q3 2009       Worst Quarter: -4.02%, Q4 2010 Year-to-Date as of 6/30/2012: 3.05%
Bar Chart, Reason Selected Class Different from Immediately Preceding Period [Text]	rr_BarChartReasonSelectedClassDifferentFromImmediatelyPrecedingPeriod	Prior to December 31, 2011, the returns in the bar chart and the after-tax returns in the performance table below were shown for Class S shares. The bar chart and the after-tax returns below are shown for Class A shares because the shares now have 10 or more years of annual returns and are available to most investors.
Performance Table Heading	rr_PerformanceTableHeading	Average Annual Total Returns (For periods ended 12/31/2011 expressed as a %)
Performance Table Uses Highest Federal Rate	rr_PerformanceTableUsesHighestFederalRate	After-tax returns (which are shown only for Class A and would be different for other classes) reflect the historical highest individual federal income tax rates, but do not reflect any state or local taxes.
Performance Table Not Relevant to Tax Deferred	rr_PerformanceTableNotRelevantToTaxDeferred	After-tax returns are not relevant to shares held in an IRA, 401(k) or other tax-advantaged investment plan.
Performance Table One Class of after Tax Shown [Text]	rr_PerformanceTableOneClassOfAfterTaxShown	After-tax returns (which are shown only for Class A and would be different for other classes)
Performance Table Narrative	rr_PerformanceTableNarrativeTextBlock	After-tax returns (which are shown only for Class A and would be different for other classes) reflect the historical highest individual federal income tax rates, but do not reflect any state or local taxes. Your actual after-tax returns may be different. After-tax returns are not relevant to shares held in an IRA, 401(k) or other tax-advantaged investment plan. Index comparison for Institutional Class shares began on 12/31/2004.
DWS Intermediate Tax/AMT Free Fund | Class A
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	2.75%
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	none
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.32%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	0.24%
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.22%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	0.78%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	352
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	517
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	696
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	1,214
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	352
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	517
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	696
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	1,214
2002	rr_AnnualReturn2002	8.36%
2003	rr_AnnualReturn2003	3.55%
2004	rr_AnnualReturn2004	2.85%
2005	rr_AnnualReturn2005	1.78%
2006	rr_AnnualReturn2006	3.42%
2007	rr_AnnualReturn2007	3.64%
2008	rr_AnnualReturn2008	0.75%
2009	rr_AnnualReturn2009	9.58%
2010	rr_AnnualReturn2010	1.58%
2011	rr_AnnualReturn2011	9.48%
Year to Date Return, Label	rr_YearToDateReturnLabel	Year-to-Date
Bar Chart, Year to Date Return, Date	rr_BarChartYearToDateReturnDate	Jun. 30, 2012
Bar Chart, Year to Date Return	rr_BarChartYearToDateReturn	3.05%
Highest Quarterly Return, Label	rr_HighestQuarterlyReturnLabel	Best Quarter:
Highest Quarterly Return, Date	rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturnDate	Sep. 30, 2009
Highest Quarterly Return	rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturn	5.69%
Lowest Quarterly Return, Label	rr_LowestQuarterlyReturnLabel	Worst Quarter:
Lowest Quarterly Return, Date	rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturnDate	Dec. 31, 2010
Lowest Quarterly Return	rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturn	(4.02%)
DWS Intermediate Tax/AMT Free Fund | Class B
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	4.00%
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.32%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	1.00%
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.25%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	1.57%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	560
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	796
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	1,055
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	1,460
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	160
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	496
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	855
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	1,460
DWS Intermediate Tax/AMT Free Fund | Class C
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	1.00%
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.32%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	1.00%
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.21%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	1.53%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	256
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	483
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	834
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	1,824
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	156
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	483
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	834
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	1,824
DWS Intermediate Tax/AMT Free Fund | Class S
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	none
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.32%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	none
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.29%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	0.61%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	62
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	195
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	340
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	762
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	62
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	195
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	340
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	762
DWS Intermediate Tax/AMT Free Fund | INST Class
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	none
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.32%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	none
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.18%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	0.50%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	51
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	160
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	280
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	628
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	51
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	160
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	280
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	628
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	9.89%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	5.25%
Since Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnSinceInception	4.56%
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Dec. 17, 2004
DWS Intermediate Tax/AMT Free Fund | before tax | Class A
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	6.47%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	4.35%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	4.16%
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Jun. 11, 2001
DWS Intermediate Tax/AMT Free Fund | before tax | Class B
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	5.63%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	3.94%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	3.63%
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Jun. 11, 2001
DWS Intermediate Tax/AMT Free Fund | before tax | Class C
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	8.64%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	4.15%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	3.65%
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Jun. 11, 2001
DWS Intermediate Tax/AMT Free Fund | before tax | Class S
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	9.68%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	5.12%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	4.67%
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Apr. 12, 1983
DWS Intermediate Tax/AMT Free Fund | After tax on distributions | Class A
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	6.47%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	4.34%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	4.14%
DWS Intermediate Tax/AMT Free Fund | After tax on distributions, with sale | Class A
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	5.06%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	4.17%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	4.06%
DWS Intermediate Tax/AMT Free Fund | Barclays Seven Year Municipal Bond Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) | Class S
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	10.15%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	6.38%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	5.63%
DWS Intermediate Tax/AMT Free Fund | Barclays Seven Year Municipal Bond Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) | INST Class
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	10.15%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	6.38%
Since Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnSinceInception	5.36%