I have used turbo tax for years but this is the first year with the online service. How do I get it to see past filings?

[mesquitebean · Accepted solution]

If you prepared previous tax years on your computer in desktop software (CD/download), the returns will not be visible to your Online TurboTax account.   They are stored locally on your computer or any external storage media.

If you have the *.tax2017 data file from last year on your computer, we can tell you how to upload it to transfer the 2017 data into a 2018 online return. 

If you are used to using desktop software, you may or may not like the Online product.   Here are some differences:

In Online TurboTax you can only prepare 1 Federal return per account per year.  The desktop product can prepare multiple Federal returns with up to 5 Federal efiles.

In Online TurboTax a state return is an extra 44.99.   Several desktop products include a state program.    In the desktop product there is a 24.99 fee to efile a state return (no fee for New York), and no fee if you choose to print and mail the state returns.

The desktop product has the popular Forms Mode for viewing/printing/editing forms during preparation.  The Online products do not have that feature.