I’m trying to get a copy of my 2016 tax return

It might be gone.

 

 TurboTax and the IRS save returns for seven years.

  You have to access your own account and/or  print it for yourself using exactly the same account and user ID that you used when you prepared the return.

 

Start a 2023 return online and enter some personal information  so that the menu on the left opens up and lets you access your past year returns.

 

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/prior-year-return/help/how-do-i-access-my-prior-year-return/01/27010

 

Many people have multiple TT accounts and forget how to access them.  Log out of the account you are in now.

 

Account Recovery

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901535-forgot-your-turbotax-online-user-id-or-password

 

 

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901486-how-many-turbotax-accounts-do-i-have

 

Or did you use the desktop version of TurboTax?  If so, the files are on your own hard drive or any backup device you used like a flash drive.

 

 

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901659-find-your-tax-data-file-in-mac

 

 

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-return/find-last-year-tax-data-file-tax-file-computer/L0XJvPaJr_US_en_US?uid=lro5b507

 

 

You can get a free transcript from the IRS or for a fee of $43, an actual copy of your tax return.

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4506.pdf

 

If you prepared your prior-year return using TurboTax, see the TurboTax Help article How do I print a copy of my tax return in TurboTax?.  See the For prior-year returns dropdown for guidance.

If you didn't use TurboTax and can't find a copy, see the TurboTax Help article Can I get a copy of my tax return from the IRS? for guidance.