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How to finish a prior year online return
You will first need to download the tax data file from Online. It will end in .tax2023, .tax2022, .tax2021. You can download the tax file for free. Then you need to install the Desktop program.
Were you able to install the 2023 Desktop program?
After you get the program installed the first thing to do before you open your tax return .tax file is to update the program and install any state programs you had. Then open your file. So you first might need to start a fake return to be able to download the state program (go to FILE - NEW).
You can't finish the 2023 return online. It has to be finished in the desktop software and cannot be efiled with TurboTax. If you paid for online TurboTax last year, TurboTax Support should furnish you the 2023 desktop software. As for finding your 2023 return, see the following:
The pathway to download the 2023 PDF or 2023 tax data file depends on whether or not you have started an online 2024 return. I provide both scenarios below, so choose which one is appropriate for your situation.
If you have not yet started a 2024 online return:
Sign in to your account. What you see next depends on whether or not you have already started a 2024 return in that account. If your left column menu is minimal, and does not have a Tax Home tab displayed, that would imply you have not started preparing a 2024 return in that account. If you haven't yet started a return, it will start asking you some questions. Answer those preliminary questions (you don't actually have to prepare a return), and then when you are far enough into the process the left menu column will change, and you'll then see a Tax Home option. Do not click the Documents tab. Instead, click on Tax Home. Then on the Tax Home screen, scroll way down to the bottom to "Your Tax Returns & Documents". Expand that section and choose the past year you want. If your past returns are not shown there, then you likely have multiple accounts and signed into the wrong one. I'll tell you below how to troubleshoot.
If you have already started a 2024 return:
Log in, and if you've already started a 2024 return in that account, then it may already open at the Tax Home. If not, click the Tax Home tab in the left column menu. Do not use the Documents tab. At the Tax Home scroll down and expand "Your Tax Returns & Documents." If the past returns are not there, see the steps below.
If you do all that and can't find the past return, here's how to look for multiple accounts:
You can have up to 5 accounts that use the same email address for notification purposes. A User ID may be an email address, but it doesn't have to be. It might be only part of an email address, or it can be anything at all.
To get a list of your User IDs, reset password, and recover account access, etc., you can use the tool at the link below. When using the Account Recovery tool, try using your phone number first if you can still access it. After that, if necessary, then run the tool on your email address(es) you can access.
NOTE: Before running the account recovery tool below, log out of all Intuit accounts including this user forum, or you might end up in a loop. Then clear your browser Internet cache, close your browser, then reopen it, and go to the link below. You may wish to copy this link so you can paste it into the new browser session.
https://myturbotax.intuit.com/account-recovery
If still no luck after running that on your phone number you can still access and email address(es) that you can access, here's another method:
Go back to the tool again, but this time leave the data field blank, scroll down a bit, then choose the small blue link that says "Try something else", and it will look you up by other parameters.
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