I want my g*&Damn return from 2018 for records purposes and it seems I'm required to pay for that.. even though I already paid a fee to file that year. WTF???????

[jwalkeruw]

Give me my return that I paid turbo tax money to file.

[DoninGA]

There is no charge to download the PDF of your 2018 tax return.

To access your current or prior year tax returns sign onto the TurboTax website with the User ID you used to create the account - https://myturbotax.intuit.com/

Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and on the section Your tax returns & documents click on Show.  Click on the Year and Click on Download/print return (PDF)

If you used the desktop CD/Download editions installed on your computer, the only copy of your tax data file and any PDF's will be on the computer where the return was created.  TurboTax does not store online any returns completed using the desktop editions.

[jwalkeruw]

Nope.  Incorrect.  On one page only, I was able to access "My documents."  Once there, I was able to select my 2018 tax return and when I clicked "download pdf" i was prompted to return to the page for filing and select a product and was further explained that to access those documents I'd have to upgrade to plus or premium or something.  

Furthermore.... SINCE then, I haven't been able to access my documents.  There is not a menu for my that says documents on the left hand side of the screen as the help articles indicate.  

[DoninGA]

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@jwalkeruw wrote:

Nope.  Incorrect.  On one page only, I was able to access "My documents."  Once there, I was able to select my 2018 tax return and when I clicked "download pdf" i was prompted to return to the page for filing and select a product and was further explained that to access those documents I'd have to upgrade to plus or premium or something.  

Furthermore.... SINCE then, I haven't been able to access my documents.  There is not a menu for my that says documents on the left hand side of the screen as the help articles indicate.  

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You may have more than one account, as there is no charge whatsoever to download a PDF of your prior year online tax return.

You have to sign onto your 2018 online account using the exact same user ID you used to create the online account.

Close all TurboTax windows on your web browser (including this one).  Copy and paste the account recovery website link onto a new web browser window and run the tool.

Use this TurboTax account recovery website to get a list of all the user ID's for an email address.  Run the tool against any email addresses you may have used - https://myturbotax.intuit.com/account-recovery

If none of the user ID's received will access your 2018 account, then use the option shown in blue on the account recovery website, "Try something else"

To access your current or prior year tax returns sign onto the TurboTax website with the User ID you used to create the account - https://myturbotax.intuit.com/

If you still cannot access your account or you are still getting a notice to pay for a 2019 account, you can contact TurboTax customer service/support through their contact website during business hours.

Use this website to contact TurboTax support during business hours - https://support.turbotax.intuit.com/contact/
Support can also be reached by messaging them on these pages https://www.facebook.com/turbotax/ and https://twitter.com/TeamTurboTax

[Critter-3 · Accepted solution]

Do NOT use the MY DOCS section ... that is only if you paid the extra fee to store uploaded forms like W-2s and 1099s ... follow the instructions above to get the PDF off the landing screen. 

[jwalkeruw]

Issue is resolved, although not from the user interface that you screenshot in this reply.  I never arrived at any interface that  looked like that. 

You're correct on the extra fee to store docs.  From a different page, I was able to get to my 2018 return, which turbotax only allowed me to download after I had proceeded through filing my current year's taxes in sufficient depth.  The notification said that I merely had to "select a product" from the filing page before being able to download my return from last year.  That in itself is BS enough, but even at that, I wasn't able to actually download until I had proceeded several steps further into filing for this year with TurboTax (which I am not doing, and thanks to this experience, never will again).  

[Critter-3]

Wish you would have said that you had not even started the 2019 return ... at this late date we assumed that you had so we gave you an answer 4 steps down the line instead of step 1.    Next time you post a question be more specific so you get a better answer. 

[jwalkeruw]

I had a combat-zone extension for my taxes, and I was out of country with no internet or ability to file until the middle of July.  I had no idea that I had to be in the process of filing my new return in order to access last year's return.  In no way is it intuitive that this would be a prerequisite for accessing a past return (considering that I did pay a fee in order to file last year's return).  Hardly salient.  

Doubtful there will be many more questions as I'm fairly certain that I'm done with TurboTax and Intuit.  

[Critter-3]

Actually ... starting this year you have no obligation to pay for the 2019 program to access any prior year return ... not sure why you were asked to pay ... make sure you are logging into the correct account.

Make sure that you are signing in to the same account you used to file your tax returns.  Some TurboTax users have multiple accounts.  How do I access a prior year return?

Here's how to find out which TurboTax accounts are linked to your email address:

1. First, sign out of your account (otherwise, you'll be thrown into a loop in step 2).
2. Go to our Get help signing in to your account page, enter your email address, then continue.
3. Check your inbox for a Your TurboTax Account email from do_not_reply @intuit. com, which will list all Intuit accounts tied to that email address.
4. Repeat these steps for any other email addresses you may have.

If you have multiple TurboTax accounts, pick one and stick with it when you do future tax returns. That way we can automatically transfer your tax info over year after year. It also makes accessing your prior-year returns much easier.