It is the desktop version.
I am not changing the filed copy. I am trying different options and I want to easily "rewind" to what I had before the change. The old way, changes weren't saved so I did not need to decide ahead of time before entering a value. Now, if I enter something and don't like the results, I am screwed.
It now seems that Turbotax requires me to:
- Before making any change, quit TT.
- Open the folder where the tax file is located.
- Copy that file to a a new name.
- Open the copy.
- Try my change.
- If I like the results:
- Save as the old name.
- Quit TT
- Go back to the folder and delete the copy I made before because it is redundant.
- Else, if I don't like it:
- Quit TT.
- Go back to the folder and delete the copy I made before because I don't want it.
- If I have any more to do, go to step 2.
The big problem will come after I file. In the past I would open the file months later just to look at it. TT would "update" the software and make some subtle change to my taxes and when I went to exit it would ask if I wanted to save it. Because I knew that I didn't changing anything, I would say "no". Now it will just blindly change my filed taxes. This is a very bad design. When one files taxes, it should somehow mark the file as "this has been filed, don't change ANYTHING without warning".
I will need to remember to make the file read-only to prevent updates. Or I hope it will prevent updates. I have used some MS software in the past that would replace read-only files with writable files by silently saving to a temp file, deleting the original file and renaming the temp file.
An example of why I would use "what if" before filing: I am doing my taxes and I realize I have medical bills I could itemize. I want to know if it would be worth itemizing them so I plug in an estimate. I see that it does not make a difference so I want to roll back to before I made that change. I am not going to spend the time adding up all the small amounts just to have TT tell me it was not worth doing. TT should have a summary page that pops up before itemizing that says something like "based upon your income, you will need to find $xx,xxx dollars before it it worth itemizing". Same before each category such as SALT and donations. I spend time uselessly itemizing.
