@adoolabi wrote:
I did my 2020 tax return and save it. there was a 1099 that I had to add and was waiting for my vendor to send me the EIN so I can key that in and get done with it.
Today after almost two weeks, I tried to open Turbo Tax 2020 to work on my return ...and was prompted to do an update...it took a long time to update. After it finished, I tried to open my return (which I had opened it couple of times after saving it two weeks ago), turbo tax looked different, it looked as if I have to start a new return and there was nothing to work on, and when I did file/open, could not find anything anywhere. The update deleted my return.
I assume you are using the desktop version (CD/download). Are you using the Windows version or the Mac version?
Was the *.tax2020 data file residing on your main system drive while you were working on it, or was it on an external drive or thumb drive? It's recommended to be on the main system drive and not any external device.
Be sure you check your entire system for any file ending in *.tax2020, and also check the Recycle Bin. I've seen a small number of users over the years report anecdotally that it moved it to the Recycle Bin after a TurboTax program update or a Windows update. If you have more than one Windows user account, log into each Windows user account and do the file search and Recycle Bin check from within each one. Also check any backup media that you might have used.
If your search happens to find a data file beginning with a tilde similar to this example: ~my2020return.tax2020, the tilde means it is a temporary backup file, but it can be opened like a regular tax data file. While it may or may not be the most up-to-date version of your data file, it might be used to reconstruct much of a return.
Because of stories I see occasionally in this user forum, I personally make a backup copy of the *.tax2020 data file after each work session onto a thumb drive or other external storage--just in case of such a scenario. Then I at least have 2 instances of the data file in case of a hard drive crash or whatever.
You may get other comments in this thread. Or here's how to speak to TurboTax Customer Support to see if they have any further advice:
Hours are 5AM-9PM Pacific (8AM-12 Midnight Eastern) 7 days/week.
You can use this contact form to get a phone number and incident number.
https://support.turbotax.intuit.com/contact
