After you file

mesquitebean · ‎November 20, 2019

@jf0609 wrote:

We applied for an extention on our 2018 return but need access to our 2017 federal return as we are buying a house.

I'm not sure why you are mentioning a 2018 extension, unless it means that you had not yet finished and paid for a 2018 online product you were using.. Extended 2018 returns were due by October 15, 2019, unless you met an exception such as a disaster area. Online TurboTax closed on October 20 to prepare for the new 2019 online product, which comes out likely the first week of December. A 2018 return would now have to be prepared/finished in the 2018 desktop software (CD/download). In any case, you didn't say if you had paid for a 2018 TurboTax product or not. I presume you have not, or the 2017 return should not be locked.

If the 2017 return is locked and it asks you to pay, normally the way to pay is to upgrade a current year tax return to PLUS and pay the 19.99. Since 2018 online TurboTax shutdown in October, the current year's product is now TurboTax 2019, which normally start ups the first week of December (although I believe it was 2-3 days early last year.)

Therefore, November is typically a "limbo period" for access to prior returns, since it is not yet possible to use the usual online method of upgrading to 2019 PLUS (or higher product) yet. You will likely be able to do it the first week of December.

If you need a copy expeditiously, you can try contacting TurboTax Support by phone and ask them if they will unlock it for you. You may run into a roadblock reaching phone support, however, since you have not yet paid for 2018. It may ask you to pay.

Hours are 5AM-5PM Pacific (8AM-8PM Eastern) Monday-Friday.

FAQ: What is the TurboTax phone number?

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/using-turbotax/help/what-is-the-turbotax-phone-number/00/25632

If you can't reach them that way, then you can use messaging at Twitter or Facebook to reach a support agent directly. Same business hours.

https://twitter.com/TeamTurboTax
or
https://www.facebook.com/turbotax

Here's another option. Many mortgage loan companies will accept an IRS tax return transcript. You can ask yours if they will. If you qualify to open an IRS account, you can download a free tax return transcript from the IRS. If you can't download one, a transcript by mail takes 5-10 calendar days.
http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Get-Transcript