Finally figured it out. The Amend Return FAQ instructions are incorrect depending on how you last viewed the return.
If you open the file you want to amend, go to search topics and search for Amend return OR go through the return until the very end so that the next time you open the file it restarts at the beginning. That will start the amend process with all the data pre-populated.
Also the FAQ poorly states how to retain your old return. When you amend the file, you need to duplicate it first before starting the amendment process. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE END, as the FAQ instructs you to do. I saw someone else mention they can't undo the amendment to get their original return back and it is true, once you click on amend it immediately saves the change to your file and there is no way to get back to the original tax return (at least on Mac version).
The reason that the FAQ is wrong about how to amend is because it assumes you completed your return until the very last point. The FAQ assumes when you re-open the return, it starts at the front page (as the first image above shows), but if you went back into your return to look at the data, the program restarts on the last place you stopped looking. So you don't see an option to Amend Return. You either have to go to the very end of the filing process so TT reopens the file on the first page with BEGIN or you need to go to Search Topic and enter amend return. Nowhere in the FAQ does it state how or when to open the file.
I was spinning my wheels talking with a rep, while he was watching me do it remotely. We went from the BEGIN screen and until I needed to start modifying the forms, but since he didn't understand me telling him all the data was blank. Unfortunately he could not see the form data due to privacy restrictions, so I don't think he understood what had happened. The rep just said I had to recreate the return from scratch from the blank template, and then somehow recreate all the data to get to the point I needed to make changes,. This would have ultimately made the amendment appear as though every file had been changed and it would have been incorrect and incomplete.
TT needs to fix the FAQ. I know it kind of is a dumb user error, but they never stated in the FAQ how or when to open the return needing to be Amended.
