topic HOW TO DO "WHAT IF" RETURNS in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

HOW TO DO "WHAT IF" RETURNS

DOUDOUDOU — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 05:28:24 GMT

I WOULD LIKE TO RUN SEVERAL VARIATIONS ON A RETURN. CAN I DO THAT WI THOUT CORRUPTING MY INTENDED FINAL RETURN?

Re: HOW TO DO "WHAT IF" RETURNS

Steve300 — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 00:32:27 GMT

Yes, its not difficult. Find the file Turbotax created, then copy and rename it. The next time you open Turbotax you will see another file name on you list and it will ask you which one to open. I do this to estimate my taxes for the subsequent year. I also suggest making backups of the various turbotax files as you make major changes.

Re: HOW TO DO "WHAT IF" RETURNS

LeeMan1 — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 00:42:03 GMT

Simply save your what if returns as a different file name.

Re: HOW TO DO "WHAT IF" RETURNS

LindaS5247 — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 00:46:25 GMT

In TurboTax Online:

Click on “My Account & Returns” at the top of the left side menu, then click the small Trash Can next to the unwanted return to delete it.

If you only have one return, it won’t show the trash can. Click on “My Account & Returns” at the top of the left side menu, then select “Start A New Return” and create a dummy return. Now you should be able to go back to “My Account & Returns” and delete your return, leaving only the dummy return in the account.

In TurboTax Online CD/Download:

You need to locate your files on your computer’s hard drive. By default, TurboTax will put returns in your documents folder. Ex: C:\Users\you_name\Documents\TurboTax\2017 If you’ve saved to a different place, you can find your return by using Windows Search to look for .tt22 (2022) .

Once you’ve found the return that you want to delete, right click on it and select Delete.

Re: HOW TO DO "WHAT IF" RETURNS

Mike9241 — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 07:12:33 GMT

as i understand it with online 1 return per year per account. so you could do what-ifs and then delete them before doing the final. the other way around is not possible because you'll overwrite the previous version. this is what happens to users who attempt to do a second return for say a friend or relative using their account after they have done theirs. with desktop you can do as many what-ifs as you want just save them with different names. the other thing with online is you have to pay any fees before you could review the returns