topic all tax files are gone from pc in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

all tax files are gone from pc

steverotx — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 07:29:36 GMT

i just purchased the 2022 business and home&business products. after installing, i tried to import prior year tax files - THEY ARE GONE!!! I mean GONE. I have searched my entire PC (windows 10) for .tax files etc. Even when I open prior year turbotax program NO FILES are showing there. This is CRAZY! Any suggestions?

Re: all tax files are gone from pc

DoninGA — Sat, 02 Sep 2023 00:07:57 GMT

Did you update your Windows OS from Windows 10 to Windows 11? Did you store the files in another directory or in the cloud or on a USB drive or a Network drive?

The TurboTax tax data files and any PDF"s of the tax returns you saved are stored, by Default, on the C:\ drive Documents directory and in the TurboTax folder within the directory.

Check the Recycle Bin for any files if they are not in the TurboTax folder.

Re: all tax files are gone from pc

steverotx — Sat, 02 Sep 2023 00:16:05 GMT

Thanks for the quick reply. I will answer in line below:

Did you update your Windows OS from Windows 10 to Windows 11? WINDOWS 10 (no update)

Did you store the files in another directory or in the cloud or on a USB drive or a Network drive? NO

The TurboTax tax data files and any PDF"s of the tax returns you saved are stored, by Default, on the C:\ drive Documents directory and in the TurboTax folder within the directory. I HAVE LOOKED EVERYWHERE - the pdfs are gone and the .tax files are gone as well. When I open prior year turbotax there are no files there either.

Check the Recycle Bin for any files if they are not in the TurboTax folder. - DID THAT WITHOUT SUCCESS

Re: all tax files are gone from pc

DoninGA — Sat, 02 Sep 2023 00:30:44 GMT

Ok...You said you installed both the TurboTax Business Edition and the TurboTax Home & Business edition for Windows. Assume they are both for the same tax year.

Try restarting your computer and after restart see if the tax data files are available. If not, then you need to contact TurboTax support on Tuesday for assistance with this problem.

Support is open from 5am to 5pm Pacific time, Monday thru Friday. They are closed on the Labor Day holiday.

See this TurboTax support FAQ for contacting support - https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/account-management/turbotax-phone-number/L0Od33nMQ_US_en_US?uid=lfgviwbm

Support can also be reached by messaging them on these pages https://www.facebook.com/turbotax/ and https://twitter.com/TeamTurboTax

Re: all tax files are gone from pc

VolvoGirl — Sat, 02 Sep 2023 01:29:55 GMT

Don't know if this will help any Turbo Tax users but one Quicken user found them......

What I found was that my Quicken Data files ended up in the One-drive Recycle bin. Not sure how, but I found them there. I placed the files back onto the laptop and brought the files into Quicken and now have all my data back.

Did you search your whole computer for all files ending in .tax2021? And check the recycle bin and your backups. Check in One Drive, Drop Box, etc. It should be in your Documents then in the Turbo Tax folder. Also if you have multiple Windows user accounts, log into each one and do the search for the *.tax2021 data file from within each one and checking the Recycle Bin in each one.

If you don't have the main .tax file you might have one that starts with a Tilde sign ~ like "~your name.tax2021". That file is if your computer crashes or your real file gets lost or deleted or corrupt so you can restore it.