topic I tried to upload last year's Turbotax Premier Desktop return to Turbotax Online, but receive this error message "The selected file is NOT a previous year tax file... in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

I tried to upload last year's Turbotax Premier Desktop return to Turbotax Online, but receive this error message "The selected file is NOT a previous year tax file...

willyeh — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 04:49:30 GMT

How do I resolve this issue? I can open up my return using Turbotax Desktop 24

Re: I tried to upload last year's Turbotax Premier Desktop return to Turbotax Online, but receive...

DawnC — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 04:55:47 GMT

Follow the instructions in the link below - make sure you are selecting a .tax2024 file. You have to start your online return over to transfer in the 2024 tax file to this years return.

How do I transfer last year's return into TurboTax Online?

From Tax Home, start a new return, or open or continue a section of a return you already started.
Select Tax Tools from the menu, and then Tools.
Select Transfer last year's TurboTax return from your computer.
If you don’t see this option, you may need to clear and start over.
Follow the instructions to finish transferring your file.

You won't be able to transfer a PDF, it must be a tax data file with a file name extension .tax2024. Remove any password protection from the data file before transferring.

If you already started your 2025 return in TurboTax Online, transferring will clear any info you have already entered.

Re: I tried to upload last year's Turbotax Premier Desktop return to Turbotax Online, but receive...

willyeh — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:38:58 GMT

Hi Dawn,

Thank you for your response.

Unfortunately, I still can not transfer my n2024 return to TurboTax Online.

I've tried restarting my computer a couple of times to no avail.

Since I can't attach a video, here are step by step photos showing what happens.

I want to switch to TurboTax Online so I need your help.

Thanks in advance!

Re: I tried to upload last year's Turbotax Premier Desktop return to Turbotax Online, but receive...

MarilynG1 — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 20:53:39 GMT

You could try dragging your tax file onto your desktop and 'transfer' it from there. Right-click on it to be sure it's a .tax2024 file. If you saved it to a cloud drive (or other removable drive) earlier, it may have become corrupted.

You could open your TurboTax Desktop program for 2024, let it update, and re-save your tax file again to your desktop and try transferring. Look in Documents > TurboTax for a backup copy, with a tilde sign in front of it that may transfer properly.

Here's more info on how to Transfer Desktop Return into TurboTax Online.

@willyeh