topic Attempting to import last year's return is endless loop. in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

Attempting to import last year's tax return but TurboTax will not do it. Found the correct file, selected it, but Continue doesn't work.

clcgardner — Sun, 28 Dec 2025 15:58:03 GMT

TurboTax does not recognize my last year's return file (which is in .tax2024 format) to import it.

Re: Attempting to import last year's tax return but TurboTax will not do it. Found the correct file, selected it, but Continue doesn't work.

frodo2 — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 02:09:25 GMT

Same problem here. Correct 2024 file found, but "Continue" button has no effect.

Tried starting a new, but same issue.

TurboTax - Used you for years, but this is absurd :(

Re: Attempting to import last year's tax return but TurboTax will not do it. Found the correct file, selected it, but Continue doesn't work.

frodo2 — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 02:57:01 GMT

CS101, maybe CS201 - test before ship.

Exactly why I don't trust 'online' filing offerings. If a software shop can't get even get the basics right, shiver me timbers what lurks lobbing ones tax filings on the cloud (retired network security engineer).

Re: Attempting to import last year's tax return but TurboTax will not do it. Found the correct file, selected it, but Continue doesn't work.

mesquitebean — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 03:08:10 GMT

@ clcgardner and @ frodo2

Did you use 2024 desktop software and are trying to transfer into Online TurboTax? Is your *.tax2024 data file password-protected (Windows) or encrypted (Mac)? If so, you have to use the 2024 software and remove password protection from the file and in Mac, remove encryption.

Re: Attempting to import last year's tax return but TurboTax will not do it. Found the correct file, selected it, but Continue doesn't work.

frodo2 — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 03:20:34 GMT

2024 desktop, and prior years. Mac (OS 15.7.1). *.tax2024 not encrypted.

Not trying import to/from online version, local disk only.

Re: Attempting to import last year's tax return but TurboTax will not do it. Found the correct file, selected it, but Continue doesn't work.

mesquitebean — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 03:21:29 GMT

@frodo2 wrote:
2024 desktop. Mac (OS 15.7.1). *.tax2024 not encrypted protected.

If it's not a password/encryption problem, then unless a Mac user sees this and responds with a suggestion, here's how you can phone TurboTax Support during business hours and ask for someone familiar with Mac computers:

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

Re: Attempting to import last year's tax return but TurboTax will not do it. Found the correct file, selected it, but Continue doesn't work.

frodo2 — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 03:27:44 GMT

Thanks mesquitebean. I love a down field punt of the problem 😉

Re: Attempting to import last year's tax return but TurboTax will not do it. Found the correct file, selected it, but Continue doesn't work.

mesquitebean — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 04:17:26 GMT

@frodo2 wrote:
Thanks mesquitebean. I love a down field punt of the problem 😉

You're welcome. Continuing the football analogy, there was a little yardage gained, but not enough for a first down and certainly not within distance of a field goal. So a punt was the most likely choice. 😉 At least it's now known you're using a Mac and that you say your *.tax2024 file is not password protected/encrypted. The OP didn't mention his platform either, but if I had to guess, it's probably Mac, too. Hopefully, someone familiar with the Mac platform may have a suggestion in the thread, but if not, the folks at TurboTax Support can converse with you in realtime in a logistically easier back-and-forth.

Re: Attempting to import last year's tax return but TurboTax will not do it. Found the correct file, selected it, but Continue doesn't work.

moms4pack44 — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 20:59:24 GMT

I have this problem too. Doing it right, going from desktop to desktop version, won't transfer information from my 2024.

Re: Attempting to import last year's tax return but TurboTax will not do it. Found the correct file, selected it, but Continue doesn't work.

frodo2 — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 21:13:06 GMT

I tried several times as well, including 'various tricks' (and numerous delete ttax file and completely start over). Could never get it to work, gave up, and manually re-entered the salient data. Shame to loose UI visibility for year-to-year comparison, but can always manually crawl last years returns if need be.

Re: Attempting to import last year's tax return but TurboTax will not do it. Found the correct file, selected it, but Continue doesn't work.

frodo2 — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 21:45:47 GMT

@moms4pack44- Mac user as well?

mesquitebean made the excellent suggestion of double checking if your 2024 file was encrypted. A related thread mentions the credentials used must be the same as was used for 2024 filings. While neither of these were applicable to me, may be worth a quick check yours end.

My only 'guess' is that my Mac was the last version to use Intel hardware, rather than newer awesome Apple M* chips. Perhaps that was the crack in the window operability/test wise...

Re: Attempting to import last year's tax return but TurboTax will not do it. Found the correct file, selected it, but Continue doesn't work.

moms4pack44 — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 21:40:14 GMT

Yes, Mac user. I just saw another post where someone said they kept "fiddling with it" so I exited out of 2025 TurboTax and back in again and then it worked....so I transferred it quick!

Re: Attempting to import last year's tax return but TurboTax will not do it. Found the correct file, selected it, but Continue doesn't work.

frodo2 — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 21:45:07 GMT

Cool, good to know for the rest of the community that may bump into this.

Cheers!

Re: Attempting to import last year's tax return but TurboTax will not do it. Found the correct file, selected it, but Continue doesn't work.

user17676585004 — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 00:21:01 GMT

Had the same problem on Mac OS 15.6.1 using Apple silicon. "Fiddling" caused the app to become unresponsive. On restart, I tried importing again and TurboTax found the file but complained about the password. (My file was not encrypted.) I answered a "forgot your password" question and the imported started and then completed without a hitch.

Re: Attempting to import last year's tax return but TurboTax will not do it. Found the correct file, selected it, but Continue doesn't work.

user17686640811 — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 15:41:02 GMT

Don't know if this will help others, but this is how I got it to work (on my Mac).

I opened my 2024 tax file using TurboTax 2024. It notified me that there were updates necessary to the software. I allowed it to update TurboTex 2024 and open my last-year's file. Then I re-saved the file. I then quit TT2024, re-opened TT2025, and was able to transfer the data.

Good luck.

Re: Attempting to import last year's tax return but TurboTax will not do it. Found the correct file, selected it, but Continue doesn't work.

AMC88 — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 20:34:24 GMT

I had the same problem and it was compounded by the fact that I upgraded from an old IMac to a new MacBook Air and was moving files from the old computer to the new computer. This worked for me -

Open TT2024 and do the software upgrade

Load the 2024 return in TT2024 and then resave it

Close and reopen TT2025

After doing the above steps TT2025 recognized the 2024 file.

Re: Attempting to import last year's tax return but TurboTax will not do it. Found the correct file, selected it, but Continue doesn't work.

rshrieve — Sun, 18 Jan 2026 17:24:11 GMT

Same problem.

Re: Attempting to import last year's tax return but TurboTax will not do it. Found the correct file, selected it, but Continue doesn't work.

mesquitebean — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 00:32:50 GMT

@rshrieve wrote:
Same problem.

First of all, be sure the file is not encrypted. If it is, you should remove the encryption.

Did you read the various suggestions in this thread? Several had resolved the issue in the following manner. I don't use a Mac, but this is what they reported above worked for them:

Launching 2024 TurboTax program and letting it update.
Then after updating 2024, open the 2024 return--don't change anything--just re-save it.
Then they closed 2024 and opened 2025 and performed the transfer.

A couple of other Mac users in other threads reported that simply restarting their computer had worked for them.

Re: Attempting to import last year's tax return but TurboTax will not do it. Found the correct file, selected it, but Continue doesn't work.

frodo2 — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 01:12:02 GMT

Thanks again mesquitebean! Good recap for other Mac users.

Maybe some of the other approaches would have worked for me, but moved on post import pains. No worries...

Re: Attempting to import last year's tax return but TurboTax will not do it. Found the correct file, selected it, but Continue doesn't work.

user17687975532 — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 05:00:42 GMT

I had this same issue. My returns were encrypted, but I don't think that matters.
Tried with 3 different returns. Same result, that is, "Continue" on transfer beeped and did nothing else.
I then opened "TurboTax 2024" app on same machine, and took recommended updates. I opened one of the returns and duplicated it. Quit TurboTax2024. Opened TurboTax2025, and attempted transfer again, and it worked. At first I thought it was the duplication, but now I think it was something else, because importing of other returns I hadn't touched now worked too.
I'm suspecting there were late changes in last years TurboTax, and that somehow changed how the old returns are imported in TurboTax 2025.

Don't know if this applies to unencrypted case or not. YMMV