topic Problem transferring tax data from previous year when switching from online to download TurboTax in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

Problem transferring tax data from previous year when switching from online to download TurboTax

towle001 — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 06:24:22 GMT

For the past several years, I have used TurboTax premier online to prepare by taxes. This year I purchased the download version of Premier from Amazon. When I open the downloaded application to start 2021 taxes, I am asked if I want to transfer 2020 tax information into this year's return. This is the main reason I continue to use TurboTax, so naturally the answer is yes. I have last year's return stored on my computer as a pdf file. When I try to upload this file to the 2021 downloaded application, I get an error message "This import was unsuccessful". I tried downloading a fresh pdf copy of my 2020 return and still got the error message. As I read more about this, I suspect I need to transfer a ".tax2020" version of last year's return rather than a pdf version. However, I cannot find such a version in the documents on my Intuit account or on my computer hard drive. Is there any way I can use a TurboTax-generated pdf file to make this transfer?

Re: Problem transferring tax data from previous year when switching from online to download TurboTax

DoninGA — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 22:24:06 GMT

To access your prior year online tax returns sign onto the TurboTax website with the User ID you used to create the account - https://myturbotax.intuit.com/

Scroll down to the section Your tax returns & documents. Click on the Year and Click on Download .tax file

Re: Problem transferring tax data from previous year when switching from online to download TurboTax

towle001 — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 22:51:52 GMT

Thank you so much - I've been search TurboTax help documents all afternoon and couldn't find this information.

Re: Problem transferring tax data from previous year when switching from online to download TurboTax

VolvoGirl — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 22:56:28 GMT

If you used the online version last year and need to transfer your info to this year's Desktop version there are 2 ways depending on what you have.

1. If you saved the actual .tax2020 file (not just the pdf file) to your computer before online was shut down in Oct. then start a new return and the very first thing you do is Transfer from .tax file. You can only transfer at the very beginning. You should be able to download the .tax2020 file from Online. See this to download the .tax data file, the second section on how to get the data file from the prior year.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/saving/help/how-do-i-save-my-turbotax-online-return-as-a-tax-data-file/00/25740

2. If you didn't save the .tax file to your computer or lost it, there is a way to do it by starting a 2021 return in the Online version, transfer to that and then continue in the desktop version. You won't have to pay for Online.

First transfer into the Online version

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/entering-importing/help/how-do-i-transfer-last-year-s-return-into-turbotax-online/00/25953

Then to switch to the Desktop program

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/choosing-a-product/help/how-do-i-switch-from-turbotax-online-to-the-turbotax-software/00/26129

Re: Problem transferring tax data from previous year when switching from online to download TurboTax

jbrushaber — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 15:02:44 GMT

When I try to download my brokerage 1099 for 2021 return Turbotax gives 2020 as the download. How do I download my 2021 tax data?

Re: Problem transferring tax data from previous year when switching from online to download TurboTax

AkinaLO — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 16:38:27 GMT

This article will help you find your tax data file in Windows. Please reach out if you still need more information.

Find your tax data file (.tax file) in Windows

@jbrushaber

Re: Problem transferring tax data from previous year when switching from online to download TurboTax

VolvoGirl — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 16:41:02 GMT

Did you ask the broker? Most of them only have 2021 available now. They should have taken down 2020 by now.