topic How do I remove other installed states from the desktop version of TurboTax? in State tax filing

How do I remove other installed states from the desktop version of TurboTax?

gholman — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 14:40:55 GMT

SO far....you can't. But you are not charged for them un...

SteamTrain — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 14:40:56 GMT

SO far....you can't.

But you are not charged for them unless you use them (after you use the one free one).

Yes...we've complained to about downloads of states the software thinks you might use ...maybe...
"Supposedly" it makes prepping taxes faster for the 0.37% of people still using a phone modem to download software

As far as I am concerned, I should be able to optionally...

gbodle1 — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 14:40:58 GMT

As far as I am concerned, I should be able to optionally remove unused states. No reason I can think of that it can't be optional. People who want it can keep them and those who don't can get rid of them. Waste of my Computer space among other things. As a former Computer specialist I find this inexcusable.

Yes, I've been frustrated by this for several years now....

Stumped-in-WI — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 14:41:00 GMT

Yes, I've been frustrated by this for several years now. The extra unwanted state files appear to be in the Windows folder C:\Program Files (x86)\TurboTax\Deluxe 201x\Forms but deleting them doesn't kill the download/updater process. Eventually they turn up again when the updater re-downloads them. Must be a hidden switch somewhere or hard coded in the software. Annoying!

Has this ever been resolved? It is very irritating to wa...

gwn-lrn — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 14:41:01 GMT

Has this ever been resolved? It is very irritating to wait for a update/download for a State program I no longer use.

Nope...don't know that anyone is even attempting to deal...

SteamTrain — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 14:41:03 GMT

Nope...don't know that anyone is even attempting to deal with it, Especially this week. Maybe something will be done by next year. I'd only give it a 50-50

Re: SO far....you can't. But you are not charged for them un...

Capharpo — Mon, 09 Sep 2019 19:53:49 GMT

Intuit this is ridiculus. You should be able to delete unwanted states and their useless updates

Re: SO far....you can't. But you are not charged for them un...

cparke3 — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 05:28:51 GMT

Actually, I think this more of an oversight on Intuit's part than their intentions...

The state modules are registered as components of the TurboTax desktop application in the Windows Registry. Uninstalling the application does not clean up these registry entries, and as long as a reference to a state's module component remains there, the common Intuit installer is going to download and re-install it. You may be able to control that a little by disabling the automatic updates in the menu bar.

To actually get rid of the references to the unwanted state installation (WARNING: I do not have any other Intuit products installed), what I did is uninstall TurboTax, delete the files in the C:\Program Files (x86)\TurboTax and C:\Program Files (x86)\Common\Intuit directories, and then run REGEDIT.EXE and search for "TurboTax" and "Intuit" and delete as many entries as I could, especially the state module registrations. Then when I re-installed, only the state modules actually applicable to my return got installed. Maybe a Registry Cleaner utility could do this too.

So it can be done... just clean up your registry after uninstalling.

Re: SO far....you can't. But you are not charged for them un...

cparke3 — Sun, 19 Apr 2020 05:09:27 GMT

I looked into this a little bit further, and actually you don't have to do so much just to uninstall the unneeded states; the state modules have their own standalone Windows installers! (which includes built-in support for the uninstall operation)

What happened to me is that I had briefly selected NM instead of NY somewhere on the return by accident. Once TurboTax saw that, it flagged the NM state module in the Windows registry to be later downloaded and installed. The flag apparently doesn't get cleared even if you later remove the reference to the state before the install actually happens. So I never had any need for NM and really didn't want to see it hanging around on my computer forever ...

It turns out, at least as of TurboTax 2019 desktop, that the installers for the state modules are downloaded and stored under the hidden directory tree at C:\ProgramData\Intuit\Common\Update Service\v4\Data . They have names like, for example, wctiper.msi for CT Personal Income tax or wnmiper.msi for NM Personal Income Tax. Once you find the installer for the state module that you want to delete, you can easily invoke the uninstall operation using "Run Command" or in "Command Prompt" like this:

MsiExec /x "\path\to\w??iper.msi" .

That will prompt you to confirm that you want to uninstall the state module, then in a second it'll be gone. You can also then delete the installer itself and the subdirectory it's in if you want as well (may not be necessary though).

Now, there also is the issue that TurboTax will re-download and re-install the removed state if it remains flagged by TurboTax in the Windows registry. TurboTax seems to maintain a separate set of these flag on a per tax year basis, which means that the flagging shouldn't be carrying over to subsequent years if you no longer needed them on the new return. However, you can check and delete them if necessary out of the registry with REGEDIT.EXE.

For TurboTax 2019, here:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Intuit\TY19\PREFILLPERSTATES

I assume that for TurboTax 2020 those state flags will be in TY20 directory path instead.

Under each key you'll find a separate name-value pair for each state, just delete the one relating to the state that you don't want re-installed. As long as there is no reference to that state in your return, the flag won't be re-written into the registry and the state module will stay uninstalled!

Re: SO far....you can't. But you are not charged for them un...

gn19 — Tue, 26 Jan 2021 22:36:17 GMT

Thank you cparke3. I did the steps you outlined and it appears to have cleared out the old states I used one time and no longer use. Took a little work, but your message was very detailed and I had no trouble following it. Thanks!

Re: SO far....you can't. But you are not charged for them un...

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 18:21:20 GMT

wow this is annoying!!!!!

Re: SO far....you can't. But you are not charged for them un...

jqjyjohnma — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 17:55:15 GMT

New York State was installed but I am not using it this year . I download California for my current status and it will charge me $25 for efiling to Californria. Is there a way to delete New York State.

Re: SO far....you can't. But you are not charged for them un...

PattiF — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 18:15:09 GMT

Here is a link with information that will let you know how to delete New York from your return.

Re: SO far....you can't. But you are not charged for them un...

aca1dae — Sat, 03 Apr 2021 22:05:32 GMT

Thank you cparke3!! Your solution to uninstall the unneeded state and edit the registry worked perfectly! I was so tired of waiting through a lengthy product update for OH every time I opened TurboTax 2020, when I really needed OK instead.

Re: SO far....you can't. But you are not charged for them un...

VolvoGirl — Sat, 03 Apr 2021 22:12:25 GMT

@jqjyjohnma Are you asking about the CA state efile fee? Only New York is free to efile. All other state returns including the first one are each $20 early/$25 (after March 1st) to efile.

As long as you don't download and install the New York program it won't charge you for another state PROGRAM. You get 1 free State PROGRAM download but not a free state efile (except NY is free to efile).

Re: SO far....you can't. But you are not charged for them un...

DRWurtz — Sun, 11 Apr 2021 19:27:28 GMT

Thanks for this cparke3, however when I tried as you advised to run the uninstaller for the 2 states I wanted to remove, the uninstaller indicated that it couldn't install them. I tried both, and maybe it was a syntax error or something, but I found another way. I simply navigated to the location in the folder you had advised (C:\ProgramData\Intuit\Common\Update Service\v4\Data), found the msi file ("wnhiper.msi" & "wcoiper.msi", in my case for New Hampshire & Colorado - I had to dig down into the tree) and right clicked on each of them. There, the uninstall option appears, and I clicked it - even easier! After a moment, I got the "preparing to remove", then the warning screen "Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device", to which I clicked "yes". The uninstall script must have run, because I got no errors. Then I went to edit the registry as you advised, into the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Intuit\TY20\PREFILLPERSTATES and deleted the wnhiper & wcoiper registry keys. When I restarted Turbotax 2020, NH & CO were gone! So thanks for the housekeeping solution!

Unwanted states

WTigner — Sat, 10 Jul 2021 02:07:44 GMT

Folks,

Actually, there is a way to accomplish what TurboTax tries to make so difficult. The problem is that each new installation of TTax reads all of the old tax files from prior returns. It assumes that the user still needs every state mentioned in any of them. (Stupid programming, but that's how it works.)

The solution is to make every year's TurboTax think you are a brand new user. Before installing the new version, move (don't simply copy) all of the old ttax files (the ones with your returns) to an external drive and then disconnect the external drive before beginning installation of the new year version. To TurboTax, you then look like a first-timer, and it appears to download only the state program for the state from which you purchased the program.

I tried this with the 2020 version. I moved all the ttax files, then uninstalled TTax2020, and then reinstalled it. The states I did not want were gone; it downloaded only the state in which I currently live.

I get no credit for this solution; I got it from a TTax support person who actually understood the problem and how to get rid of it. (Perhaps I should get a Congeniality award for having tested the solution.)

Uninstall a second state return on desktop PC version

BJDCPA — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 16:19:49 GMT

I live in MI and years ago filed a NY return. On my desktop version the NY state version shows up as being installed on my PC version. How can I uninstall the NY version? This is different than a delete return in the forms section.

Thanks.

BJDCPA

Re: SO far....you can't. But you are not charged for them un...

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 18:09:56 GMT

i don't have the following file/path on my computer! C:\ProgramData\Intuit\Common\Update Service\v4\Data

specifically, there is no folder called Program Data. What am I missing here?

Re: SO far....you can't. But you are not charged for them un...

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 18:12:07 GMT

we aren't looking to remove a return... we are trying to remove a state entirely from our software that we no longer use!