topic Re: Cannot begin California return - totally stuck! in State tax filing

Cannot begin California return - totally stuck!

D_H — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 08:34:17 GMT

Hello, I am a long-time TurboTax user and never ran into anything like this. In fact, I can't seem to find ANYONE who has, but hopefully someone can shed some light on this.

I finished the Federal part of my return, and now it's time to move on to the state, in my case, California.

TurboTax seems to know this, as there is a button to click to start my California return.

When I click the button to start, a popup appears telling me I need to download the state form, and a button in that popup allows me to continue.

After clicking that button, it spins for a second or two, and then a different popup appears telling me my software is up to date, and brings me back to the page with the button to start the California state return.

When I click it, the popup returns to say that I need to download the state form.

I am caught in a loop.

START CALIFORNIA RETURN --> NEED TO DOWNLOAD CALIF. FORM --> EVERYTHING UP TO DATE

--> START CALIFORNIA RETURN --> etc. etc. etc.

There is no way to move forward!

It thinks everything has been downloaded successfully, but then tells me I must download to proceed!

Any ideas? I have tried closing the program, and rebooting my machine. No luck.

I also tried clicking the option to download a new state, but that just takes me right back into the same endless cycle.

At this point, every time I start Turbotax, I am in this cycle, and the only practical option is to quit out of it again.

Please help.

Thank you!

Re: Cannot begin California return - totally stuck!

D_H — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 09:12:10 GMT

SOLVED!!

OK, even though I thought I had done due diligence on my searching before posting this problem, after posting it I found a support article from TurboTax describing my exact problem.

The proposed solution involved downloading a "cleaner" file to remove what I guess must be residual info about the state which is confusing the program. The article provided a link and pretty solid instructions about how to download and run the .exe file to do the cleaning.

Long story short, I followed the instructions, downloaded the file, ran it, and it worked perfectly!

Now I can continue with my California return as normal.

Thank you! No need to reply or respond, as the problem is solved.

Re: Cannot begin California return - totally stuck!

davecwang1 — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 00:28:27 GMT

Can you please post the article for the solution? Cannot believe such a simple thing can get stuck.

Re: Cannot begin California return - totally stuck!

D_H — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 03:51:57 GMT

I don't recall exactly where I saw the solution, but just now I found someone else who posted a very similar question to mine. Somewhere down the thread, someone posted this, which I think is the same as what I used to solve my issue. It may or may not have been the same place I found it before.

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Try using the resolution below:

To resolve, close TurboTax and then:

Download the TTStateCleanup.zip file and save it to your desktop or other easy-to-find location.
Double-click to open the zip folder.
Extract the contents of the folder to your desktop and open the extracted folder.
Right-click the downloaded file (TTCleanStates.exe) and select Run as Administrator.
Select your version (Personal or Business).
Select your state from the dropdown menu and choose Remove (if you're having problems with multiple states, choose Remove all States).
Once the tool finishes removing the state return(s), close it and reopen TurboTax.
Follow the prompts to update TurboTax at the prompt. It should start downloading your state.
- If it doesn't click the State Taxes tab and download it from there.

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