2023 tax file missing after extended search through hard drive

You didn’t save a backup?  Do you use one drive?   Some other ideas.  If you have multiple Windows user accounts, log into each one and do the search for the *.tax2023 data file from within each one and checking the Recycle Bin in each one.

Don't know if this will help any Turbo Tax users but one Quicken user found them......

What I found was that my Quicken Data files ended up in the One-drive Recycle bin. Not sure how, but I found them there.  I placed the files back onto the laptop and brought the files into Quicken and now have all my data back.

I’m searching my notes and the forum for you.  One user doing 2020  found……

I installed my Turbotax 2020 DVD Windows 10 ver and did 3 returns.  The next morning after exiting and restarting the program I could not find my files.  What a sinking feeling!  I searched using file explorer with no luck although "Recent" short cuts  were there.  They were not in Recycle Bin either.

When you install the program I recall it asks for Admin rights.  So I logged off my account that I WAS in when I installed the program and logged in as administrator.  I started TurboTax under the Admin account and my files were there.  In the C:\Users\Admin\Documents folder.  I NEVER USE THIS ACCOUNT!

I exited the program and account and went back in using my normal user ID.  I then restarted the program by Right-Clicking the icon and selecting Run as Administrator.    The files were there...made my day.  I opened them and did a "Save As" to the file folder that has all my past returns and matches the User ID I was in when I set it up. 

In short TurboTax is saving them in the default C:Drive Admin account document folder and if you are not starting as an Administrator they are invisible.  Hope this helps. 

Thanks for your reply. As my post says, of course I have a pdf file of my 2023 tax filing, but this is of no use in getting TurboTax to load my last year's TT tax file (now missing from my hard drive) into this year's program, which I need it to do to populate all the carryovers and other stuff from last year.

There is no other user of my computer, and I don't use any other Intuit software.

Yes, I have One Drive that backs files up, and I can look there, but I believe it only backs up document (ie, Word, PDF, etc) and picture files, not TurboTax program files. And, if TurboTax has deleted my last year's tax program file (which I gather from other posts here it has done with a number of folks), it would also likely be automatically deleted in One Drive, even if OD kept a copy originally. However, I will look at One Drive, without much hope. If it is successful in retrieving the missing TT tax file from last year, I'll certainly announce it here. 

Thanks again for your reply. 

I didn’t follow you.  Installing Turbo Tax would not uninstall last year’s program.   The program would not be on the OneDrive just the data file.   The data file ending in .tax2023 is not kept in the program.  It is a separate file.   

If you don't have the main .tax file you might have one that starts with a Tilde sign ~ like  "~your name.tax2023".  That file is if your computer crashes or your real file gets lost or deleted or corrupt so you can restore it.

I also ran the TurboTax program for both 2024 and 2023 as "administrator", with the same result, that is no 2023 tax file found, even though my taxes were prepared on the 2023 program and submitted to the IRS and State by the program. 

As indicated previously, I did keep a pdf of last year's filing, but that doesn't work to transfer all the data (carryforwards, etc) to this year's return. In decades of using TurboTax, this has never happened before. 

Just to get this clear, of course I know there is a difference between the TT software program and the file it created for my 2023 taxes, the latter of which has disappeared. I have both the 2023 and 2024 Turbotax programs installed, as well as those for many prior years. There is no reason why the program installations or their updates should have disturbed my 2023 tax file created by Turbotax, but it has disappeared, and judging from other posts here I am not alone with this problem. I will look in the One Drive backup next and see if there's anything there, and report the results. I'll also search for the file using the different extensions you mention. 

I searched in One Drive, with no results. I searched using the different extension options you suggested, again no results. At this point, unless someone has another suggestion, I expect my TurboTax 2023 tax file cannot be retrieved and something caused it to be eliminated from my computer and One Drive backup. I will reluctantly have to reconstruct the carryforward data that that file downloaded to the new 2024 tax software. I expect that this and other problems encountered over the years with TurboTax will result in my no longer buying their tax software in the future, which I have used for decades.

If you or anyone has another idea, of course I welcome it.   I do thank you for your trying to help. 

The silence from TT on this issue is telling.  Appears their legal department has silenced all the applicable replies. Hmmm. 

If you open the TurboTax 2023 program, then from the FILE menu at the top, choose 'Save As..' and save the tax file to your computer (desktop makes it easy to find).

Then when you open TurboTax 2024 and choose 'Begin' and 'Transfer' it should find the .tax2023 file you just saved.

Here's more detailed info on Finding a Prior Year Tax File.

@gardenpidot 

Huh? I don't think you read read my initial question or the rest of this string. The problem is that my TT tax file for 2023 has disappeared! I used TT to file my taxes last year, as I have every year, and the 2023 file is gone. If I open the 2023 TT software, there is no file.  A global search of my hard drive comes up with no TT file for 2023. I certainly didn't delete it. 

Please call TurboTax Customer service.  Here is a link:  Turbo Tax Customer Service 

Hi when I sign on I see 2020, 2022, and 2024 but not 2023 form. How do I find it?

Thanks

Do you have more than one TurboTax account?  See this TurboTax support FAQ for how to view all of your accounts - https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/account-management/many-intuit-accounts-turbotax/L9aVfKS1Z_US_en_US?uid=ll5g6zcx

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/

Start the 2024 online tax return by entering some personal information then click on Tax Home on the left side of the screen.

On the Tax Home webpage -

Scroll down to the section Your tax returns & documents.  Click on the Year and Click on Download/print return (PDF)

If you used the desktop CD/Download editions installed on your computer, the only copy of your tax data file and any PDF's will be on the computer where the return was created.  TurboTax does not store online any returns completed using the desktop editions.

So frustrating, and I too have the same problem. Missing multiple .tax2023 files (mine, my minor child's, my adult child's).

To all the well meaning people replying, please read the original post.

gardenpidot and I:

Are using the desktop version.

Have significant carry forward or amortization info so working from the PDF doesn't cut it.

Know what a .tax2023 file is.

Know how to search a computer.

Have admin rights on our computer.

Turbotax - you suck!  And I am done with you.  There has been no solution, and no compensation.

If you think you can make it all work I can send you a PDF or a IRS transcript and you can have someone recreate my file.

Exact same situation here. TurboTax support finally indicated it was a known issue. 
And advised me to contact the IRS for a transcript. 
This will create a huge amount of work for me as I had many carryovers. 
I asked for a a full refund of what I paid for the software. No response. 
Awful. Just awful. 

I am having the exact same problem with the missing .tax2023 file. I also have a lot of carryovers for my rental properties etc. (I have been using TT desktop programs since 1997, and I have the files for all years since, except for 2023.)

The worst case scenario would be to redo the 2023 return to match what I have filed from the PDF version, but that would take me weeks.

Having the same problem, did anyone find a solution?

Hi all,

Unfortunately, I could not find any way to locate the .tax2023 file, so I had to go down the worst case scenario: 

I recreated the data file for 2023 by using the TurboTax 2023 SW and importing data from our .tax2022 file -- basically redoing the entire 2023 return. I finally managed to make the numbers on all forms, schedules, and worksheets to match those as shown on the PDF file of our original 2023 return. It took days, not weeks as I had feared, because I skipped the parts that only affected the state return. (I have not finished the state return yet, so I will see if the state carryovers are based on the federal carryover data for the year or from its own state carryover history.)

I cannot find my pdfs of any  of 2023 files. I ALWAYS save a pdf. I need to look at a last years return and cannot. Any ideas???

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@bbirdcottage-gma wrote:

I cannot find my pdfs of any  of 2023 files. I ALWAYS save a pdf. I need to look at a last years return and cannot. Any ideas???

---

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/

Start the 2024 online tax return by entering some personal information then click on Tax Home on the left side of the screen.

On the Tax Home webpage -

Scroll down to the section Your tax returns & documents.  Click on the Year 2023 and Click on Download/print return (PDF)

If you used the desktop CD/Download editions installed on your computer, the only copy of your tax data file and any PDF's will be on the computer where the return was created.  TurboTax does not store online any returns completed using the desktop editions.

Or go to this IRS website for free federal tax return transcripts - https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript

For a fee of $30 you can get a complete federal tax return from the IRS by completing Form 4506 - http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4506.pdf

The taxbak files are backup files that auto generate everytime you hit save button.  Turbo tax have a bug for 2-3 years now that would loose you file once saved.  This happened to me again just now so I thought I shared my experience so you don't panic when this does happen to you.

These are the step I take everytime I use TurboTax:

#1 ALL WAY SAVE PDF COPIES just in case before and after filing your return.

#2 I always save 2 copies and  have my File Explore tab open to confirm saved files ( Turbotax should have a backup file that auto generated but that sometimes goes missing too)

#3 When file is missing, don't panic.  Look for the newest .taxbak file and rename it .tax2024 then goto file tax returns and click on it and you should recover the missing tax return.  You should then repeat step #2 to save copies.

Hope this save someone from having a panic attack... 

This also happened to me.  Very frustrating.  I could not even find the 2023 software in my computer!  I see all the other version from past years.  It made me doubt if I had filed my taxes last year!

Eventually I was able to download last year's return form the website, but I have no idea why this happened.

I'm confused.  If you prepared your 2023 taxes using TurboTax Desktop, the only place your tax file would be is on your computer.

How did you 'download it from the website'?  TurboTax Online users tax files are stored on the website.

@r6rome 

Hi,

I was explaining how to extract missing files from a desktop version.