I am completely lost. I have TurboTax Premier DESKTOP, not online, however everything I read on Cryptocurrency reporting doesn't exist in my desktop version. I don't have ANYTHING in regards to cryptocurrency, no links, nothing. I am reading support articles stating that Coinbase imports directly into TurboTax and that I can import a CSV file....WHERE?? I can not find anything in this version of TurboTax. Can anyone help?
P.S. I don't need help with investment taxes or math, etc. It is almost like there is a huge piece of my software missing.
Signed, Tired and now lost.....
You can use the cryptocurrency import and other features with the TurboTax Online Premier and Self-employed versions only.
One option is to start a free tax return in TurboTax Premier Online. You don't pay for the return until you file it, so you won't have to pay the Online fee. Enter (import) your cryptocurrency information in the Crypto section, and then save the .tax file (not PDF). You can then open the tax file in TurboTax desktop, add the rest of your tax data and file.
The other option would be to file using the Online software and get a refund for the desktop program.
Related information:
Source: DawnC
So, Intuit sold me a product that is missing features required for me to properly and conveniently do my taxes? I ALWAYS buy the download product because I simply don't want handing my info over to some third party server if not necessary....the desktop version is supposed to make it unnecessary.
Additionally, at what point in time did the rules change on software? Generally, you install it, there's no returning....and a download? You will need to elaborate on that a bit. Consider paying 58 dollars to Sam's Club for TurboTax download and you find out it WON'T do what you need it to. I'll take advice on just how to return the crap.
I find all this a bit unreal as crypto has been around for quite a while now.
AND I find a real issue with a company selling a product that will NOT perform the functions the company advertises. I believe the FTC has distinct rules on misadvertisement and just plain ol' lying to reap a profit. I believe I shall file a complaint with them. Now you know why my screen name here is what it is...different year, diffrent crap, same company.
And BTW, I neglected to thank you for your answer....Thank you
I am obviously forced into using that procedure by no fault of my own. I hope it works for me but I am thinking I have been ripped for 58 dollars by a bunch of folks hiding behind curtains...sign of the times.
OK. I was able to import crypto online and then download a .tax2021 file which opens fine on the desktop. The procedure stated above needs work.... it was not as "cut and dry" as stated but after playing around a bit, there is a way to download the &%^%$## thing. What a crap way to do something...talk about cumbersome and prone to problems!
HEY INTUIT....If you are NOT going to provide everything on a downloaded live-alone application, STOP IT. If taxes aren't a PITA enough, just use this thing! They would have a great product if it did everything as advertised. Feels like I'm back in 1990 again. Good luck folks and Goodbye.
Well, mark another one up there for the rug pull. Saw everywhere advertised TT premier will handle Crypto, made sure I bought the premier version. I have been purchasing the download version for years, just got into Crypto the current filing year..........and would you look at that, advertisements were not clear you can only report Crypto in the online version. I am now finding out the hard way after purchasing a download and not able to report my Crypto. This is really deceptive. After using TT since 2007 I am about done using this company for my returns!
Right there with you Not Happy! Here's how I did it though!!
1. Do your taxes on the website but DO NOT file them.
2. When you are done and have imported ALL your crypto (which works fine on the website). SAVE your file to YOUR computer. It is a .tax2021 file (native TurboTax file).
3. Once saved on YOUR computer, open the saved file in YOUR PAID FOR copy of TurboTax Premier and VOILA! You have everything you need from the connected crypto exchange (mine is Coinbase and everything imported just like it came from a real brokerage like TD.
You can do as many returns as you like for free online as long as you don't file. And LOOK GOOD for the option to SAVE TO YOUR COMPUTER.
My taxes are finished and filed, with all crypto imported, utilizing the "Free" filing that came with my downloaded TurboTax Premier. If I had filed using the online feature they wanted to charge WAY more than what my copy of TT cost me. I find that making money on confusion and chaos, by misleading claims and baffling the customer with BS, a good cause for retribution and revenge, but I guess even the hackers have to file taxes. Maybe by this time next year there will be a better solution for both QUICKEN and TurboTax, but I doubt it since both are owned by companies publicly traded. Intuit sold Quicken to an investment group (H.I.G. Capital) and we all know what those groups do to products. Intuit owns TurboTax and they are publicly traded also. I try my best to short companies that fleece me, that's MY retributive justice. Doesn't hurt them much but sure makes me feel better knowing all my future copies of TurboTax are paid for, and my children. lol. TRANE, INC. really screwed me over so I shorted them so much I got the $6000 back for this POS HVAC unit plus all the service calls and future repairs and the $1500 to have the coil removed, coated, and reinstalled on a new unit! Anyhow, best of luck! Regards, The Curmudgeon's Curmudgeon.
Oh my god, I agree completely with others. Everywhere I read said Premier will do Cryptos. So I bought the TurboTax Premier on Amazon. Halfway filing it, I looked for import Cryptos.... where da heck is it? After 3 hrs searching and reading... I have the CD/Desktop version. WHAT?! There's an online version? WHAT DA HELL! And I have to pay again if I want to go online route? I'm a first time TurboTax customer and so confusing with the TurboTax products. The Desktop version is slow and old looking. Feels like I've gone back to 1999 GUI.
Thank you for the work around from others.
Warning: if anyone else needs to do this, download from turbotax online FIRST. I prepared all my taxes on the desktop version only to need to redo it again because I can't combine the file downloaded from the online version. How hard is it for Intuit to create an csv upload reader??? UGH
Were you provided a .csv file? You may be able to convert your .csv file to a .txt file and upload it into TurboTax Desktop Premier version.
Follow these steps:
@emak
I went online, did my MOST of my taxes INCLUDING importing all the crypto and such then I saved the file to my computer which is a .tax2021 file which opens with no issues with the desktop version of Turbo and I finished my taxes as needed on my machine, filed them and they were accepted that night and less than a week a fed refund showed up and about a week after that the state refund showed up...PITA but, worked just fine! AND ITS FREE as long as you don't file online. YES, there is an option under tools online to save your tax file to your machine. Really a pretty simple process after you get done cussing Intuit for the PITA and the Pain in the neck. LOL.
Thank you so much everyone. Like everyone else, I went to Costco to purchase the Desktop Premier version of TurboTax because it is way cheaper. I even chatted with support and explained I did crypto. All they said was Premier version was for crypto and the Costco version was fine. So I ran to Costco because its $69.99 vs the $169 for the Online Premier version.
After reading this, I chatted again with TT support and finally they told me the only differences between Premier Online vs Desktop was that Desktop does not have Crypto functionality. I asked a few questions and support basically gave the same steps as everyone here on doing everything online, saving the version to my PC and opening on the Desktop version. See the chat info below. I hope this helps someone.
Go to turbotax website and log in to the account you already started a return in. In TurboTax Online, My Account, then click Tools, and then select Save your 2021 return to your computer. Browse to where you can easily find the saved file, such as your Desktop. (Optional) Change the default name to something more meaningful, for example J Doe 2021 Tax Return. Click Save. Now, open the .tax2021 file in TurboTax for Windows: Open your TurboTax 2021 program. From the File menu, select Open Tax Return. Browse to where you saved the .tax2021 file, and then click Open. (Optional) Review, edit, or delete the info that transferred over.
This solution worked, though it requires modifying the CSV to match the columns expected by txf.
Hi,
What kind of modification? I imported straight from txf.
I meant that I needed to modify the CSV from the crypto exchanges, so that the columns were in the order expected by the txf converter.
FYI....I tried all that csv file and txf file and converters, etc. NEVER did get to where I wanted to be AND taxes these days should NOT take forever and be as frustrating as it was back in the day when we had to everything by paper! I asure you, under TOOLS online is a place to save your tax file to your machine and then open in TurboTax on your machine....everything is fine! everything is in its proper place, all you have to do is go thru and finish everything else. Crypto records import just fine ONLINE. The ONLY problem I found after importing online, saving the tax file and finishing on my machine was the name of the crypto exchange. I had to manually add COINBASE and COINBASE PRO as the exchange/brokerage names....everything else was fine. Make an account with TurboTax online, start your return and then hop straight to importing crypto part, import your crypto, go to Tools and save the file (.tax2021) to your machine and then simply open the file with the desktop version making sure that your desktop version is the same as what you used online (if used Home & Business online you will need Home & Business on your machine. Seriously got my taxes finished in less than an hour, state and fed.
@HelenC12 unfortunately this does not work for those of us who entered crypto details online and then got locked out of our accounts due to the "oops your connection dropped" issue that seems to be plaguing those of us entering crypto data.
With the other workaround mentioned in the thread, I'm curious if this can handle a larger batch of 8949 transactions without issues, and if it handles large dollar values in the 1099-B, where my last entry online errored and left me locked out.
For simplicity you could use a crypto tax software. I used Koinly to do all the crypto tax stuff then it exports as a TurboTax file I can import into the Online or desktop version. Yea its an additional cost but worth it. I mined crypto and had 3000 transactions and 160 Form 8949 pages. Just another option.
I don't have over 4000 transactions and one thing I didn't reveal before is this: when I import online turbotax I get a lower profit number than I get simply logging into CoinTracker and downloading their file, additionally I get an even different number when I use Koinly. Yes, I have all the cost basis set the same but yes, all 3 methods give a different profit amount. Of course, I used the lowest which was TurboTax online import (which oddly enough they say comes from CoinTracker) Who knows? Exchanges aren't required to report 1099's to the IRS for 2021 anyhow but since every transaction is on an immutable block chain, then every transaction is traceable no matter how long ago it was so better to report things but no sense in giving more than needed. IRS always says to "enter the lesser of these numbers", so that's what I do. LOL!
Lol there you go. I didn't know the IRS says "enter the lesser of these numbers" that's very good information. I had the same issue using the 3 different crypto tax calculators. Different numbers but Koinly was the only one that was almost spot on with with my Annual Mining report so I went with them.
I wasn't using the Import/Sync Crypto feature in TT since I had paid for my own reports before even knowing that was an option in TT. Next year, I will give it a try in comparison with Koinly. The amount of transactions I will have for next years taxes, it will cost me about $250 for a koinly report.
I used Koinly for all my crypto transactions. Had the same problem as others on here with not being able to import it in TT Desktop (Premier). So I hopped on TT Online (Premier) and was able to load the csv file from Koinly. Now trying to import the file from TT Online to Desktop. When I save it on my computer, it saves as a .tax2021 file. When I try to import, TT Online is looking for a TXF file and I can't seem to get it to import the file. Any ideas what's wrong or what I'm doing wrong?
Koinly has two TurboTax options. A Desktop and an Online version. Make sure you select the correct format to export from Koinly.
Also, if you already imported into TT from koinly you just need to export TTonline as the .tax2021 file and open it up in quickbooks.
3s1k, thanks for the response. But I'm not following you on the last part of your suggestion. How and why do I want to open the TTOnline file in Quick Books? I'm trying to get it into the Desktop version of Turbo tax.
A .tax2021 file is the native format for turbotax. Do not import. Simply double click the .tax2021 file and your copy of Turbo should open it right up to allow you to do all the rest of the fun stuff. If wondering, open you Turbo file location after saving a turbo file and you will see it is saved as a .tax2021 file. Import is only for other (csv, txf, whatever) file formats. Clear as mud? If you have a .tax2021 file then that is a TurboTax file and double clicking it will open TurboTax 2021.....a .tax2020 file will open TurboTax 2020....see?
@Sdean009 You downloaded the .tax2021 file from Online? You don't import it. You just OPEN it in the the Desktop program. Go up to FILE - OPEN.
BUT After you get the program installed the first thing y ou might need to do before you open your tax return .tax2021 file is to update the program and install any state programs you had. Then open your file. So you first might need to start a fake return to be able to download the state program (go to FILE - NEW).