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When I try to do the import from Vanguard, I get an error indicating, "This import was unsuccessful. Internal server error."
Thank you for the reply. @MichelleLO
By following the “What if I can't import my 1099?” link, I see that “Fidelity Investments” and “Vanguard Group - Brokerage Account” are listed as 1099/1098 Partners. “Vanguard Group - Mutual Fund Accounts” is also a partner. The data transfer works if I try creating a return online, but I’ve already purchased the CD version of TurboTax Premier 2021, and I’d rather maintain control of my tax data.
Calling the TurboTax Phone Number gets you in touch with a robot that will email a link to import data and then refers you to turbotax.com/support. I tried but made no progress there.
At least I can reproduce the problem. With my tax file open, I can navigate starting at the File pulldown menu via “File > Import > From Financial Institution”. Alternatively form the “FEDERAL TAXES” tab I can view my import summary, select “Add Other Documents” and chose “Import from my band or brokerage”. That leads me to something like what is shown below, but I added the red ovals.
Note that both Fidelity’s and Vanguard’s logos appear right on the TurboTax software’s user interface. What is different from recent years is that rather than using a username and password to access the data, one has to provide that account number and document ID, both of which appear on a hard copy or PDF version of a 1099 from Vanguard or Fidelity. Various accounts at both institutions get me to this.
As noted above, the data transfer works if I try creating a return online. It could be something local to my machine, but searching the web for TurboTax users trying to import data from Vanguard suggests it is not only my equipment, not by a long shot.
It may well be user error or a problem with my equipment. It might also be something wrong with the software or online services.
This thread started with @emilclu indicating, “I'm trying to import Vanguard tax data into my tax return.” I’m also trying to get that to work, and also trying to get similar data from Fidelity.
I’ve seen the references to Contact Support, which I have tried, but my effort there is no more effective than what we see in this thread.
I’ve seen the references to TurboTax Import Partners and found the 1099/1098 Partners List. Amongst many others, the list includes
- Vanguard Group - Brokerage Account
- Vanguard Group - Mutual Fund Accounts
- Fidelity Investments
@walter white was seems to have been able import from at least some account. In past years, it worked for me too.
In my case, my Vanguard Mutual Fund Accounts were changed to Vanguard Brokerage Accounts several years ago. I find the 1099-INT, 1099-DIV, 1099-B, etc., for the brokerage account has been easier to uses, at least in my past years of using TurboTax.
If one tries importing data from a Vanguard Brokerage Account, the Desktop TurboTax Premier 2021 application asks for Account Number and Document ID.
As @MyaD indicates, I can obtain the Account Number and Document ID from the top of a PDF version of the 1099 PDF file that I was able to download from Vanguard’s website to my desktop computer.
If one tries importing data from a Vanguard Mutual Fund Account, the Desktop TurboTax Premier 2021 application asks for a User name and Password.
I was still unable to download tax data from Vanguard and Fidelity to TurboTax Premier 2021 installed on my desktop computer. I get this:
As the error dialog box indicates, this may indeed be a server side problem, I do not know. What does “Internal server error” suggests? If it is as indicated, trying this may work on another day.
When I try the online version of TurboTax, I can import the data from PDF versions of 1099 forms from Vanguard and Fidelity. I only had one 1099 that I could not import as PDF, and that is from TreasuryDirect, which seems a bit ironic.
K-1 forms for limited partnerships are another matter. In that case, the TurboTax on my desktop computer can import the K-1, but the online version cannot. For the online version, I hand entered the K-1 data, and that is more difficult than it seems. Furthermore, the software's Federal Review catches errors in what I entered, and finding the information needed to resolve the matter is not straightforward. I'm using the online version for now because it can import from Vanguard and Fidelity.
I might get as far as I can with the online version of the tax return, then transfer that file to my desktop. I could delete the K-1's, and then re-import them electronically. I think one or more of the K-1's will be revised soon so I will need to update those at that time.
I think I figured this out. I have (1) a work around, and (2) what I think is a fix to the underlying problem.
The work around is easy and if it works for you than in suggests that you are having the same problem that I was having. But I first want to point out that I am using Microsoft Windows 10 Home Version 10.0.19042 Build 19042, and TurboTax Premier 2021 that was installed from a CD.
The work around is to simply keep trying until the failure goes away.
Step 1: The work around scenario begins when you encounter the error below.
Step 2: Click on the “OK” button as shown below.
Step 3: Click the “Continue” button as shown below.
Step 4: If that did not work, go back at step 2 and try again; otherwise the work around got you past the problem. I had to go through this loop a few times and did encounter a different error, which believe it or not is an indication that you are getting past what appears to be the underlying issue.
The underlying issue appears to be DNS lookup failures, which are intermittent as of some Windows 10 version that Microsoft pushed out, seemingly at some point in 2021. Google found answers that seem to vary in regards to when that actually happened.
The short description of the fix is to set a different DNS server IP address (as opposed to obtaining it automatically). I post again to address that fix. It also resolves another issue that occurs when starting TurboTax. When I start TurboTax, I get this error.
The good thing about the work around is that you do not need to change anything that may seem suspect. The apparent fix on the other hand is something I think you should read up on unless the subject matter is familiar, as there are folks on the web that may have something other than good will in mind.
I think this is the fix.
The underlying issue appears to be DNS lookup failures, which are intermittent as of some Windows 10 version that Microsoft pushed out, seemingly at some point in 2021. The short description of the fix is to set a different DNS server IP address (as opposed to obtaining it automatically). It also resolves another issue that occurs when starting TurboTax. When I start TurboTax, I get this error.
The picture above at least shows where the application was nice enough to offer the “Try Again” button. The error also tells us, “(Error 42001: The remote name could not be resolved: ‘downloadpatch.est.intuit.com)”. The part about resolving a name suggests DNS (The Domain Name Service, which provides the ability to map domain names (e.g., intuit.com) to internet protocol addresses (e.g., 184.30.81.31)). If one looks at the “More details”, it is more apparent. See the mention of “Name resolution failure”.
If TurbTax is encountering issues with DNS when trying to locate the software update/patch server at Intuit.com, it seems likely to have similar issues with DNS when trying to locate some financial institution’s (such as Vanguard's) server address. If the underlying problem is the same, one fix would address both problems.
How do we fix this?
Click the Windows 10 start button, start typing “control panel” and launch that program when you see it.
Click “View network status and tasks”.
Click “Local Area Connection”.
Click “Properties”.
Select “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” and then click “Properties”.
I changed mine from “Obtain DNS address automatically” to what you see below. Note: if you are uncomfortable making this change, you might feel better if you use Google to search for 208.67.222.222 and for 208.67.220.220.
Hope this helps.
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