I registered a TurboTax product I bought for work, and it automatically logged in to my personal Intuit account. How do I fix this so I'm not out the purchase price?

[qskwood]

I purchased TurboTax Business. It provided a compete different installer and installed to a completely different location than TurboTax for individuals. I incorrectly assumed it wouldn't, without even asking, log me in to my personal Intuit account based on it seemingly being an unrelated program.

[tagteam]

See How do I install and activate my TurboTax Desktop product? (intuit.com)

You need to log in to an Intuit account in order to install the product.

[qskwood]

This response has nothing to do with what I posted.

As an aside, the linked article also contains incorrect information.

Here’s how to get started with TurboTax Desktop:

1. .Download and install TurboTax Desktop 
   1. Go here if you have Windows.
   2. Go here if you have a Mac.
2. To activate your installed software, you will be prompted to sign in to or create your Intuit Account if you don’t already have one.
3. Activate your TurboTax software by entering your license code.
4. Start using TurboTax.

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I was never asked to create an Intuit account or log in to an existing one. It just, somehow, grabbed my login details off my personal TurboTax install and decided it would assign a $100+ product to that account without asking.

[tagteam]

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@qskwood wrote:
......It just, somehow, grabbed my login details off my personal TurboTax install and decided it would assign a $100+ product to that account without asking.

Yeah, that's the way it works, sorry. You need to log in (or otherwise be logged in) to an Intuit account in order to install the software. If you were logged in to a "personal account" (and TurboTax does not distinguish between business accounts and personal accounts), then the install would automatically use that account. 

[VolvoGirl]

Please explain more.  What is the problem?  You have to sign into or create a Turbo Tax account this year.  Go back and read the first part of that article for why do I need to sign in to an Intuit Account this year?

I guess you could have created a new account if you wanted to keep the Business program separate from your personal account.   Otherwise call support and ask them 

How to contact Turbo Tax
https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/using-turbotax/help/how-do-i-contact-turbotax/00/26991

[qskwood]

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@tagteam wrote:

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@qskwood wrote:
......It just, somehow, grabbed my login details off my personal TurboTax install and decided it would assign a $100+ product to that account without asking.

Yeah, that's the way it works, sorry. You need to log in (or otherwise be logged in) to an Intuit account in order to install the software. If you were logged in to a "personal account" (and TurboTax does not distinguish between business accounts and personal accounts), then the install would automatically use that account. 

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I was installing completely brand-new software I had never used before. I wasn't logged in, asked to log in, or given the option to log in. I wasn't told I was logged in, provided with my current login information, or given the option to log out.

TurboTax just somehow obtained my login credentials from somewhere and gained access to my Intuit account without a username, password, or notification. Best case scenario, I'm out the purchase price and will have to eat the cost of a product I can't use while work re-purchases it somehow. Worst case scenario, apparently any application on my machine can access my Intuit account whenever it wants without me knowing about it.

[qskwood]

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@VolvoGirl wrote:

Please explain more.  What is the problem?  You have to sign into or create a Turbo Tax account this year.  Go back and read the first part of that article for why do I need to sign in to an Intuit Account this year?

I guess you could have created a new account if you wanted to keep the Business program separate from your personal account.

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Users are not asked to sign in or create an account. TurboTax just finds their login details by insert-method-here and arbitrarily picks an account to attach the license to without the user being aware of what account is being used. The article's comments about an Intuit account is required have nothing to do with the issue I've described.

Creating a new account would have had no impact, because I was not asked to log in, told I was already logged in, offered the opportunity to switch accounts, etc. This was completely outside my control unless I somehow knew the documentation outright lied and wiped my computer before installing the software, which is an insane set of requirements to avoid this.

[qskwood · Accepted solution]

If you already have one or more Intuit products installed, TurboTax will somehow identify the Intuit account(s) used and somehow log in to an Intuit account when you launch the installer. TurboTax will not ask you to log in or create an account as the documentation suggests.

Customer support  will not assist you with associating your product with the right account.

[tagteam]

Did you have a browser (any browser) open which might have been logged into your Intuit account? That would do it.

[qskwood]

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@tagteam wrote:

Did you have a browser (any browser) open which might have been logged into your Intuit account? That would do it.

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It really doesn't matter. If I install a piece of software, it has no business hunting around on my machine for what accounts it should be logging into. It should be asking me. The only exceptions to this are pieces of software that have a relatively high level of integration with my operating system that are logging into my, for example, Microsoft or Apple account with my consent.

I consider the matter closed. The answer is "TurboTax's documentation is wrong and the only people who might be able to fix Intuit's screw up are their customer service staff and documentation maintainers."

[VolvoGirl]

 Best case scenario, I'm out the purchase price and will have to eat the cost of a product I can't use while work re-purchases it somehow. 

Why can't you use it and need to re purchase it?  

[qskwood]

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@VolvoGirl wrote:

 Best case scenario, I'm out the purchase price and will have to eat the cost of a product I can't use while work re-purchases it somehow. 

Why can't you use it and need to re purchase it?  

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Would your employer allow you to have their software licenses under a vendor account associated with your personal email address and not tied back to the organization in any way? Would they reimburse you for something you purchased that they can't use?

[VolvoGirl]

But didn't you buy it and install it on your personal computer?  Employers usually don't allow that either.  Did you use your email address to buy it?  

[VolvoGirl]

@qskwood     Will this work for you?  Just saw this thread, one user said....

After you install turbo tax, signed in and activated with the account that purchased the license key, sign out of that account and login to your own and it stays activated.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/can-i-share-turbo-tax-2023-product-key-with-a-fam...

[qskwood]

As an update to this thread, I contacted support today. Josh answered the phone and his first response was essentially that next year when I activate the product I need to pay better attention when logging in.

I explained four times that I didn't log in, didn't buy it from Intuit while logged in to their website, and didn't enter the license code on Intuit's website. He responded four times that what I was describing couldn't have happened and that I was wrong.

Quite bold to respond to a customer saying "When I registered the product something happened that didn't make sense to me," with "Next time you give us money don't screw it up." Dude was a **bleep** until he put me on hold and had me talk to someone else who suggested logging out of all Intuit products on my computer before installing the software, since if you are logged in to any of them you will not be asked to log in and it will indeed use the account associated with another product on your computer.