Importing 2020 Tax Return

Please clarify: Have you tried re-importing your 2020 return into a new 2021 return? Occasionally the import process is interrupted and not all data is captured. 

Recommended steps:

1. Close TurboTax Business
2. Reopen and allow any updates to run
3. Reopen TurboTax if necessary
4. Start a new Tax Return >> Begin
5. Choose your 2020 tax return & click "Transfer Return"
6. Wait for confirmation that Transfer is Complete
7. Save with new filename.
8. Close TurboTax
9. Reopen and check Member Summary under Partner/Member Information

Patricia:

Thank you for your reply. I executed the steps exactly as outlined. What is interesting is that when I opened the newly saved file it was opened using TurboTax Premier. I also have TurboTax Premier installed because that is what I use for my personal tax return. Do I need to uninstall the Premier version until I complete my business return?

Regards,

Andrew

Not necessarily. When you have more than one version of TurboTax installed on your computer, it's best to open TurboTax first, then choose the return to work on. By default, a .tax2021 file would open with TurboTax 1040, not Business. So you would need to have TurboTax Business running before you open your business return.

If it opened in personal Premier you must have clicked on the wrong .tax file.  Both the Business program and personal programs use the same file extension like .tax2020 and .tax2021.  The personal programs can not open a business return and visa versa.  

Patricia>

I opened the new file from within the TurboTax 2021 software (as opposed to by file extension) and I still have the same issue. Here is what I see in the member tab:

Any Member Changes?

You transferred member information from your 2020 return and the total ownership percentage equals 25.00000%.

You will need to make changes in this area only to:

Enter Capital Contributions or distributions

Change Members Entity Type

Change Member Name or Address

Add a Member

Indicate a final year for a member

The information for the one member imported is correct. Balance sheet items in the partner capital section imported correctly. I opened my 2020 tax file and all members are there with correct percentages and capital accounts. 

I can´t create an accurate 2021 return at the moment since partner data is missing, and without partner data a partnership return is useless.

Thanks

Andrew

Patricia:

I have tried everything including reinstalling TT Business 2020, saving a new copy of that return, reinstalling TT 2021 and opening the new 2020 return and I find myself in the exact same place. Do you know of a Tech Support contact I can engage at Intuit? I spoke with a support person at the TT 800 support number but she really wasn´t familiar with the business version of the software. She did check some type of 'support' database and mentioned that some others had reported similar import problems. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Andrew

@Andrewtabor

I've been unable to reproduce this experience importing 2020 to 2021. It would be helpful to have a TurboTax ".tax2020" file to further test your import experience.

If you would be willing to send us a “diagnostic” file that has your “numbers” but not your personal information, here are the instructions: 

Open your 2020 business return in TurboTax Business 2020 and go to Online in the header. 

1. Choose Send Tax File to Agent.
2. You will see a message explaining what the diagnostic copy is.  Click Send on this screen and wait for the Token number to appear. 
3. Reply to this thread with your Token number.  

This diagnostic copy (numbers only; no personal info) of your tax file will allow us to see the same experience you are having. If we are able to determine the cause, we'll reply here and provide you with a resolution. 

Patricia:

I have sent the file. The token number I received is 926473. Thank you so much for your help.

Regards,

Andrew

Thanks for this info. If we find a solution, we'll post it here.

Patricia:

Have there been any updates on this issue? We are getting close to 3/15 filing deadline and I will need to determine if I need to apply for an extension. Again thanks for your help.

Regards,

Andrew

Andrew - Your 2020 file looked fine. We're currently reviewing your experience and hope to have an answer soon.

Patricia:

Thank you. I agree the 2020 file is good. It´s when I import into the 2021 software that I lose 4 members.

Thanks for your pursuit on my behalf.

Regards,

Andrew

Please review all Schedules K-1 in your 2020 return using Forms Mode. On the diagnostic return we received, four are marked "Final K-1" at the top. Uncheck those boxes, save the return, and import to 2021 again. All five partners should transfer correctly.

Patricia:

Thank you that makes sense. I will try that now. 

Regards,

Andrew

Patricia:

That worked. I´m embarrassed I didn´t look at that myself. I have no idea how those boxes were checked, and why for 4 out of 5 members. Thanks again for all of your help.

Regards,

Andrew 

I just saw this thread and was going to mention the same thing ... have those members look at the K-1 form they got from last year ... was the FINAL box marked ?   If so this may have had an impact on their personal returns so they may need to review them.  

Thank you for the reply. I don´t think it will effect their personal return because I doubt they would have reported it as the final K-1. Do you think I need to file an amended return for the partnership (1065) with new K-1´s ?

@Andrewtabor  Probably not. 

If changing the K-1's didn't effect any of the numbers on the K-1s then you definitely do not. 

There are suspended losses that are only available in the final year of a business and if any of your partners had those on their K-1's you will have to amend the return and they may have to amend their personal returns. 

If the numbers didn't change then don't amend the 2020 return for this - do double check to make sure that none of them are marked 'final' for this year.  It is possible (however unlikely) that you will receive a letter from the IRS about this.  Just tell them the boxes were checked in error and you're done.

I see two .tax2020 files from last year in my folder. One starts with ~ and another does not. Which .tax2020 file do I import into Turbotax 2021? 

Either one.   But try the one without the~ sign on it.  The ~ file is a temporary backup file in case your real file gets corrupted or lost.  

I used turbo tax to to file my tax. And I tried to transfer the tax return from last year. I have tried import a PDF as well as transfer tax, however, neither is successful. Could you advise what to do? I have multiple rental properties, therefore, it is important if I could transfer the document.

Here's an idea.  Do you still have 2020 installed?  Try opening 2020 program and see if you can get your 2020 return to show up in it.  Go to FILE - OPEN.  Then save it again with a name and place you can find.  Go to File - Save As.

I understand the correct time to import last year's tax return is when starting a new tax return for this year.   Is there a way to do this after the fact?   When I started this year's return I did not have access to last year's file.   I've mostly completed this year's tax return but now want to bring in last year's return for comparison purposes and also to bring in capital gain losses.

Sorry no.  No way.  Only by starting a new return.  You can enter the Capital Loss Carryover.