4/14/2020 - I launched the 2019 turbotax business program on my Windows 10 PC. turbotax updates were applied. I wanted to open a return and continue where I left off. I clicked Continue a Tax Return,but no files were found! The turbotax file folder on my PC was empty. Did the turbotax update process delete the tax data file?
After upgrading TurboTax Deluxe this morning, I lost all my entries for 2019. What gives?
Same thing just happened to me. Opened Turbotax 2019 it asked to update I said yes. once it restarted my tax file is missing.
2019 TT Home & Business - started/nearly completed in January. Went to work on it last month and all data is gone. Sitting at $0 and wants everything entered from scratch. This happened after I opened the software on my MacBook (purchased CD/download with license #) and then TT said I need to do an update to continue. I have searched every possible place for the file. It does not exist that I can find. Please assist!
Same thing happened here! I thought I was going crazy until I found this thread. Grrrrrr....So many hours of work to redo! TurboTax, this may have cost you some customers for next year!
The same thing happened to me for on my Mac. As recently as last week I was able to work on my return just fine. Today I launched TurboTax 2019 to do a final review and file, but all my data has been lost. It seemed like it was starting over from the initial 2018 data import. I even tried restoring an older version of the tax return file from a backup, but the data is still gone.
This just happened to me as well. Any response from TurboTax?
Days of work lost. Been using turbotax for past 8 years and this is obviously a MAJOR ISSUE.
I will be switching to different software next year, unless they somehow figure out how to restore - but if the update deleted my data, not sure how they can do that.
Honestly, this is so upsetting thinking of pursuing them.
Have you tried a "brute force" search?
Do a Search on the entire C: drive (just for filenames, not file contents) for *.tax2019, if that is the drive you saved your tax files on before.
Let the Search run, it may take a bit depending on the number of files.
When your tax file is found, be very sure to note the exact directory that it is in - Windows uses a lot of User\ and My Notes and My Documents and other folders so that the tax file isn't always where you (or TurboTax) thinks it is.
Once you have the exact file location, you can click on File in TurboTax, then Open Tax Return and click on the hard to see link Find a Tax File. On the next screen, enter the full path and filename.
Once you have pulled up your tax return this way, TurboTax should remember its location.
Thanks.
I tried - even went to one drive and restored a ~ version from June - but all give me the error 102345.
it seems to Attempt to open the file for like 30s then I get the error message
@BillM223 I've seen a lot of posts missing the .tax files after a program update. This needs looking into. Please pass it up the line.
Please see this TurboTax FAQ for error 102345 to see if it helps.
Same thing happened to my 2019 Premier for Windows tax files. I cannot find them anywhere. Hours of work gone. Will look at tip at bottom of this thread.
A "brute force" search does not resolve the issue. The update actually deletes the working file with the *.tax2019 extension.
I've been using Turbo Tax for 15 years and have extensive computer knowledge. I know where I had the file saved but I also searched every directory myself to confirm that the file was removed... it's gone. I had to redo the work.
Same thing happened to me, and mine was completely done. It was completed (in March), saved, and I "printed" it to PDF. Opened the evening of the new deadline to file, was prompted to update — which I did — and when it was done, my .tax2019 file was gone.
I was, and still am, extraordinarily pissed, as I have to pay penalties because Intuit is supremely bad at producing quality software. From not being able to import any info from QBO into Turbo Tax, to now TT deleting my return during an update, I can’t tell you how much I hate using Intuit software, and this might just finally be enough to push me to endure the pain of switching everything to another company that isn't completely incompetent at what is ostensibly its core competency.
So, I just tried to open my 2019 return as well and my files are all missing after the update as well. Has anyone received any resolution to this issue? How could an update delete the existing tax files? That is absolutely insane and worthy of a class action lawsuit.
Was this that huge recent WIN 10 update ? If so look in the trash ... sometimes they get hidden there.
It is post Win10 update, but I find it hard to believe files sitting under MyDocuments/TurboTax would be auto-deleted (by either TurboTax or Windows). Oddly enough, I do still have one file in that folder "debug.log" from 2017. Nothing else is in there, and log file itself just has a few lines of log data (nothing of value). It's noteworthy because that means the whole directory wasn't cleared out. Just the actual .tax<year> files.
Unfortunately, I frequently empty my recycle bin. So, nothing in there. I'm just SOL (and royally pissed, of course).
Thanks for the suggestion, though.
Don't know why some WIN 10 updates do goofy things however a word to the wise ... Look before you delete the trash and always save backups of all important files on a removable storage medium like a thumb drive as you never know when your computer could "catch a cold" or die.
I just installed Turbotax deluxe 2020 and discovered that my 2019 tax file had vanished (needed for 2020 to extract data from previous year's tax return). Not only that, but since my backup portable drive is connected to my computer, I found that my backup was deleted also!!!! I don't know when this happened and whether it was the result of a turbotax update or a windows. I did a file search of my computer including the recycle bin, and the files were not there. (I did clean up my recycle bin about four months ago so it might have been there at the time). Now I only have the paper copy of my tax return and hope that I never have to amend it.
This is terrible and Intuit needs to recognize this is a problem and find a fix.
Update: I called turbotax support to see if they could help me. They said that this is a know problem and they are working on it, but apparently not very hard judging from the length of time since this was first reported on this thread.
What's really annoying is they sent me a link where to the IRS where I could request a copy of my old return, and the email with the link had the title "case resolved" !!1 No, it is not resolved. Turbotax deleted two copies of my file and they were unable to restore them or even fix the software problem that caused it.
What happened to 2019 data. I said”update” and then all disappeared
@Susan001 Please see the TurboTax FAQ Find your tax data file (.tax file) in Windows for assistance with locating your 2019 data. If that doesn't work, please reach out to TurboTax Customer Support for further assistance.