NONE OF MY TURBOTAX SOFTWARES FROM 2006 TO 2019 WORK ANYMORE AND I NEED TO USE THE SOFTWARE TO ACCESS RETURNS!

[Lily24]

I feel like TURBO TAX is ripping me off making sure none of the software I paid for from 2006 to 2019 works anymore. I called to get help but apparently not only can no one help me open software from prior to 2020 Turbo Tax has also made it impossible to open PDF's of your own tax returns prior to 2020 that were made by the TT software that are secured with your license key for the software. They changed the number of digits in the license code in an update and after the mandatory update the license code no longer works because it is only 14 digits instead of 16 digits. This is so awful and I feel so betrayed by TurboTax. I need to access old returns for important reasons and they are making it impossible. When they sell the software they do not say you are buying a 3 year license. They say you are buying the software. I've been an Advantage member for over a decade and am going to look for other software to do my return. Taxact may be ok but I want to do my return on my own computer not online. If anyone has a solution to this or can recommend a better software to use for home and business, I have a schedule C, please let me know! By the way most of the years that no longer work were made with software that doesn't require a license key. They just made an update that makes them no longer work. I have the software on old computers with the old original software that it worked on. The software required an update and once updated stopped working. This is apparently not just a problem on Mac computers.

[DoninGA]

To access your prior year online tax returns sign onto the TurboTax website with the User ID you used to create the account - https://myturbotax.intuit.com/

Start the 2023 online tax return by entering some personal information then click on Tax Home on the left side of the screen.

On the Tax Home webpage -

Scroll down to the section Your tax returns & documents.  Click on the Year and Click on Download/print return (PDF)

If you used the desktop CD/Download editions installed on your computer, the only copy of your tax data file and any PDF's will be on the computer where the return was created.  TurboTax does not store online any returns completed using the desktop editions.

Or go to this IRS website for free federal tax return transcripts - https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript

For a fee of $30 you can get a complete federal tax return from the IRS by completing Form 4506 - http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4506.pdf

[DoninGA]

Prior to tax year 2019 there was not a licensee code for the TurboTax desktop CD/Download software.

TurboTax does not support tax years prior to 2020.

[xmasbaby0]

You should have another conversation with customer support.   For one thing, there are no updates for old software, so not sure what you did when you tried to get to those old returns on your old computers.  TT does not provide updates for software older than 2020.  And.....the first year there was a license key was 2019, and those keys were 14 digits.  They were not ever changed to 16 digits.   Later tax years---either 2020 or maybe 2021 were 16 digits instead of 14.

If you have a program like Acrobat,  you should be able to open your pdf's.   Do you have that?  Not sure how or even if that would still work on a computer ancient enough to have a 2006 return on the hard drive.

You say you have important reasons for needing those old returns.   If the reasons are desperate enough, you can pay the IRS $30 for each tax return going back for as far back as seven year.  Transcripts go back about ten years.

You can get a free transcript from the IRS or for a fee of $30, an actual copy of your tax return.

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4506.pdf

Or...if you only have the tax files (not pdf's) there is a service not affiliated with TurboTax that can print out old returns from the tax files.  See taxprinter.com for information.  We do not know how expensive it is.   

To call TurboTax customer support

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1899263-what-is-the-turbotax-phone-number

Customer support is available from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific time Monday-Friday

Some of the other Champs and users here may have some suggestions for you too.

[NCperson]

@Lily24 if you have the PDF's, then you can open them with Adobe.  TT is not necessary. 

Also, and hate to state this, but you licensed the software from Intuit - you did not purchase it.  The EULA for 2023 is quite clear (and I suspect prior years were similar): 

"TurboTax tax preparation and ItsDeductible donation valuation service for tax year 2023 are subject to discontinuation. TurboTax tax preparation software shall not be supported beyond October 15, 2026"

Intuit simply does not support the software beyond 3 years.

https://turbotax.intuit.com/corp/license/desktop.jsp

[Lily24]

Every time I opened the old software the first thing TT did was to insist on an update. The update was apparently to incapacitate it. I'm not sure when I last opened these old Turbo Tax versions but it was probably prior to 2020 and they worked just fine for many many years after the tax year. This is a new (in the past few years new) thing by turbo tax and it is really frustrating. I'm pretty sure the older software didn't say anything about only lasting 3 years or I would have found different software.

No one has made any recommendations for alternative software. I would really appreciate that.

[VolvoGirl · Accepted solution]

Did you need to reinstall them or are they still installed from the original time?    Are you on Windows or Mac?  For Windows the first thing I do after installing and it automatically does the first update,  is to turn off the updates unless i ask it to update.  Try disconnecting your internet first so it cant update 2018 and prior.

But 2019 is a special case.  You will never be able to install and activate the 2019 program with the License Code.   The License Code started in 2019.  So 2019 needs to connect to Turbo Tax to verify the License Code.  But they have stopped supporting 2019

[Lily24]

They were already installed and I should have tried opening them with the internet turned off. Now I will have to try reinstalling them again with the internet turned off. I know about 2019. They have made it so the software key no longer works. Good recommendations!

[Lily24]

I'm on a Mac.

[VolvoGirl]

Did you say you have the PDF files?  Why can’t you open them?  Or you need to open the program to make the pdf?  If you have the .taxyyyy data files You could try the TaxPrinter service (not connected with Turbo Tax) to convert a .tax file to pdf at

http://www.taxprinter.com

[Mike9241]

Adobe should work on a mAC

see this Adobe link

https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/acrobat-mac-os-acrobat-pro.html 

to download the app it's free

https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/install-reader-dc-mac-os.html 

make sure that your MAC meets minimum system requirements and see how to download older versions of Adobe for older MAC OS.