I called in. To her credit the Customer Support Agent was the best I've spoken with these many years. She didn't immediately jump to the "please update your phone number in the Security Center" rubbish answer. With screenshare she was able to see the problem. 2 and 1/2 hours on the phone later she had escalated to multiple levels of support to no avail. A remarkable effort on her behalf though! This isn't her fault. This is the fault of incompetent tech support who refuse to acknowledge that their precious software has a glitch. The onus for fixing this is entirely upon TurboTax.
In a new development this year, they suggested that I download and install the desktop version. But, I warily asked them if that would definitely fix the problem. Rather than me agreeing to take on the additional work of an installation and export/import operation - I simply wanted an assurance that my effort would fix the issue. Specifically, I requested an email from TurboTax tech support stating that installing the desktop version would fix the problem with old long ago-abandoned numbers appearing on the State portion of the return. Tech support fell back on the usual copout of "we can't send outgoing emails". However, they finally agreed that they would send an email.
It's been an hour since then and no email. And there will be no email. Because TurboTax tech support is not confident that my additional effort will resolve the problem. I believe they are simply trying to shift the burden of their glitchy product to me. I also believe that the Tech Support for online TurboTax is a separate department from the resident installation Tech Support. Which means online TurboTax support won't have to deal with the problem any longer. Just kicking the can further down the road, yet again. After 6 years of comprehensive reports of this same issue. 8 years of online TurboTax, probably at least 10 years prior to that of using the desktop version and I can't get actual constructive support for their product. I no longer want to use the desktop version. Instead I would like for TurboTax to support their online version and fix this problem. I'm being unrealistic of course. They simply won't fix the problem.
Which brings me to a couple of questions. Why do I continue to use TurboTax and why is any form of "Tax Preparation" software even necessary? As to the first question, I'm looking at alternatives as it is absolutely clear that TurboTax support is mostly incompetent. The 2nd question is more involving.
Why is it that we even have to use these terrible programs? Many industrialized countries have a simple file mechanism. The government knows what you owe and you simply agree to that. But, in the corrupt United States that is a bridge too far. Intuit, whose CEO makes $30 million a year (because she works 450 times harder than the support agents, what a rotten joke that is) spends millions more bribing both the Left and Right wings of the crooked Republicrat party in DC to prevent a simple file system being initiated and thus wrecking their parasitic enterprise. It's easy to lookup, the donations and then the "politicians" sitting on important Tax related committees who slide right into multi-million dollar paydays as Intuit "Consultants" upon leaving Congress.
And that's the bottom line. We are all victims of companies like Intuit. Our Congress are beholden to them and not the people. We will continue having to deal with garbage programs like TurboTax to fulfill our obligation to pay taxes. But, there is a better way. Not that anyone is listening to me. Thanks!
