I am unable to download my filed 2020 tax return (.tax file), and unable to amend my 2020 tax return. Customer service was not helpful and closed my case, erroneously.

[DoninGA]

What happens when you use this procedure?

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/

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

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.

[codepoet]

The download always says "cannot be completed at this time", although downloading my 2019 or 2018 .tax files works fine.

The online amend always times out and says "we've lost the connection" at various points in the amendment process (typically at first stage).

I believe the two issues may be related.

All of this is in my Custom Support case [phone number removed], which was closed erroneously (in my opinion) because my problem has not been resolved.  I need to amend my 2020 tax return and transfer that data appropriately to my 2021 tax return (which I filed an extension for but need to complete now)

[DoninGA]

Since you can download prior year tax files and the issue is only with the 2020 download you will need to connect with TurboTax support again.  Give them your prior Incident number and make sure they understand the problem is not fixed.  

TurboTax support is open Monday thru Friday from 5am to 5pm Pacific time.

See this TurboTax support FAQ for contacting support - https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/using-turbotax/help/what-is-the-turbotax-phone-number/00/25632

Support can also be reached by messaging them on these pages https://www.facebook.com/turbotax/ and https://twitter.com/TeamTurboTax

[Carl]

@codepoet my bet is you've already tried the below things already and nothing worked. But here it is just in case.

1 - Try using a different browser such as FireFox, Opera, Chrome, or Brave.

2 - Try from a different computer (even with different browsers.)

3 - Make sure you are attempting to download directly to the computer and not to an external device, such as a USB stick. (Default download location on windows is the Downloads folder, as I'm sure you already know.)

4 - Disable anti-virus temporarily - in particular, disable what's commonly called "real time protection".

5 - Ensure the folder you're downloading to isn't "protected" - particularly if using Windows Defender. Even if not using Windows Defender, turn off controlled folder access in Windows Defender anyway, *if you can*. To do that in Windows 10: (think Windows 11 too, but not sure)

   - Settings -> Update & Security -> Windows Security -> Virus & Threat Protection ->Manage Settings -> Manage Controlled Folder Access.

Turn off Controlled Folder Access *TEMPORARILY*, and see if you can download the file then. Regardless of your success or lack thereof, turn this back on when done.