My Turbotax 2019 for Mac no longer opens

[BillBjr]

I completed three tax returns   Have macOS High Sierra.  Went to go back in to Turbo Tax a few weeks later and I am having the same problem being discussed.  Tried reinstalling but that did not help.  FRUSTRATING!!!

Will be looking for another provider next year for sure.

[Mjg12]

I had the same issue after downloading a state - program crashed - have Mac High Sierra - uninstalled then reinstalled multiple times - called support - while on phone with them found a post about logging in as another user - I set up a second admin user on my MacBook Pro  - logged out - then logged in as new user - attempted to open 2019 program @- IT WORKed - I was able to put the TT file in a shared folder then able to open and efile return - support sent me new download to install - it still didn’t work - so mu current work around is to log in to my Mac as the second user.

[Pablo24]

I did call and there is no clear answer or steps. I am still having the problem.

[jina123]

I read through many posts on this and logging into your mac from a different account did work for me. I did have to re-install the state but other than that was able to finish up filing. I cannot believe Intuit would allow this bug to continue for so long - totally  unacceptable. I have been a loyal customer of Turbotax since the 90's and this alone will make me change providers moving forward.  I cannot believe if I had not found that post about trying a different account I would have been unable to file my taxes after weeks of work. 

[BillBjr]

Thank you for your reply.  I will try that option.

[BillBjr]

Thanks for your help.  I will try that.

[PLNADLER]

Exact same problem I had.  Here is what I had to do to solve it.

1) Uninstalled the program and all the "library" files, re-installed- no better.  Same brief flash that it was "verifying everything was up to date" then it went off.

2) Called Turbotax.  Was told that many people were having this problem.  They claimed that it started after a recent Apple update.  The tech wasn't sure what the problem was, but heard it "had something to do with administrator permissions" They had no fix and suggested I call Apple.

3) I played with administrator  and user permissions for the Turbo tax app.  Still didn't open.

4) Called Apple.  They never heard of this issue.  Said they were not responsible for third party apps.  Suggested I create a new user with administrator permissions if that is what turbotax said.

5) I transferred my turbotax 2019 app to an external hard drive.  Shut down the computer and opened up under the name of my new administrator (looks like a fresh new computer when you do this).  I transferred the app to my new desktop.  

6) Clicked on the app, and amazing, it opened!  Then I filed my federal returns electronically (as I was at this step when I had my first crash).  The app didn't seem to know that I had already paid my 24.99 and I transferred me to the online payment window.  Oh no,  crashed again!  It then asked me to download developer tools (like it did the first time).  I didn't do this.

7) Restarted the app and hooray, it opened again much to my surprise given my previous experience.  This time, I wanted to just print my state returns as e-filing my state returns seemed to be where the problem started- but every time I clicked "print" the program froze with a spinning ball requiring a force app quit.  Fortunately, I could restart the app after force quitting it (thank goodness).

😎 When I went back to the screen to pay for my state returns, I elected to pay by phone (NOT online).  I called turbotax at the phone number in the pay by phone dialogue box.  The rep found my previous payment (but said there was something "wrong" with it- even though I got confirmation by email and at my bank). She refunded my money and gave me a code to enter directly into the dialogue box.  I entered it, and sure enough it went through, and my state taxes were e- filed.

9) At the next window I was able to print copies and all needed  forms.

I have used Turbotax for nearly 20 years without a problem.  It has been great before.  My MacBook Air computer is working fine in everyway (besides the Turbotax app) and it is virus free.  I am not a computer expert, but I consider myself a competent user.  I don't think the app was corrupted- I installed it from a CD without any issues (more than one time). This amount of trouble is inexcusable.  If this program doesn't work on a Mac, just say so.  Or, make it work on the Mac- there are many posts from people online with this exact same problem.  This should be a high priority fix.    I used to always buy Turbotax every year without thinking.  Next time I will carefully look at the reviews and strongly consider a competitor.

[kookla143]

I had the same exact experience. It was slow, wanky, crashed multiple times throughout. Had to redo my taxes twice. It was awful. Finally got to the point of e-filing, and the app crashed and would not open. Would flash a "verify update" message that disappeared quickly then the app inexplicably closed and would not open.

TT tech support was not helpful, uninformed.

I THINK THE KEY IS TO TRASH THE PREFERENCE FILE AND RESTART.

Here's how I finally got it to open, print and efile:

1) In the Finder, select the "Go" menu (at the top of the Finder screen), and in the pull done menu select "Go To Folder".

2) In the text field of the window that opens, type "~/Library" and then click "Go".

3) Select and open the "Preferences" folder.

4) In the "Preferences" folder, select the file named "com.intuit.TurboTax.2019.plist" and drag it to the trash.

5) Then close the Library window.

6) Empty the trash.

7) Shut down and restart your computer.

😎 Go to "system preferences" and then security/privacy and turn off firewall. (Don't know if this is necessary, but tt tech support recommended this. Remember to turn back on when you're done.)

9) Don't use a short cut to start turbo tax. Go to the applications folder, find turbo tax 2019, ctrl click and open.  At this point, it started a new update to the app, which loaded.  Expect a wait for that process. RESTART AGAIN.

10) Again, open turbo tax through applications folder. Took several computer restarts, inexplicably, but finally the app launched.  I recommend saving the file and printing it/pdf, so at least you have a hard copy to file if it fails again on efile. But I actually was able to efile it, once the app successfully launched.

Good luck! I personally will never use turbo tax again!

[Thenollyon]

Same exact issue as others here.

Mac OS Catalina Version 10.15.4

TurboTax 2019 - Application 2019.r25.040

Family member had the exact same issue as reported by others. After attempting to electronically file the state return and entering the credit card information, TurboTax crashed and would no longer re-open. Now I have to help my brother in law figure out how to get TurboTax to honor the state return he is owed. I think I found someones tip in post on how to use phone option to contact TurboTax so they can lookup the paid return and provide a link to finish filing: https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/re-my-turbotax-2019-for-mac-no-longer-opens/01/14...

Followed the steps that @kookla143 mentioned:

1) In the Finder, select the "Go" menu (at the top of the Finder screen), and in the pull done menu select "Go To Folder".

2) In the text field of the window that opens, type "~/Library" and then click "Go".

3) Select and open the "Preferences" folder.

4) In the "Preferences" folder, select the file named "com.intuit.TurboTax.2019.plist" and drag it to the trash.

5) Then close the Library window.

6) Empty the trash.

7) Shut down and restart your computer.

After getting it back open, DO NOT send the error report. I also Unchecked the Auto Send box in that window just in I mistakenly select send on that box. I then leave that box in the background as selecting send simply restarts TurboTax and they we are back to the beginning of this cycle.  My advice is to leave that box in the background. If that auto send box is selected and the report is send/box is closed, TurboxTax will once again stop opening.

Thanks to all in this thread and folks helping to troubleshoot this issue. This is really crazy to see how long this has been going on without a fix.

[Pablo24]

This really works. Thanks

[shedded-hardwood-bark]

I spend much time with the TT tech support, including supervisor (2d level support).  The second level person, was more civilized than the lower level people, and really tried to be helpful, but wound up blaming it on an inconsistency between updates of apple and TT.  She also thought Mohave OS came after Catalina, which is not correct.  She said they will get back with me in a week(!).  Not very helpful in fixing their own product.  

Anyway, thanks to these last few posts above I solved the problem, easy once you know.  For a techie, it seems that a Plist problem should be a fairly basic fix to diagnose.

Thank you so much guys!  It's crazy that the TT support does not even monitor their own community support pages.  

Allen

[Suckfest]

It is appalling that TT does not monitor this platform and deal with the mess they have left behind. 

I vote no confidence!

[BillBjr]

I tried this and it worked.  Had to reinstall the state but was able to finally finish my 2019 taxes.  Unacceptable that Turbo Tax has not sent out a fix for this issue.

I will be filing my taxes next year with a new vendor!!

[retiredtaxpro2009]

I had tried all of the above solutions, including deleting the plist, but none of them worked for me.  I finally switched to a PC to finish TT on, but still took me two phone calls and 6 hours on line with TT Support to get the credits done to allow me to finish filing.  I find it amazing how companies blame other companies for their software not working and they fail to fix it.

[Cedarcottage]

Has there been a solution to this problem from TurboTax?