Turbotax deleted my return!

[kumstadter]

Exact issue I had in April. They told me nothing they could/would do. I had a pdf version but they wanted to charge me to reenter it. I ended up just printing & mailing what I had already done - even though I would have had a bigger refund if I were able to update some info. 

Maybe TaxCut or H&R Block this year since I have to start from scratch anyway!

[xmasbaby0]

@DLL58 Contact support for help in finding your tax file.

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.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901659-find-your-tax-data-file-in-mac

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1900721-find-your-tax-data-file-tax-file-in-windows

[mesquitebean]

@DLL58     We don't know what you have already done, so this may be redundant.    Be sure to search your entire system (including backup drives, if applicable) for any files ending in *.tax2020 or whatever tax year you seek.   Also be sure to check the Recycle Bin as user Janet44 did with success above.   Another user once reported anecdotally that for him it ended up in OneDrive or some similar cloud storage.

NOTE:  If you are using Windows with more than one Windows user account, be sure to log into each user account to do the search and check the Recycle Bin in each user account.   User account A won't be able to find it in a Search if it's in Account B.

[Gregory Nichols sr]

please show me my turbo taxes for 2020

[DoninGA]

---

@Gregory Nichols sr wrote:

please show me my turbo taxes for 2020

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You have to sign onto your online account using the exact same User ID you used to create the online account.

Close all TurboTax windows on your web browser (including this one).  Copy and paste the account recovery website link onto a new web browser window and run the tool.

Use this TurboTax account recovery website to get a list of all the User ID's for an email address.  Run the tool against any email addresses you may have used - https://myturbotax.intuit.com/account-recovery

If none of the user ID's received will access your account, then use the option shown in blue on the account recovery website, "Try something else"

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.

To access your current or prior year 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)

See this TurboTax support FAQ for accessing prior year online tax returns - https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/prior-year-return/help/how-do-i-access-my-prior-year-return/01/270...

If you still cannot access your account, you can contact TurboTax customer service/support through their contact website during business hours.

See this TurboTax support FAQ for a contact link and hours of operation - https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3401489

Submit your question/problem during business hours and then use the option for Call (a phone number will be provided for Call) to speak directly with a TurboTax agent -

Note:  The Call option will not be available when TurboTax Support is closed.

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

[cjdelane]

The same thing happened to me again this year.  I installed a digital copy, and when I went to find my 2020 return, it was missing!   I had the exact same thing happen last year when looking for my 2019 return.  Last year, I chalked it up to user error - I found it hard to believe that TurboTax was the cause, so it had to be me right?   But when the SAME thing happened again this year and my 2020 file disappeared, I am confident that it’s TurboTax.  I just don’t know how to fix it.  I plan to contact support 

[MichelleLO]

Can you please clarify the issue you are experiencing?  Did you use TurboTax CD/Download and are having trouble finding the saved tax file on your PC or are you using TurboTax Online and don't see your 2020 return?

@cjdelane

[cjdelane]

Hello Michelle,

I downloaded TurboTax from Amazon.com.  It was a digital download.  I did the same thing for both the 2020  and 2021 editions of TurboTax.  I left all of the defaults when installing the products, and I installed both versions to my C: drive.

I didn't have any trouble with the installation (no error messages), and I don't recall seeing any messages about deleting files.

When I pulled open the "blank" 2021 return, I had TurboTax browse to find my 2020 tax return file.  It didn't find it.  So I went to Windows Explorer, and I tried multiple searches using different criteria to find my prior year tax return file.  I even tried to look for hidden files.  I tried looking in my recycle bin.  I logged into OneDrive online and searched that Recycle bin.  The 2020 tax return files are just gone.

The same exact thing happened to my 2019 return when I installed Turbo Tax 2020 last year.   So, I was definitely aware of this issue, but thought it was a one-time glitch in TurboTax.

I used TurboTax 2020 Deluxe last year to upload my federal and state returns.  I have the emails from TurboTax acknowledging the e-filing and later providing me with status updates.

I would truly like to know what happened to my data.

[Critter-3]

The TT program doesn't delete any files on your computer so they must have gone somewhere ... did you move  them to a thumb drive or removable hard drive for safekeeping ?    If so you need to copy the file and put it back on the C drive so the program can find it.  

[cjdelane]

I agree, but I don't use external physical storage devices, and the folders that I use are sync'ed up to the cloud, so I really don't understand what happened.  Again, I'd chalk this up to "user error", but the same thing has happened two years in a row using TurboTax.  It doesn't make sense to me either.

[Critter-3]

If you have cloud storage then you need to figure out how to get it back off the cloud if the file was sent there and not just copied to the cloud storage.  

[LEEJENNI]

Same!!!!  It is nowhere to be found on my computer.  So frustrated!!!  I even went in again and entered a couple things to test it and then hit save....when I logged back in nothing....

[rkkirkwood]

I just nearly completed my federal return on my Mac so I clicked on state return and down loaded the Ca. state software.  When the down loaded completed I was asked if I wanted to import last years return, so I did that (with a .pdf file from last year).   I warned me that this would delete all date in the present return, but I assumed that meant the Ca. return (which had not data yet), and clicked ok.  Now all data from federal and state returns is gone! How can I get it back?   

[xmasbaby0]

@rkkirkwood Bad news.   You deleted it and cannot get it back.   You cannot perform tax file transfer after you have already begun to enter 2021 data.   If you try--you lose everything you have entered so far---as you just discovered the hard way.   The transfer was not just going to be for the CA return.   Trying to transfer a 2020 tax file after you were already in progress with preparing your 2021 return deleted it all.  You will have to start over.  Sorry.

[jivefive99]

Turbo has been deleting my returns routinely for several years.  I thought it had something to do with me and my co-users using up the 5 returns we can do per disk (we pass the disk around so it would be easy to accidentally start too many returns), but Im still not sure.  I have them all filed in the same folder and this happens constantly.