TurboTax Deluxe Desktop Bug???

[user17753279329]

I purchased Turbotax Deluxe Desktop this year as I have for the past 20 yr. However this year while I can run the program I cannot access the download from financial institute and filing features because I cannot access my account from the Desktop (although I can from my browser). I am presented with the standard checkbox (I am not a Robot) but this is followed by an infinity of Captcha challenges that never end! Two phone calls to Turbotax CSRs failed to resolve the issues (turnoff vpn, clear browser cache, start Turbotax as admin, stop all ad-blockers, use Edge browser, etc, etc etc). I was finally given access to Turbotax Online but find this version inferior to the Desktop version. About a week ago, on a whim, I decided to try one more time using what I can only describe as a "counterintuitive" approach. In this instance I turned my VPN on!!! When I checked the "I am not a Robot" box, no captcha challenges and I immediately gained access to my account and now had full access to all of Turbotax Deluxe Desktop features. I was stunned. So my question is why in the world does using a VPN suddenly work. This is exactly what Turbotax CSRs advise their callers to turn off in order to access their account. What gives?

[M-MTax]

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@user17753279329 wrote:

This is exactly what Turbotax CSRs advise their callers to turn off in order to access their account. What gives?

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I think it works both ways sometimes, depending. We assume that thousands of people who use the same VPN provider are assigned the same IP while our ISPs have thousands and thousands of different IPs to assign to us. That does not appear to hold true in all instances.

For example, my current ISP has assigned me an IP within a range of 256 IPs (i.e., not a whole lot). Thus, I been hit with what I think is more than my fair share of CAPTCHA challenges. Conversely, when I use a VPN, I almost never see one, so it's strange.