Will 2020 Turbo Tax work with a 2020 M1 Mac

[pnmiz]

I must upgrade my computer system beyond the model's capability so I cannot do my taxes (Turbo Tax) on it.

I would like to purchase a new M1 (ARM) 2020 Mac but cannot find a compatibility list that includes Turbo Tax 2020.

Will Turbo Tax 2020 run an the new Mac?

[xmasbaby0]

For 2020 desktop TurboTax

Mac CD/Download Products

Operating Systems

• macOS Mojave 10.14 or later

RAM

• 2 GB or more recommended

Hard Disk Space

• 1 GB for TurboTax

Monitor

• 1024x768 or higher recommended

Internet Connection

• 1 Mbps modem (Broadband connection highly recommended). Required for product activation, software updates and optional online features

Printer

• Any Macintosh-compatible inkjet or laser printer

[Opus 17]

Officially, yes.

Practically, we haven't heard from an actual user yet one way or the other.  However, the Apple software development kit has supported the M1 chips for a while, and Turbotax almost always uses the current SDK, so I am hopeful it will work smoothly.  

[macuser_22]

A user posted a couple days ago that they have a new M1 laptop and TT 2020 installed just fine.

[pnmiz]

Thanks for your reply. Intuit should not wait for this question to be asked, but rather to issue an official statement as to its present state of compatibility with the new processor. Macs no longer an also-ran in the computer universe, and Intuit has ample resources to have already done all the testing!

I've been on a Mac since 1987 and the early days of Mac In Tax (glitchy and painful). The last few years of Turbo Tax on the Mac have been "drama-free," and I am hoping to continue using it.

Thanks again

[fanfare]

It's the Operating System that counts, not the underlying hardware.

[LordAragorn]

Usually, yes but in this case the processor matters. Will TurboTax 2020 run using the Rosetta 2 emulator or will it be specifically compiled for the M1 chip?

[macuser_22]

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@LordAragorn wrote:

Usually, yes but in this case the processor matters. Will TurboTax 2020 run using the Rosetta 2 emulator or will it be specifically compiled for the M1 chip?

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I assume the former since TurboTax uses the Apple supplied developers tools and the same software has to be comparable and run in all Macs OSX 10.14 or higher - there will not be a separate product just for M1.   

[Opus 17]

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@macuser_22 wrote:

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@LordAragorn wrote:

Usually, yes but in this case the processor matters. Will TurboTax 2020 run using the Rosetta 2 emulator or will it be specifically compiled for the M1 chip?

---

I assume the former since TurboTax uses the Apple supplied developers tools and the same software has to be comparable and run in all Macs OSX 10.14 or higher - there will not be a separate product just for M1.   

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I would say the answer is "whatever the Apple SDK does."  Remember Apple allowed for "fat binaries" when transitioning from Motorola to Intel.  The same could happen here.  

[LordAragorn]

Apple already supports that:

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode/porting_your_macos_apps_to_apple_silicon 

"Create a version of your macOS app that runs on both Apple silicon and Intel-based Mac computers."

So the question is whether Intuit will be doing that for TurboTax 2020?

[macuser_22]

As we both said - it is the Apple Developer tools do that governs.     TurboTax uses the Apple SDK to compile Mac TurboTax so it is what Apple supports, not what TurboTax does.  TurboTax always uses the most current version  of the Apple provided SDK to compile TurboTax.

[LordAragorn]

Yes, you are right that the tools are from Apple but it depends on how the binary is built by Intuit. From the Apple docs: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode/building_a_universal_macos_binary

The question still remains whether Intuit is going to:

1. build only an x86_64 binary which would run under Rosetta on the M1 Macs or
2. build a universal binary that supports running natively on M1

[macuser_22]

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@LordAragorn wrote:

Yes, you are right that the tools are from Apple but it depends on how the binary is built by Intuit. From the Apple docs: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode/building_a_universal_macos_binary

The question still remains whether Intuit is going to:

1. build only an x86_64 binary which would run under Rosetta on the M1 Macs or
2. build a universal binary that supports running natively on M1

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It is not what they are "going to do" since the 2020 desktop version is already available.  You can download it and see.    Nobody in this user forum has any other "inside information" as to how it was developed. 

[ATLTTaxUsr]

Is this M1 compatibility list correct? Can I expect to run Turbotax 2020 in Rosetta 2 only on my Apple Silicon Mac? It's been a couple of months since anything has been said about it here.

[LordAragorn]

As of Feb 4th 2021, the app is still an Intel binary but I have been using it without problems on the M1 MacBook Pro. Only one crash in the past 2 months of use.