Tax files disappearing on Turbo Tax year after year

[jivefive99]

Now that Turbo Tax will be completely controlled by Turbo Tax online, will anything be done about tax files routinely disappearing from our computer storage (happened the last few years) if the files arent touched after a certain period of time?  I dont do much ahead of time anymore since my work entering numbers in January can totally disappear by March.  They gonna do anything about that tendency?

[xmasbaby0]

Not sure what you mean by "completely controlled by TurboTax online...."-----which does not make sense and sounds like you misunderstand something.      There will still be online software and the desktop software--as always.  The difference for 2024 will be that the desktop software is not going to be on a plastic CD.  It will only be available as a download.   But you will download it to your own hard drive, and your files will be stored locally on your own computer----they will not be stored online in an online account.   

If you use desktop TurboTax YOU have to save your file after you work on it.   That way it will not be lost.

[VolvoGirl]

@jivefive99   Files disappearing?   That should not happen.   99.9% of users don’t lose files.  It must be something about your computer.  Are you on Windows or Mac?  Are you losing the .taxyyyy or pdf files?   Are you saving backups to a usb or external drive?  You should always make backups of both the .tax and pdf files, especially if you have a problem with them disappearing.   

For Windows

Did you search your whole computer for all files ending in .tax2023 etc?And check the recycle bin and your backups.  Check in One Drive, Drop Box, etc.  It should be in your Documents then in the Turbo Tax folder.  Also if you have multiple Windows user accounts, log into each one and do the search for the *.tax2022 data file from within each one and checking the Recycle Bin in each one.

If you don't have the main .tax file you might have one that starts with a Tilde sign ~ like  "~your name.tax2022".  That file is if your computer crashes or your real file gets lost or deleted or corrupt so you can restore it.

Don't know if this will help any Turbo Tax users but one Quicken user found them......

What I found was that my Quicken Data files ended up in the One-drive Recycle bin. Not sure how, but I found them there.  I placed the files back onto the laptop and brought the files into Quicken and now have all my data back.

[Opus 17]

1. Turbotax Online is not the only product.  You can still use Turbotax installed on your own computer.  Only the delivery method is changing (download instead of CD).

2. With Turbotax Online, access to past years is sometimes locked out if you don't use your account for several years, but I don't know the current policy on this.

3. With Turbotax Desktop (installed on your own Mac or PC) only you have copies of your tax data files and tax returns.  You are responsible for your own backups.  If your tax files are being lost, that is a problem with your computer or hard drive, not Turbotax.  Turbotax can't remotely delete files you created. 

[VolvoGirl]

Some other ideas......

See this thread,
https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/re-tax2023-file-disappeared/01/3315633#M1220199

Try this, one post says…..
For some reason the update to Turbo Tax 2023 starts you back as if you have not started your 2023 taxes. If you open Turbo Tax 2023 again and browse for your file you will see in the bottom right hand part of the screen it only includes the 2022 extension. It does not give you an option to see 2023 tax files. Choose your 2022 tax return and say transfer then before saving click open return. It will ask you if you want to save the newly begun 2023 tax return, change the name on it so you don't copy over your 2023 return. After this, click open return and you can click on find a file and you will see now at the bottom right hand corner it does have the 2023 tax file option. It will take you to both you old file and renamed file. Select your original file and you will have the file you are looking for. Works for all 2023 files you have worked on but you will have to open and resave for them to pop up in the program.

One user said….
When you install the program I recall it asks for Admin rights. So I logged off my account that I WAS in when I installed the program and logged in as administrator. I started TurboTax under the Admin account and my files were there. In the C:\Users\Admin\Documents folder. I NEVER USE THIS ACCOUNT!

I exited the program and account and went back in using my normal user ID. I then restarted the program by Right-Clicking the icon and selecting Run as Administrator. The files were there...made my day. I opened them and did a "Save As" to the file folder that has all my past returns and matches the User ID I was in when I set it up.

In short TurboTax is saving them in the default C:Drive Admin account document folder and if you are not starting as an Administrator they are invisible. Hope this helps.

[jivefive99]

Four replies from high TT people ganging up on me within hours of my original post about tax files disappearing would lead me to believe there is indeed a (intentional) problem with tax files disappearing from TT.  Ive worked with computers since the 1970s and I am a logical person.  You set aside a directory for all your TT stuff, and in 5 days, 5 weeks, couple of months, the return you worked a long time on is no longer there.  It's being done on purpose (how TT reaches into my drive and did this I cannot say, but with the whole thing being online now, I'd say it will be even easier to "disappear" files.)  I just wondered if anyone saw the future of file existence to change?  Im still having to do very little ahead of time cause in February when I file I likely will have no file to send to IRS. 

[Opus 17]

The people who answers posts are volunteers.  If anyone is "ganging up" it is because it is the slow season, we are bored, and there are not enough new questions happening.

I have never experienced any file deletion, and the number of similar complaints on this board can be counted on the fingers of one hand.  If you really suspect something nefarious is going on, make backups of your tax data to the cloud, a flash drive, a non-rewritable CD, or print copies of your tax return so they can be read the light of a candle even if your computer dies in a Carrington event.

(I'm not joking.  I have genealogy documents that I scanned in 1990 at the then-unheard of resolution of 300dpi, and I also took photos of them with B&W technical film.  Those negatives contain far more information than the scans, don't need to be ported from computer to computer when disk drives and CD readers disappear, and can be viewed with a magnifying glass and a candle if all technology fails.)