"The selected file is NOT a previous year tax file or it is corrupted. Choose a different file and try again."

[TaxHelp2025]

I'm trying to transfer last year's desktop version return, a .tax2024 file, into online for 2025 and getting "The selected file is NOT a previous year tax file or it is corrupted. Choose a different file and try again." My return last year was prepared on a Mac. I've never put passwords on these file and the return opens fine on my 2024 desktop product. What am I not thinking of? 

[mesquitebean]

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@TaxHelp2025 wrote:

I'm trying to transfer last year's desktop version return, a .tax2024 file, into online for 2025 and getting "The selected file is NOT a previous year tax file or it is corrupted. Choose a different file and try again." My return last year was prepared on a Mac. I've never put passwords on these file and the return opens fine on my 2024 desktop product. What am I not thinking of? 

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NOTE:  I don't use a Mac, so I don't understand all its intricacies, and I may not be able to word this elegantly or even correctly 😐.  But maybe this will give you a clue for how to start investigating.

It could have something to do with the Mac Keychain or encryption.   While you may not have added a password per se, if you gave TurboTax Keychain Access, the file may be encrypted/protected using your Mac's system password or your Keychain password (if different from your Mac login.)  So I wonder if that would explain why it opens OK on your Mac.    So I'd go to Keychain Access and see if you can tell if 2024 TurboTax is included there and remove keychain access for TurboTax.   Then save the 2024 file without any encryption.   

Again, I'm not a Mac user, so I'm not certain how all that works. Perhaps a Mac user will chime in, or if it becomes necessary, we can tell you how to phone TurboTax Support.

[TaxHelp2025]

Thank you for the response. I previously went into keychain access and cleared all encryption which didn't solve it.

However, I did get it to work! I opened my old tax return in the 2024 version and selected duplicate. It was recommended I encrypt the file but I declined. This version was able to be uploaded into online. Hope this helps someone encountering the same issue.