Turbo Tax Nightmare Didn't Save .tax2020 file only PDF, Filed & Now Need to Amend

[mydogsmom]

I am living a TurboTax nightmare! A week ago I bought 2020 TT Premier Desktop. I did my 2020 taxes, printed them out, and sent them and a check for $1600 to the IRS and was expecting a fine and interest to be accessed. Today I decided I needed another look because the amount didn't seem right. There is now no .tax2020 file to open, only the 2020 PDF file. I called TT and the person said I was going to have to re-enter the info to try to get back to the original file. So, 1) I am unable to look at the PDF and get all the info right again to get back to the same number (I must have changed rental property cost and land values on the printed one and don't know what they were.) I just can't get there. 2) I went ahead and just re-entered all the info from my records as if I were doing them for the first time and now instead of owing $1600, I owe $9787! (I sold a rental and had problems inputting the asset sale, expenses, and depreciation.) I just now went over that again. I had missed re-entering it and it changed to owing $9787 instead of a refund. 3) TT acts like I didn't already pay for the return and now wants me to pay again for federal and one state that was in the first purchase. 4) I can't just Amend the tax return because I can't bring up the original. 5) I finally got TT online to upload the 2020 PDF but that's all it opens, the PDF, not the file. What the heck am I going to do???  Take my original 2020 PDF to a professional and get him to re-enter it? Can they without knowing the hidden values I used?  I'm in a nightmare!

[SteamTrain]

It sounds like you are attempting to upload your 2020 tax file into the "Online" software to amend your 2020 tax return.

You Can't do that !   Online is only for 2021 taxes, not 2020.

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To amend your 2020 tax return, you restart your already installed Desktop 2020 program, and amend from there.    Yes, the .tax2020 file has to be in there already, but perhaps the desktop program has the proper path to it and it will show as soon as you start up the 2020 Desktop program.  IF not, then yes, you'll have to recreate the original...Save it, then amend it.

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IF the original file doesn;t show when you start yoru desktop program, Search for that .tax2020 file ! 

 Look in the trash folder.  And if you have a cloud service for backup files, check that too.  Tose tax files simply do not disappear unless you purposely/accidentally erased them.

[mydogsmom]

Actually it ended up being a glitch that customer service manager had not heard of. Took two hours of my life for them to conclude they’d never encountered this. When I entered my 2020 info in Feb 2021 when electronic filing is no longer allowed it said that I could file electronically, took my check routing info, printed out a PDF telling me that it had been electronically filed, didn’t save the info, and never went anywhere. (I’m hoping!) They we’re able to verify that my account had not electronically filed. My taxes were never filed and yet if I hadn’t come back and found out that the file wasn’t saved and worked it from that angle I would have totally thought I had filed and paid my 2020 taxes! I had to re-enter and was able to correct problems that had brought me back in the first place. Hope this helps some future person.