TurboTax Mac will not start after latest form updates Dec 20 2024

[vinceskahan]

I got email saying schedule B was available so I fired up TurboTax desktop on my m1 mac mini.  It downloaded and installed the required updates.  Now every time it starts I get 'no tax form updates at this time' (it runs the updater every startup), and when I click OK then TurboTax simply exits after about 3 seconds.  No way to actually USE it at all.  It just seemingly aborts.

I'm on the latest MacOS Sequoia 15.2 - is there a way to find some logfile to see what is going on ?  At this time I'm out almost $100 for Premier that won't even run.  Beyond frustrating !!!!

[vinceskahan]

Still fails, now worse than before with bouncing beachball of death, no way to report the 'snag', then aborts totally.  This is just AWFUL software.  C'mon people don't you test at all any more ?  Completely unusable.

I posted to the ttax forum on Reddit and somebody else reported the same issue, so it's pervasive.

[vinceskahan · Accepted solution]

UPDATE - FIXED - it turns out that now if you have your ttax data directory on a drive synched to Dropbox that you need to have Dropbox running before starting ttax.  This is new behavior, as previously for 10+ years things worked just fine with the data locally and synched to Dropbox whenever Dropbox was intermittently started up as needed.

This broke Family Tree Maker similarly.  In that case I got messages saying the data file wasn't compatible, and of course it was.  Trying again with Dropbox running and it was fine.

Uncertain if it's Apple or Dropbox at fault here, but it seems this is 'not' a TurboTax bug.  Just passing along the scoop in case others run into it.

(FWIW - I would hope TurboTax would just pop a 'cannot find file at path /something/here' dialog to tell the user what the issue is.)

[rstitt]

I continue to have this issue after each update. Following the update, the application either crashes or stops responding prior to opening the last used file. Unlike the OP, I do not use DropBox or any other sync.

MacOS Sequoia 15.2

TurboTax Desktop Deluxe 2024

The only workaround I have figured out is to force quit TurboTax (if it just isn't responding), rename my data file. Then, when I launch TurboTax and get past the "No Updates" screens, I get an error that it cannot find my file, so TurboTax opens a new, blank return. I can then restore the name of my existing data file and TurboTax will open it. It continues to work correctly until the next update, then the process starts all over again.

[Vanessa A]

Try closing out TurboTax and restarting your MAC.  
After you do, then open the TurboTax program from the Applications menu.  Do NOT open your tax data file, instead ONLY open the program.  Once you open the program, go to File>>Open Tax returns. Continue working on your return from there.

If that does not work, you can uninstall and reinstall the program by following the instructions here. Be sure to follow ALL of the uninstall instructions so you remove any hang ups that may be causing your error.  

[rstitt]

Already tried the restart/delete/reinstall steps. Didn't make any difference. The problem keeps coming back after each program update. Also, I've been starting TurboTax from the applications menu all along, not clicking on my data file. TurboTax automatically tries to open the last used file. I can find no way to turn off this behavior, short of renaming the file before launching (which is the work-around in my first post). Have not had an update since my previous post, so will post again after the next one to see if anything has changed.

[steven_in_oc]

I have the same problem. The hang occurs after every update. Uninstalling, deleting all library files, and reinstalling each time this happens is not a fix.

[MonikaK1]

I just ran updates on my Mac today and was able to reopen TurboTax from the Applications folder with no problem.

See this help article for troubleshooting steps for Mac issues.

If you confirmed that you have all of the minimum system requirements, you might also try clearing your cache and cookies.  

If after trying all of the options mentioned you still have the same problem:

See this help article for instructions on how to contact TurboTax customer support depending on which product you are using. 

@steven_in_oc