TurboTax on a Mac puts an unknown password on the file

[spncity]

Anyone else had this problem?

First TurboTax rep says "That's a Mac issue. We can't help with that."

Got in by answering a security question.

Second TurboTax rep looks up an article and sent the link. It helped. Here it is:

Mac not using Keychain
If you haven't given TurboTax Keychain access, you can select Forgot Password in the password request window to answer your security question. That will get you back in. Once you're back in, select Password Encrypt from the File menu if you want to update or remove your password.

Mac using Keychain
In some rare cases if you've given Keychain access to TurboTax, you can go to Applications > Other > Keychain access > Keychains > Login > Category > Passwords, then find Intuit or TurboTax. Right-click Get Info > Attributes > Show Password.

You will be prompted for your Mac password and it'll show you the password you used to encrypt your TurboTax file. This is may not work for all users.

 

[Al18]

It doesn’t seem wise to encrypt your TurboTax file, unless you are sharing your computer with a stranger.

 

[audreyh1]

We don’t encrypt our TurboTax files. We encrypt our drives.

 

[LateToFIRE]

We don’t encrypt our TurboTax files. We encrypt our drives.

How do you encrypt your drives? You using Mac?

 

[braumeister]

How do you encrypt your drives? You using Mac?

On a Mac:
System Settings
Privacy & Security
FileVault

 

[spncity]

It doesn’t seem wise to encrypt your TurboTax file, unless you are sharing your computer with a stranger.

Agree! It was so weird that out of nowhere the TT file was locked and required a password to open.

Anyway - we removed the password and everything seems to be fine now.

Thanks for the replies.

P.S. The other sus thing one of the reps said was, "Well, you didn't buy the product from "us".

(We bought it from Costco.)

 

[audreyh1]

How do you encrypt your drives? You using Mac?

Yes, Mac.

 

[frank05]

At least on the Mac the first time you save your tax return, TurboTax defaults to file encryption. You need to turn it off then it remembers it on subsequent saves. I never tried saving with the encrypted option.

 

[Jerry1]

At least on the Mac the first time you save your tax return, TurboTax defaults to file encryption. You need to turn it off then it remembers it on subsequent saves. I never tried saving with the encrypted option.

I’ve used TT on Win machines for decades. This year, I bought a iMac and loaded/used TT on it. It did not default to saving it as an encrypted file. There must be some setting the OP had set. Or, it’s not clear to me, maybe he used the online version?

 

[socca]

At least on the Mac the first time you save your tax return, TurboTax defaults to file encryption. You need to turn it off then it remembers it on subsequent saves. I never tried saving with the encrypted option.

I seem to recall that TurboTax on Mac asks whether you'd like to encrypt the file on the first save attempt and then never asks again.

 

[braumeister]

I seem to recall that TurboTax on Mac asks whether you'd like to encrypt the file on the first save attempt and then never asks again.

That has been my experience.