help importing last years numbers from turbo tax problem

[ratface]

Hi everyone. Trying to import last years information into this years taxes with turbo tax. It keeps stopping me on every attempt. Last years info is on the harddrive as a PDF. Turbo won't recognize the PDF. It wants a file with a .tax extension. I'm looking at the forms but can't get them imported. Is there some backdoor way or conversion to get turbo to recognize the pdfs. Never had a problem years past, this is turbo delux, has something changed? anyone know if I can get the original electronic filing off of cyberspace somewhere if necessary?

 

[Sue J]

Do a search of your computer looking for all files with a .tax extension. You may have to use *.tax as the search.

I don't have TurboTax but I suspect that last year it saved your .tax file in a different folder than where you saved your .pdf. Do you have a folder called TurboTax? Or maybe it was saved in My Documents.

If you find where it was saved last year, that's where you need to navigate to when TurboTax goes looking for the file. You may get a box that looks for the file, use the BROWSE button to direct the program to the proper folder.

 

[OAG]

I believe that if you saved your return from last year as ONLY a pdf file you are out of luck. In hind sight, and I do not use Turbo Tax, what I do is save the Program (in my case TaxAct) AND the Tax data file to a 256K Thumb Drive (they cost about $5-10 and can be bought, in bulk, even cheaper). That way I have the entire history along with the program - I only keep each year on a seperate TD for 3-4 years as I don't see any value beyond that.

 

[RustyShackleford]

I believe that if you saved your return from last year as ONLY a pdf file you are out of luck.

I'm afraid this is almost certainly true. Sorry. Why'd you do that ? (You
can buy a half-terabyte hard-drive for close to $100 last time I looked).

I think TurboTax is pretty smart about finding the .tax file if it's anywhere
on your HD.

 

[ERD50]

- I only keep each year on a seperate TD for 3-4 years as I don't see any value beyond that.

There can be lots of reasons (well, one reason really - our complex tax laws), to keep tax records longer than that.

One example - if you did something that required you to file an 8606 in one year, you may need to reference the numbers on that the next time you do a similar transaction (like Roth conversion). Those could be many years apart.

IMO, any form like that should be required to be carried forward each year, so you never need to go back more than one year. Of course, IMO, taxes should be simple enough to not need to look back for anything.

-ERD50

 

[OAG]

Sorry, I was speaking personally, my taxes are and have always been simple, none of that applies, but if it did I could maybe see a need to keep it longer.

 

[jazz4cash]

Cant be done according to this link from TT's website:
Transferring in TurboTax - TurboTax® Customer Care & Support

 

[OAG]

From what I see on the link there is NO WAY to transfer from a .pdf file. It only tells you how to find last years ".tax" file on your computer. OP suspected they only saved it as a .pdf.

 

[nwsteve]

My version of TT automatically saves on each use in the *.tax format used by TT. Have to make a separate save command to save as pdf. Now if OP did TT on a different puter, or hard drive, current version not likely to find the file.
nwsteve

 

[jazz4cash]

The link implies you could download an older version of TT to open the *.tax file (i.e. if you had deleted the TT program, the *.tax files would still be saved), apparently at No Charge. Sue's suggestion to search for the *.tax file seem appropriate, but I suspect OP has moved on.

 

[thefinancebuff]

The link implies you could download an older version of TT to open the *.tax file (i.e. if you had deleted the TT program, the *.tax files would still be saved), apparently at No Charge.

Where do you see that? I don't see it in the linked article.

 

[jazz4cash]

Where do you see that? I don't see it in the linked article.

sorry....it's actually on another webpage in the support tab. Based on a quick read, you can access TT online version at no charge or they will replace a lost TT CD for cost of shipping.

Access Prior-Year Tax Returns - TurboTax® Customer Care & Support

 

[ratface]

Thanks all. Was unable to retrieve it. *.tax comes up with only a 2kb shortcut to nowhere. I don't have the 2007 TT software anymore. Lesson learned, save TT as a Tax file and keep your old disk at least till next years taxes. TT must have been automatically been saving in years past but something must have gone wrong last year.

 

[ERD50]

Thanks all. Was unable to retrieve it. *.tax comes up with only a 2kb shortcut to nowhere. I don't have the 2007 TT software anymore. Lesson learned, save TT as a Tax file and keep your old disk at least till next years taxes. TT must have been automatically been saving in years past but something must have gone wrong last year.

I'm quite sure that TT was *always* saving the .tax file. That is what it uses to run, it really can't run w/o it. The pdf is a separate output that TT really does not use - that is just for us humans.

I suspect that you either deleted the file somehow (check your backups), or you were storing it on an external drive or another partition that is not mounted when you do the search.

-ERD50