I replaced my hard drive and re-installed prior year versions of the TurboTax software. How can I update those software versions so that I can open the old tax returns?

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
April 24, 2023
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I need information from older returns to accurately prepare the 2022 return. For example, 2015 Turbotax. I would also appreciate if I can update the prior years' versions too.

siva27Author

Thank you.

Are these links to the updated versions of the software for the respective years? I mean, each year there would be a few updates to the software during the filing season and are the links point to those updated versions of the original versions of the CD?

I do have the original CD's of all the years and installed them in my new hard drive. However, they are unable to open the saved returns as they were created/saved with the updated versions.

Thanks.

TurboTaxSusan

The versions we have to download on our website are the most up to date versions, with all the updates applied.

BlondieSL

I know that this thread is from last year, but I too have run into the same problem.

I had to replace my hard drive with an SSD, Windows 10 and sadly, Microsoft's own Backup and Restore software, can create the IMAGE (from old drive) but it fails when trying to restore it to the new drive.

This process works perfectly with Windows 7, but not Windows 10.

Therefore, rather than a nice and easy reimage to the new SSD, I had to reinstall Win10 from scratch!

So now I have to install several years of TurboTax. I did find MOST of the CDS with their license codes, but not all. Sure, they are here somewhere, but I just can't find them as yet.

So I wish that TT would have an "archive" link where all the old versions are listed and we just clicked on the year we'd like to download.

But the other problem too, is that while I thought that the keys are stored on our accounts (since it says that on one of the packages or on the site) IT IS NOT!

As for 2023, I do have that and the key, so no issue and it installed just fine and I was able to re-enter the key.

However, when I click to "register" it, I was shocked at just how much information... PERSONAL INFORMATION that Intuit wants us to enter... INFO THAT IS NOT VITAL TO RUNNING SOFTWARE!

It should be nothing more than our name and email.... NOT our address and other PRIVATE information.

As a certified computer engineer, I KNOW that websites and their servers are often hacked! So I REFUSE to put all that info on a site!

PLEASE MAKE THIS EASIER FOR US, WITHOUT trying to gather all... ALL of our personal info!!!

It would also be a good idea to let PAYING CUSTOMERS know where on the hard drive that the license key is stored, so that, with the old drive, we can obtain it so that we can re-activate on the new drive.

Right now, I can't find a few disks with their keys, so this is a problem.

Especially for 2022, which isn't long ago. I can still access them on the old drive... but can't find the key to transfer to the new drive.

srgordon

I too am having trouble. First, I cannot find the 2018 software on that link and second, all my activations license codes for 2015 thru 2017 do not seem to work. Yet, from 2019 onwards they do?

I had a similar issue to the original poster -- hard drive failure necessitated I rebuild the PC and needed to reinstall TurboTax. I have the install CDs but they won't activate as the server they are trying to access seems inaccessible by any software prior to 2019 and I need to have at least seven years so that is back to 2016 but ideally, 2015 as a minimum (for carry forwards etc.)

Help appreciated.

TurboTaxSusan

@srgordon You can download TurboTax 2018 from this link: https://turbotax.intuit.ca/tax-software/download-skus/turbotax-2018.jsp

As of December 2024, we no longer support versions of TurboTax Desktop prior to 2018 as we no longer sell them. Updates and authentication services are no longer available for those years.

If you need information from an older return and don't have the PDF archives saved for your records, you can get info through the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)'s My Account service, or call them 1-800-959-8281 to request the info.

Please note that the CRA generally only requires records and supporting documents to be kept for a period of six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to. You can read more on their website: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/keeping-records/where-keep-your-records-long-request-permission-destroy-them-early.html

srgordon

Thank you for the quick response! I downloaded the 2018 version but it too failed on activation with the key I have?

hopefully you can help me getting it activated but generally, why would software I have paid for and activated no longer be viable for me to use? I understand Intuit may not offer support for it but if I had it installed / activated it would keep working at its last known state, so why am I prevented from using it when it is something I have already paid for? If even to print the returns or such... ?