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Solved

Program Updates

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
July 29, 2019
10 replies
0 views

T/T just updated my program to the 7/19/19 version. when I click the "MORE DETAILS" hyperlink, it brings me to a generic page https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/home/misc/03/en-us for BOTH the Program Updates and Federal Tax Forms updates that were in the successful update box. Where's the details?? How does one find out what was in these updates, this worked fine earlier this year. (The Program Update box even has the word "CRITICAL" so I want to see what happened here.)

TurboTax Deluxe Windows

Best answer by DoninGA

The More Details link has been broken for several months waiting for a fix from the TurboTax programmers. As yet, no fix.

See this TurboTax support FAQ for the latest release information - https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/using-turbotax/help/turbotax-release-notes-for-windows-personal-tax-software/01/26799

DoninGAAnswer

Employee

The More Details link has been broken for several months waiting for a fix from the TurboTax programmers. As yet, no fix.

See this TurboTax support FAQ for the latest release information - https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/using-turbotax/help/turbotax-release-notes-for-windows-personal-tax-software/01/26799

AndrewQQAuthor

Thank you. I don't get why this continues to be such a problem with them. When the tax season opens, it takes months for the links to eventually work, now they don't work again. This is what we used to call in the business (I designed operating systems for a rather large computer company for 30+ years) a SMOP..."a small matter of programming". It always amazes me that if they can't get this simple thing to point to a documentation file correctly, why do I trust the program to actually perform accurately in the tax calculations???

Anonymous

when I started preparing tax returns decades ago, there were no computers so they had to be done by hand. I could carry a copy of the Internal Revenue Code - 1 volume that could be carried in one hand. over the next 5 decades the US Congress has seen fit to make the code so complicated only the simplest returns can be prepared correctly by hand. Your concern about accuracy is the same that pro's using software costing many thousands of dollars have. There is no way to be sure. For a fact, this year's IRS's original worksheet for computing the Capital Gains Tax contained an error that affected some filers. Since some software providers like TT followed the IRS worksheet, some of its filers were affected. The IRS didn't catch or fix the error until after the 4/15 filing deadline. During my career I have seen IRS notices saying taxpayers returns were wrong to be in error. So you see even the IRS gets it wrong. At least TT offers to pay penalties and interest if its computations are wrong.

elbara

Employee

Just to let you know, Turbotax now is showing updates for 8/14/2019, but still no details. Exasperating.

Constantins

It is very surprising . Until today, I did not have troubles to read about update content. I tried to see the 8/14/2019 updates and I could not. I got to a generic page.

Regarding 8/14/2019 update TT mentions that is critical. And I cannot see it. Very strange.

Maybe some people at Intuit are paid from competition to do a bad job. Or this is the beginning of the end.

I will regret if so.

Constantins

Ha, I was updated to level 3. Is this a joke?

davesontimeevery

I'm new to this forum, so I'm not sure if this is the right place to post my question, although my question relates to updates.

Now that I've read the replies on this thread, perhaps I can answer this myself. The answer being that TT is running way behind in having working, up-to-date links to the update information.

So, here's my story. I started TT today and was prompted to have TT updated. I did. When the updating was done, the window said the updates were released on 9/25/2019. I too clicked the link to find out details about the change. The link take me to https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/home/misc/03/en-us. I found a thread that linked me to the updates https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3169946-turbotax-2018-release-notes-for-windows-personal-tax-software

So, as you can see, the page starts by saying the latest update is dated September 10.

I've included the update window that says my update was released 9/25/2019 so you can see what threw me off. It's unnerving to think that I've downloaded a suspicious update. This is a piece of software that we all have to put a lot of trust into. But this is what it is?

DoninGA

Employee

TurboTax updated the 2018 software on 09/25 to Release 48. That release has not been reflected in the support FAQ at this time.

Critter

Employee

Almost all updates to the program after April have to do with "housekeeping or technical issues" and do not affect the returns themselves ... however as a precaution you should :

1) shut off automatic updates once you have filed the return

2) always save a copy of the return and add the current date to the name file ... so if you have to ever return to a prior version you can .... for example JohnSmithReturnAsOf..10/6/19 or JaneDoeReturn.as.filed. 4/15/19 ...ALSO keep a copy of the .taxfile & PDF on a separate storage medium like a thumb drive in case your computer dies

3) only update the program when step 2 is complete

akenclark

Is there nothing more recent than July? I tried the link and got a bright red "access denied"

DoninGA

Employee

@akenclark wrote:

Is there nothing more recent than July? I tried the link and got a bright red "access denied"

What tax year are you trying to update? Tax year 2018 updates were completed in July of 2019.

Tax year 2019 was only just released so there will be many updates in 2019 and 2020.

curtgo

Actually, it's been broken for more than a year!! This, combined with the splash screen that automatically says "OK, we know this is taking a little more than a moment..." irrespective of the actual situation really undermines my confidence in the program. If I were on the development team, I'd truly be embarrassed.

DoninGA

Employee

@curtgo wrote:

Actually, it's been broken for more than a year!! This, combined with the splash screen that automatically says "OK, we know this is taking a little more than a moment..." irrespective of the actual situation really undermines my confidence in the program. If I were on the development team, I'd truly be embarrassed.

TurboTax has made the decision not to support Release Notes for tax year 2019.

The More details link in the desktop Updater window will be removed later in 2020.

If you would like to make a comment on this TurboTax decision then contact TurboTax support.

Use this website to contact TurboTax support during business hours - https://support.turbotax.intuit.com/contact/
Support can also be reached by messaging them on these pages https://www.facebook.com/turbotax/ and https://twitter.com/TeamTurboTax

T-Wheel

continues to be a bad link in TT2019 Today is 2020

Mkenne2

Employee

I've contacted my senator Chuck Grassley to help investigate this. Maybe other should contact their congress member's. This is not right and may be fraudulent.

CapJan1946

Another thought came to mind, perhaps the IRS should be notified. The IRS is hooked up with them for electronic returns and refunds. I am thinking that there might be a lot of tax payers that might get into issues.

I believe that it is all about marketing their product by preempting other competitors in their early, and not fully tested, release. During the weeks before tax deadline they do upgrades by spying on their clients returns to catch possible errors, as the clients fill in their tax data on the various forms.

AndrewQQAuthor

Whoa people! I am as just as ticked off about the lack of details in updates (I've 'complained' many many years about this) and I was upset when I heard they wouldn't be doing this in t/y 2019. But that's a FAR cry from them 'snooping' or possible questionable business practices. I think we all need to get a grip.

zinj

I have reported this issue 6 times since late December (it's now March 4, 2020).

The short answer is that Intuit just doesn't care. It looks so sloppy, but Intuit DOES NOT CARE.

This should be the easiest fix imaginable -- just spend 10 seconds to correct the html link. It's not a calculation error. It's not a missing form, it's not a missing feature, it's not file import/upload problem. It is a simple broken reference.

Intuit DOES NOT CARE.

Buy the software and shut up.

Last year I had a state tax form that would calculate correctly and would show up in the "forms" view, but mysteriously disappeared during print. TurboTax was able to replicate the error, but was clueless about how to fix it. I had to do the form by hand and append to my return and mail it in that way. Got my 2018 software fee refunded, but I don't know (yet) if they ever got around to fixing the issue.

2006-2009: I reported a technicality that was wrong with municipal bonds. Basically TurboTax had been coded with "radio buttons" (only one of a list of several may be selected) rather than "checkboxes" (more than one may be selected). It only was an issue if you had to amortize the bond premium on certain municipal bonds.

The error recurred for 3 years, after which point I no longer had the bonds and so stopped looking for it. TurboTax was not willing/ able to fix it despite my citing chapter and verse of the tax code showing exactly why they should.

Point is, if you're waiting for a fix, and it doesn't gum up a great many returns (in this case it's merely informational), TurboTax probably will let you down.

mikehansen7786

Their level of concern is pretty clear - and pretty low. On the other hand, their opinion of themselves is rapidly approaching the level of arrogance.

Even Microsoft, a company not known for being humble, provides details on almost all their updates. TurboTax is not the only game in town and I hope they figure that out in the immediate future.

EddieK747

There is NO EXCUSE for this -
https://ttlc.intuit.com/articles/4784576

The worlds most popular Tax Program, and this is what we get ???

Amazing. CRITICAL FORM AND PROGRAM UPDATES. And I can't find out WHAT forms were CRITICAL (After I filed electronically).

🙎

Cows-do-not-have-to-pay-taxes

This question was answered three weeks ago by "CHAMP Kat Level 14:"

Although many users are unhappy about it, TurboTax will no longer be publishing Release Notes as they have in the past. The "More Details" link should have been removed some time ago. This decision was made by the higher-ups in Intuit.

I spoke with technical support and they are now aware the link is still appearing.