TurboTax secretly does NOT download all the Massachusetts State Tax Form updates. How many updates were done for Mass?

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
October 1, 2020
2 replies
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Long story short, I've been using TurboTax for years and know it normally updates the Federal and State Forms, often numerous times.

To clarify: I have auto updates enabled on both machines, I let it update (and let it installed them), rebooted, checked for new updates (and let it install them), rebooted, checked for new updates, rebooted, let it sit for 4 hours, waited till next day and checked for updates. I also reinstalled and the desktop still shows the no MA update thing.

I have TurboTax on my desktop and am filling it out like usual (I have progressed deep into the State tax section, I'm not at the beginning, I've gone all the way up to the point where I could file if I wanted to) notice it doesn't show having done ANY Massachusetts updates!

Totally as a test (not expecting any differences), I installed it on a Laptop, and I was surprised to see it shows there was ONE Massachusetts update in May 20th 2020 (no other updates before or after).

Screenshots showing the 2 computers.
Desktop: https://i.imgur.com/rvV4wyO.png
Laptop: https://i.imgur.com/J2U5Lwk.png

Now my questions are, how many Massachusetts state updates does yours show??? How many SHOULD it be showing on a properly running TurboTax???

If my Desktop is already missing ONE (and I found it by complete accident), I'm not confident my laptop caught them all either (they could have been TWO, but my laptop picked up only one).

I only found this out by complete accident, I wonder it has affected other people who did not notice?

SteamTrain

Employee

Both of my computers show many Federal and State updates...several pages of them (since I installed in Dec). AND I force-check for software updates almost every week, since I'm using it every week.

There's always Customer Support (during their weekday work hours) to see if they can determine if you have the latest MA updates installed on each...just make sure you have already forced an update from within the software first.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/using-turbotax/help/what-is-the-turbotax-phone-number/00/25632

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Don't know if the following explains part of your situation or not, but freeewheel thinking about it:

...if you have the auto-updates turned off , then you have to manually go to the "Check for Updates" selection in the top menu in order to get all the current updates. So how many updates you see can depend on when you forced the update check last on each machine, and when exactly each set of software was installed. Also, if you didn't use the software for a couple months, then a single update for Fed or State would cover all several updates in only one update. i.e one update contains all the previous missed updates in single listing.

Perhaps for your desktop, maybe you have the initial install of MA that already contained the Laptop patch noted...but that's not an Update.

From your pictures.....it looks to me like you have the auto-update turned off, and you either don't open the software very often, or don't force the software update very often from the top menu....or both. You can check where yours is set on each computer by looking at the top menu (<Online<<Updater Preferences )

I have mine set as "Ask Me" so that I can check the update on my laptop with a test file before committing to using them on my Desktop, or skip the update if I decide I'm not ready to check my test file....I keep my real tax return on my Desktop, and a test file of the same thing the laptop.

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For example, my laptop had the software installed at the same time as my desktop, but had far more updates on it since I use it more often, and check for, and install updates more often ....But I do have to trigger the check for new updates myself every week since I help her in the Community and use the desktop software several days, every week (I usually check for updates on Friday since updates usually come out on Wed or Thurs).

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That may not explain what you see, because it's impossible for us to know your exact setup on each one, and how often you've been using each computer.

____________*Answers are correct to the best of my knowledge when posted, but should not be considered to be legal or official tax advice.*

taxpocalypse Author

I have auto updates on and have been manually triggering them as well, rebooting often, leaving the computer to sit there, these are all the updates I could get.

Do you have MA as your state, could you please take a screenshot similar to mine, it will help me. I called CS but they didn't seem to understand and just said if it's going to automatically do it and whatever it does is defacto correct.

SteamTrain

Employee

Nope...don't have MA.

@ScruffyCurmudgeon and @linear do, if they happen to be around, but they don't seem to have posted anything since July

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1) One thing I could suggest would be to shut down and reboot your computer(s) once or twice. Waiting, & unfinished Windows updates have been known to block TTX updates, even if you don't know they are waiting

2) The only other thing would be to uninstall and reinstall TTX, but that seem rash, and you'd have to start a test file to re-load & Install MA before you attempt to open your real tax file.

3) Finish up (except for filing) on one computer, take a copy of that exact file to the other computer and open it there. Print out a filing copy on both to see if there are any differences.

____________*Answers are correct to the best of my knowledge when posted, but should not be considered to be legal or official tax advice.*