Troubleshooting TurboTax

TurboTax is one of the most popular software programs for filing tax returns. And, tax time isn't that far away. While TurboTax is really easy to use, you may still run into problems when e-filing, printing your returns or simply downloading the software. Here are some of the most common problems and what you should do to fix them.

If you are going with TurboTax Online, you have to download the information from www.turbotax.com. If you have already bought TurboTax, and you are trying to get updates for your software, you may run into Error 40. This signifies that your updates failed to download. You may be having some interference from a download accelerator or one of your programs or firewall software is blocking the updates.

To cure this problem, try one of these solutions.

1. Try downloading Federal updates manually. You can do this by going to http://turbotax.intuit.com/support/kb/update/update/6345.html.

2. If you use a download accelerator, try turning it off (disabling it). Then you can try to download the software again.

3. Allow the software to run by clicking allow this software on your firewall program. If your firewall is trying to block the software, a message will ask you if want this program to have access to Internet. You need to select yes. This will alert your firewall software that this is a recognized program.

For a review of TurboTax, read Jennifer Wingard's TurboTax Sofware Review.

If you're having trouble printing your tax returns, you should first verify that the printer plugged into your computer is set as your default printer. If this does not fix the problem, try following the below steps for Windows users.

1. Hold down Ctrl key.

2. Go to File -> Print Setup. This will open up your Printer Configuration window.

3. Check the Force Low Resolution option, and uncheck the rest of the options.

4. Save your settings.

5. Try reprinting the document.

For Mac users with the same problem, try following these steps.

1. Open up your File drop-down menu.

2. Click Print.

3. A drop-down list will appear. On this list, click Background Printing, and select General.

4. Print your document.

There are many reasons for why an e-file rejection will happen. A few years back, TurboTax had a major glitch on tax day, and the whole system went down. No one was able to file their taxes, but the government understood the problem and gave all these people extensions with no penalties. But, a whole system failure usually isn't the issue. Sometimes it is as simple as not having up-to-date software. Here are some of the most common issues with e-filing.

1. Update your software. With Windows, you can do this by going to your Online Menu and selecting One-click Updates. On a Mac, you can go to your TurboTax menu, and select Check for Updates.

2. Use your Interview screen to fix your errors. If you check your TurboTax status, and your taxes were rejected, you can press the Fix button. TurboTax will walk you through the program again and point out the errors that need to be fixed. Often, tax returns are rejected because of your social security number being inputted incorrectly.

Once your problems are fixed, you can resubmit your tax returns. TurboTax will walk you through this process.