Changing home router deactivates TurboTax

[eastern-skier]

Hello,

In October 2023, I had to change (by cloning) my home router's IP address in order to solve an email problem with my ISP.

In December 2023, I installed and activated the 2023 version of TurboTax Basic. It works fine.

However, when I try to view my older tax declarations for 2020, 2021, and 2022, I get asked to insert my product activation codes for those respective years.

After entering my old activation codes, I get the error 603 claiming that I cannot add an additional computer.

I have never installed TurboTax on more than 2 computers in any one year, so in any case,  I should be allowed a 3rd computer, which is not happening

I believe that the change of my IP address is preventing the operation of my older versions of TurboTax which were previously activated.

I know my old IP address and my new IP address.

Can I get the TurboTax activation server to replace my old IP address with my new one?

My versions of TurboTax prior to 2020 still work because the activation method did not rely on using an IP address in order to identify the computer.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[TurboTaxSusan]

Please contact our phone support team at 1-888-829-8608 as they will be better able to assist you.

[eastern-skier]

Thanks for your suggestion.

Is there any on-line tool that lets me display how many computers TurboTax believes have been activated in any specific year?

[TurboTaxSusan]

No. Even I don't have a way of checking. Phone support has more tools.

[eastern-skier · Accepted solution]

Today I worked with the help agent by phone to resolve my issue. She needed to determine that I had really purchased the 2020, 2021, and 2022 versions of the product, using the order numbers from my receipts. She needed to use my original 16 digit activation code for each of these three years to determine how many times each code had been used.

She determined that my 2020 activation code could be used one more time and that the 2021 and 2022 codes had been previously used 3 times each.

I successfully re-activated my 2020 version using my original code. She emailed me a bonus one time activation code for 2021 and 2022 on the grounds that my previously activated version had lost its activation because my router's MAC address had changed (due to cloning) which changed the IP address of my modem and made it appear that I had a different computer.

Our telephone call lasted an obscene amount of time but we were both patient with each other. Were it not for the fact that I have been using TurboTax for 20 years, and I hope to do so for another 20 years to come, I would otherwise feel guilty for her having spent so much time.

 The bottom line is that once your product is activated, it can lose its activation due to some change in the hardware or firmware (motherboard, network card, router, modem, etc.)

 Having a paper copy of your old tax return has limited value as a backup because many of the worksheets are not printed out. Only being able to revisit the digital version (not PDF version) lets you see the whole picture behind your old tax declaration.