Misleading Packaging and Lack of Compatibility Information – Canadian Version

[ericshen17]

I'm writing to express my deep frustration regarding the confusing and misleading packaging of your tax software sold through Costco in Canada.

In 2022 and 2023, my local Costco only carried the online version of your product. In 2024, they switched to offering only the desktop version. After purchasing the 2024 version and spending two full days trying to file my return, I finally discovered that the online and desktop versions are not compatible for Canadian users—despite being compatible for American users.

To make matters worse, the packaging for both versions is nearly identical, with no clear warning or explanation that these versions are not interchangeable in Canada. This lack of transparency has cost me four days of unnecessary stress and wasted time, and I’m very disappointed that the company has not made this critical information more obvious to customers.

I strongly urge you to revise your packaging and product labeling to clearly state the limitations and compatibility issues—especially for Canadian customers—to prevent others from going through this same experience.

[ericshen17]

I contacted TurboTax support, and they advised me to download the PDT file from the online version, save it with a .tt24 extension, and then import it into the desktop version — or possibly do it the other way around. Unfortunately, none of these steps are working. It feels like the customer support agents are just guessing without actually understanding the process. They also told me that activating the code on the desktop version would automatically activate the online version, which is completely incorrect.

[TurboTaxVeronique]

We are sorry to hear your experience with phone support wasn't a great experience.

Unfortunately, you can't import your previous taxes year's data from TurboTax Online to TurboTax Desktop. TurboTax Online can't export anything other than a PDF file, and TurboTax Desktop can't open PDF files. Only .ttxx files.

While they look similar, the US & Canada software are not the same, which is why they have different features. Here in Canada, we use software developed in here, not the US. Also, our online software is based off of Intuit Profile, while TurboTax Desktop is its own program that has been around for 30 or so years. They are not the same under the hood.

Once again, we apologize for this misadventure. User's feedback is always appreciated, and rest assured that your comments was shared on to the relevant teams.

Thank you,