How to Edit Data in TurboTax

TurboTax is primarily an interview-driven tax-preparation application that asks a series of questions, then enters resulting figures into your corresponding tax-forms. It also relies on data that you import or transcribe directly from other sources, such as accounting programs, financial institutions, previous-year tax returns and documents like W-2s and 1099s. Although it is relatively easy to edit data on any screen in TurboTax, you should be careful about making changes or overriding figures that TurboTax calculates. Therefore, it's recommended to correct the error at its source to save time and limit confusion later.

When you complete your return, the TurboTax Review feature will check your return and notify you about errors and missing data. To track mistakes as you prepare your return, use the View menu to switch to the Forms view of your return. Errors are flagged on the form display, and you can use the form input fields to add or edit data directly.

Use the Save option after any direct edit to ensure that TurboTax recalculates and saves your entire return. This takes just a few seconds and allows you to view your changes in every form connected to the data you changed.

You can also use TurboTax's on-screen backtracking feature to locate the original input source of data you want to edit. The data may have been information you imported, entered manually or provided as an answer in the TurboTax interview process.

Once you have backtracked to data provided as an answer to an interview question, you can make corrections to any incorrect or incomplete answers you provided during the interview process. If you find an error that resulted from an incorrect manual entry on a form or worksheet, you can backtrack to that document to edit the data at the point at which you initially entered it. Save your return once you have edited your data.

If you have errors in your TurboTax return due to data imported from another application, the best approach is to correct the error in the other application. Select "Remove Imported Data" from the TurboTax File pull-down menu, and follow prompts to highlight and remove the specific data that must be corrected.

You can then open the financial or accounting program that was the source of the incorrect data, and make changes there to correct your financial information. Save your corrected data in the financial or accounting program and close it. Return to TurboTax and re-import the corrected data from your financial or accounting program. Confirm that the error has been fixed and then save your return.