TurboTax start over: clearing a return in Online and Desktop

TurboTax start over in Online: Clear and Start Over

The TurboTax start over option in the online product is called Clear and Start Over. It erases every entry in the current year's return and puts you back at the first screen, while keeping your Intuit Account and any prior-year returns.

1. Sign in to TurboTax and open or continue your return.
2. Select Tax Tools in the left menu.
3. Select Tools.
4. Choose Clear and Start Over.
5. Confirm that you want to erase the return.

Intuit also lists the option inside the Switch Products menu. In the TurboTax mobile app, tap More in the bottom menu, choose Clear and Start Over, and confirm that you want to clear your tax data.

When the Clear and Start Over option is missing

Intuit's rule is short. You can clear and start over only if you have not submitted payment, not chosen to have the TurboTax fee deducted from your refund, and not registered the product. After any of those, the option disappears and you must edit the return by hand.

Editing after you paid

A paid return can still be emptied piece by piece. On each income or deduction summary screen, delete the forms you do not want, then revisit My Info for personal details. It is slower than a clear, but the result is the same.

If the reason you want a restart is a single flag that will not clear, try the fixes in TurboTax keeps saying needs review first. Deleting and re-entering one form usually solves it.

How to restart TurboTax Desktop with a new tax file

TurboTax Desktop saves each return as a separate tax file on your computer, so starting over means starting a new file rather than clearing one.

1. Open TurboTax Desktop.
2. Select File, then New Tax Return.
3. If asked whether to save the return that is open, choose not to save if you do not want the changes since your last save.
4. Work through the new return from the beginning.

Keep the old file out of the way, not deleted

The old return is still in the TurboTax folder inside Documents, named with the year, your name and a .tax2025 style extension for the tax year 2025 edition. Rather than deleting it, move it to a folder called Old or add "draft" to the name. That prevents TurboTax from opening it by mistake and keeps a backup. Our page on the TurboTax tax file explains where these files live.

TurboTax delete state return and start the state again

Often only the state return is wrong, such as a state picked by mistake or a move entered on the wrong date. You can remove just the state and leave the federal return intact.

In TurboTax Online

1. Open your return and select State Taxes from Tax Home.
2. On the Status of your state returns screen, select the trash can icon next to the state.
3. Select Delete.

Intuit says deleting a state is possible only before you pay. After paying state fees, use the Start Over option next to that state on the same status screen instead.

In TurboTax Desktop for Windows

With the return open, choose File, then Remove State Return, pick the state, select Remove and confirm with Yes. If the correct state still needs to be added, download it from the State Taxes tab.

Limits after you pay or file

Once a return is filed and accepted, no clear or restart can change what the IRS received. Corrections go on an amended return, Form 1040-X, which TurboTax prepares from the original. A rejected return, by contrast, has not been filed at all, so you fix it and resend; see TurboTax rejected return.

Starting over is also not required when your tax year changes. The 2027 season edition for tax year 2026 returns is a separate product with its own new return; Intuit has not yet announced its release date.

Before clearing a return because a new deduction entry went wrong, check the dedicated walkthroughs for the overtime deduction in TurboTax and no tax on tips in TurboTax. Fixing one screen is quicker than rebuilding the return. Other faults are covered in TurboTax not working.