We are strongly advising all people who have HP computers to NOT upgrade to Windows 11 that have 2018 or earlier tax versions installed on their computers. There is a known manufacturer issue with HP computers where they block part of the chipset for encryption-based algorithms. This causes the computer to go into an infinite blue screen and the only way to fix the issue is to revert it back to Windows 10, or to reformat Windows 11 while keeping all files on the computer and then not installing those years.
If you only use Tax Software 2019 and higher, then this is not an issue. The reason is the newer versions use SQL-type encryption for the returns. In prior years a different encryption method for the database was used.
Other manufacturers, we haven't heard of any issues with it. I myself have AMD and have all the prior years installed and running no problem on Windows 11. We have heard of some people running it on Dell Machines and other manufacturers fine. So far the only manufacturer that has this bug is HP (Hewlett Packard) computers.
As a friendly reminder, keep in mind when the IRS does client-based audits they only do the current 3 years (which is why they started the MeF system for electronically filing those years to help with such items)
If the IRS decides to do an in-depth audit, they don't typically go back further than 6 years.
Everyone should always have backups of all their tax returns incase of a system failure. We have always advised this, the IRS tells about this in their Code and Ethics and always a huge topic of their security forum every year.
How to do a backup
In the tax program doing a basic backup is extremely easy. Simply log under the ADMIN username and go under TOOLS > BACKUP TO DISC > REGULAR BACKUP
