Backing up your TaxSlayer Pro data could not only save you headaches in the future, but it is an important part of your office security! Having a good backup can allow you to fully restore your data after a computer crash and access prior year returns and programs that are no longer supported. We encourage all TaxSlayer Pro Desktop users to backup their information every year.
TaxSlayer only stores data for the current and three prior years. This includes return data and program links. Most of our long-time desktop customers know that when a new year of TaxSlayer is released, the oldest previously available year of TaxSlayer (2014) disappears from your My Account. Once this happens, our technicians no longer have access to it either! At the same time, TaxSlayer removes all 2014 data from our servers. Once this is done, the Return Recovery function within the 2014 program will no longer work. By backing up your files to an external storage device, you can be assured you will always be able to do those prior year returns.
It is important for you to download each install file that is currently available within your My Account. We suggest creating a folder within the TaxSlayer folder on the file server titled “Installs” to save these files in. Download the installer for each year of the TaxSlayer program, rename the installer to indicate which year it is for, and copy the file to the Installs folder that you created.
It is recommended to use an external storage device that can be completely removed from the computer and the office. This protects your backup data from viruses and malware that can spread to all attached drives and devices, as well as any natural disasters that may damage your tax office. For most TaxSlayer Pro users, a 16GB external hard drive or USB flash drive will be large enough to store all prior year programs and data files.
For more information on how to backup these files, please reference our Knowledge Base article here. You can also check back next week for an informative article on how to back up the entire TaxSlayer Folder from your File Server.
If assistance is needed with backing up data, please call TaxSlayer Pro Support at 706-868-0985.
