FILING EXTENSIONS DIRECTLY WITH TAX AUTHORITIES CREATES ISSUES: While filing directly with federal and State authorities on THEIR website is decidedly faster than the TTax solutions* as one of the forum members remarked, there are two significant issues that this will cause when you actually submit your taxes:
1) As another community member found out, The software will keep thinking you are filing LATE and calculate penalties and interest to pay. That is because TT has failed to enable telling the software that u filed for an extension.
2) Some states - like New York - specify that extensions "have to be electronically filed through the tax preparation software with which the return will be filed later".* If you don't e-file the extension (or can not, as in the case of TT), then the state might not allow you to/reject your state tax to be filed electronically later! In other words, you will have to print your state tax forms out and mail them in!
TorboTax must be aware of this as complaints on the subject date back many years. But it seems like the issues does not upset enough filers to warrant their attention. (Just like the Form 1116, Depreciation table, 401k contribution and other ongoing, known issues)
(*The solutions are: 1) Filling out form using your downloaded TT software -print- physical mailing Or @) R-entering your key personal data on Intuit online site and e-filing from there. It defeats the purpose of having a CD version, of course, if that (also) was to not giving Intuit permission to use your personal date (including SSN, age, income, address, etc.) in perpetuity for any purpose Intuit sees fit - Read the fine print in the conditions of use around page 36!)
** Link to that specification for New York State as an example: https://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/file/ext.htm#:~:text=How%20to%20request%20your%20extension,we%20received%....
@TurboUser4 , @stuart ng , @Victor21
