Confusion with Mailing Federal, Illinois, and New York State Tax Returns Using TurboTax

[RainyDayFiler]

I attempted to e-file my Federal, Illinois, and New York State tax returns through TurboTax. However, TurboTax stated that if the income earned in New York shows as $0, the e-file would be automatically rejected. This forced me to file by mail for New York, and as a result, e-filing for Illinois and Federal returns didn't go through either. I opted to file by mail, which resulted in three separate documents for Federal, Illinois, and New York State returns.

Here’s my tax situation and residency background:

• I did not reside in New York State during the tax year. I moved out of New York and have not lived there since.
• I relocated to Washington State, where the majority of my income was earned and is reflected on my W-2 form, which lists my Washington address.
• I also earned income in Illinois.
• Tax documents were generated for New York because I did not update my address on my Robinhood and Betterment accounts. These documents incorrectly listed a New York address, despite no income being earned there. However, since state taxes were withheld for New York, I needed to file a New York return to get a refund for the withheld amount.

I suspect that this residency situation may have caused confusion in TurboTax, leading to the e-file rejection.

I encountered the following issues and have the following questions:

1. What documents need to be attached to each return? Should I include W-2 forms or other supporting documents?
2. Do I need to append the Federal return form to the Illinois and New York State returns, or should each state return be submitted on its own?
3. Where should I mail each return? TurboTax did not provide clear addresses.

I contacted TurboTax customer service but received poor support. The representative could not provide clear instructions on which documents to include with each return. Additionally, they gave conflicting information about mailing addresses, including an address in Kansas City, Missouri, for the New York State return, which contradicts the official New York State website that lists an address in Albany. This inconsistency has left me unsure about where to send my documents.

I'm frustrated with the lack of clarity and support from TurboTax. In particular, I would have appreciated clearer instructions in the file received for my tax returns, so I would know exactly what to do with the documents. If I had known that I would have to figure out everything on my own, I would have prepared the returns manually.

Is there a way to ask for a refund from TurboTax since they did not deliver on what was promised? I didn’t know that I couldn’t e-file until after I had paid.

[AmyC]

Let me give you options:

Efile:

• NY -If you want to efile - put $1 of income on the NY return. It won't be taxable but it will efile.
• The federal should efile regardless of NY. There must be another issue for it to not file.
• The IL should file regardless of the NY return. There must be another issue.

Mail:

1. Each taxing agency has its own rules about what to mail but all require tax forms attached. Supporting documents should not be necessary unless you  were told to add them - like a renters credit certificate or some other special situation.

2. It is always a good idea to put the federal return behind the state return when submitting the state. 

2b. If one state is giving credit for tax paid to another state, you will include a copy of that state's return under the state being submitted. For example: IL has credit for NY tax paid, submit IL, NY and Fed all together, in that order.

3. Mailing instructions:

• NY - see the last page of IT-203-I (Instructions)
• IL - see the first page of IL instructions
• Federal -Where to file paper tax returns with or without a payment