While you cannot "email" a tax return to anyone, including the State of New York, as an official format for filing a tax return, it is true that New York requires "e-filing" (which is different than regular email) of state tax returns. That said, there are exceptions to this requirement for NY e-filing, and you would definitely fall under one of them, if you paper-filed (by mail) your corresponding federal tax return. Please allow us to explain.
If you paper-file a federal tax return, then the
TurboTax software won't allow you to also e-file a state tax return, where the user has first
selected (or was forced into) the paper file option for their federal
tax return. There is no way to "fix" this, or to change the software
program to accommodate a New York state e-file. We apologize for any inconvenience.
The
underlying reasons for this limitation, however, are that the New York Department
of Taxation and Finance needs a taxpayer's Form 1040 (federal return) in
order to process the state return. Where there exists no e-file
version of the TurboTax user's federal tax return, it is not possible
for the software to create one just for a New York e-file effort. Also,
in an attempt to combat tax return identity fraud (theft), and in
cooperation with the state revenue authorities, it is not possible through
TurboTax to e-file just a state tax return alone, without an
accompanying e-file federal tax return.
Thus, despite New
York's mandate for e-filing, you are left with a couple of reasonable
choices. We have a Frequently Asked Questions webpage (at the link
below), with some helpful details on New York:
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901383-is-there-a-penalty-if-i-don-t-e-file-my-new-york-return
Probably
the easiest thing to do, however, is to simply ignore the New York
e-file mandate (for the very good reason that you are unable to comply
in TurboTax, having already paper-filed a federal tax return), and print
and mail your state return to New York, along with signed copies of
Pages 1 and 2 of your Form 1040 (or 1040A or 1040EZ). Here is a link to
the valid, official, New York mailing addresses that you can use for
this paper filing purpose:
https://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/file/return_assembly_mail.htm
Thank you for asking this important question, and once again we apologize for any inconvenience.
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