The IRS says that if you live in designated disaster areas in Texas and the Northeast, you can e-file or mail your federal tax return until October 31, rather than the original extended-filing deadline of October 17. Taxpayers in the affected zip codes will not be assessed late filing and payment penalties and interest if they have a balance.

But if you prepare your own return, you may have to work a bit harder to get it filed on time.

TurboTax closed its server to customers preparing 2010 returns on October 19. Instead, those users will have to download TurboTax Deluxe and import their tax information from the server, with the help of TurboTax customer service. A spokesperson told us that anyone in that situation can use the company's chat line or call customer service Monday through Friday between 8 am and 5 pm Pacific. TurboTax Deluxe costs $59.95. A customer service rep can assist with importing the data.

H&R Block At Home users can log on to complete their returns. But they must print and file paper returns. An H&R block spokesman said customers could still e-file if they use a preparer at an H&R Block office. They also can use the company's Best of Both service, in which a tax professional verifies, signs and e-files customers returns; that service costs $99.

TaxACT says its online customers can log on to complete their returns. They also can e-file. A TaxACT spokesperson said its customers have until the early morning of October 31 to e-file their returns and avoid late-filing penalties.

If you've not yet filed your return for another reason—say, it was filed and rejected after the deadline and needs to be fixed—you'll now have to file a paper return. The IRS says that to avoid late-filing penalties, your return must be postmarked no later than 10 days from the time you received notice of the rejection.

TurboTax miscommunication

TurboTax confused some clients earlier this week when it informed them by e-mail that they had until October 20 to electronically re-file a rejected return. Those customers were dismayed to find the site had actually closed the day before.

"We really regret this miscommunication," said a spokesperson, Ashley Kirkendall. "We’re going to work with any customer that was impacted to get their data file from TurboTax online and transfer it into the downloaded version so they can complete and file their return." She added that if customers had already paid for TurboTax Online, the download would be free.