Anne Arundel County Taxes: Rates, Credits, and Deadlines

Anne Arundel County taxes fall into a handful of categories: real property tax at a county rate of $0.977 per $100 of assessed value (combined with the $0.112 state rate, that’s $1.089 per $100), a graduated local income tax ranging from 2.70% to 3.20%, recordation and transfer taxes on real estate transactions, and business personal property tax at $2.442 per $100.¹ Real property bills are due July 1 and payable without penalty through September 30. The rest of this article walks through each tax, what you’ll actually pay, and the deadlines that matter.

Real Property Tax Rates for Fiscal Year 2026

Fiscal year 2026 runs from July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026. The combined real property tax rate per $100 of assessed value breaks down this way:¹

County rate: $0.977
State rate: $0.112
Combined total: $1.089 per $100

On a home assessed at $400,000, that works out to roughly $4,356 per year before credits. Properties inside the City of Annapolis or the Town of Highland Beach pay an additional municipal rate, bringing the combined total to $1.433 or $1.441 per $100 respectively.¹

The assessment behind your bill comes from the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation, which appraises every property in the state once every three years and phases the new value in over the cycle.² If you believe SDAT overvalued your property, you can appeal at no cost through SDAT’s website using comparable sales as evidence.

Payment Deadlines and the Semi-Annual Option

Real property taxes become due on July 1. You have until September 30 to pay without interest or penalty; both begin accruing October 1.³ Treat September 30 as a hard cutoff.

Owner-occupied properties can split the bill in two. Under the semi-annual plan, the first installment is due by September 30 and the second by December 31.³ The second installment carries a service charge of up to 1.65%.⁴ Pay the full amount by September 30 and you avoid that fee entirely.

Credits That Reduce Your Property Tax Bill

The Homestead Tax Credit is the most valuable one on the list, and many homeowners who qualify haven’t filed for it. It caps the annual increase in your taxable assessment at a fixed percentage no matter how much market value has climbed. Maryland allows counties to cap the increase at up to 10%; Anne Arundel County has set its cap at 2%.⁵ If your home’s market value jumps from $350,000 to $400,000 in one year, the county taxes you on $357,000, not $400,000.⁶

The property must be your principal residence, and SDAT requires a one-time application. Once approved, the credit applies automatically going forward.

The county offers additional credits for disabled veterans and their surviving spouses, properties in airport noise zones, brownfield sites, conservation land, and commercial revitalization areas.⁷ Maryland separately runs a Homeowners’ Property Tax Credit based on household income, which can reduce bills for qualifying low- and moderate-income homeowners regardless of age.

Local Income Tax

County residents also pay a local income tax on top of the Maryland state income tax. For 2026 the county uses a graduated structure rather than a single flat rate.⁸

For single, married filing separately, or dependent filers:

2.70% on income up to $50,000
2.94% on income from $50,001 to $400,000
3.20% on income over $400,000

For married filing jointly, head of household, or qualifying surviving spouse filers:

2.70% on income up to $75,000
2.94% on income from $75,001 to $480,000
3.20% on income over $480,000

The State Comptroller collects local income tax alongside the state tax through a single return, and your employer withholds both from each paycheck based on your county of residence. If you’ve moved recently, verify that your employer has the correct county code on file. Nonresidents who work in Maryland but live elsewhere pay a flat 2.25% special nonresident tax instead of any county rate.⁸

Recordation and Transfer Taxes at Closing

Buying or selling property in the county triggers two separate taxes at settlement. Together they can add thousands to closing costs.

Recordation Tax

Anne Arundel County charges $3.50 per $500 of consideration, or $7.00 per $1,000, applied to the sale price and to any mortgage or deed of trust recorded with the transaction. On a $500,000 sale, that’s $3,500. First-time homebuyers may qualify for a recordation tax exemption on owner-occupied residential property if they have never owned residential property in Maryland and will occupy the home as a principal residence.⁹

Transfer Tax

The county transfer tax is 1% on transactions under $1,000,000 and 1.5% on transactions of $1,000,000 or more.¹⁰ A $500,000 purchase runs $5,000; a $1,200,000 purchase runs $18,000. The charge is typically split between buyer and seller, though the allocation is negotiable.

Maryland adds a state transfer tax of 0.5% of the consideration, reduced to 0.25% for first-time Maryland homebuyers.¹¹ The county and state transfer taxes stack on top of each other, and both come on top of the recordation tax.

Business Personal Property Tax

If you own a business in the county, you owe tax on the equipment, furniture, inventory, and fixtures used in it. The FY2026 rate is $2.442 per $100 of assessed value for most of the county, $3.397 inside the City of Annapolis, and $3.321 in Highland Beach.¹ Those rates are significantly higher than real property rates, which surprises some new business owners.

Every business must file SDAT’s Form 1 Annual Report and Business Personal Property Return by April 15 each year.¹² Filing late or incompletely can trigger an estimated assessment from SDAT, which usually assumes values rather than using your actual figures.

Special Taxing Districts

Some tax bills include a separate line item for a special taxing district. The county has three types:¹³

Special Community Benefit Districts fund community road maintenance, security services, facility improvements, and pest control.
Shore Erosion Control Districts pay for construction and repair of erosion control structures and bulkheads.
Waterway Improvement Districts cover channel dredging and related work.

These are geographic areas, usually a single community or subdivision, where property owners have voted to tax themselves for a specific purpose. Forming a new district requires a two-thirds vote of the property owners in the proposed area. Each district sets its own annual rate.¹³ If a charge on your bill doesn’t match anything you recognize, this is usually the reason.

What Happens If You Don’t Pay

Unpaid property taxes don’t just generate interest and penalties. The county holds an annual tax sale, typically in June, where delinquent tax debt is auctioned off to investors.¹⁴ The purchaser doesn’t take your house immediately. They buy a lien that gives them the right to eventually foreclose if you don’t pay.

After the sale, you can still redeem your property by paying the collector the full lien amount plus interest, any taxes and penalties the lien holder has paid, and reimbursement for their expenses such as title searches and attorney’s fees.¹⁵ The clock matters. For owner-occupied residential property, the lien purchaser can file to foreclose your right of redemption nine months after the sale date. For all other property, it drops to six months.¹⁴ Once a court issues a final decree barring redemption, the property is gone. Paying by September 30, or contacting the Office of Finance before the sale date to discuss options, avoids the whole process.

1
Anne Arundel County Government. Current Tax Rates
2
Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation. Real Property – Section: About Real Property
3
Anne Arundel County Government. Real Property Tax
4
Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation. Question and Answers on Semiannual Property Tax Payment
5
Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation. 2025-2026 Tax Rates and Homestead Credit Caps
6
Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation. Maryland Homestead Property Tax Credit Program
7
Anne Arundel County Government. Tax Credits and Exemptions
8
Maryland Comptroller. 2026 Maryland State and Local Income Tax Withholding Information
9
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Tax-Property 12-103 – Recordation Tax Rates
10
Anne Arundel County Government. Recordation and Transfer Tax
11
Maryland General Assembly. Fiscal and Policy Note – House Bill 82
12
Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation. Form 1 Annual Report and Business Personal Property Return
13
Anne Arundel County Government. Special Taxing Districts
14
Anne Arundel County Government. Tax Sale
15
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Tax-Property 14-828