How to Complete Maryland Tax Power of Attorney Form 548

Maryland Form 548 is the Comptroller of Maryland’s power of attorney form, and it’s how you authorize another person to access your confidential tax information, speak with the Comptroller’s office on your behalf, or sign tax agreements for you. To complete it, you identify yourself and your representative, list the specific Maryland taxes, form numbers, and years the authorization covers, sign it, and send it to the Revenue Administration Division.¹ The details below matter, because the Comptroller rejects forms that are vague or incomplete.

Who You Can Name as Your Representative

The form’s instructions recognize ten designations. Four cover licensed professionals: attorneys admitted in any state, certified public accountants, enrolled agents, and Maryland-registered individual tax preparers. Each must enter a license or enrollment number on the form.¹

You are not required to hire a licensed professional. Non-professional categories include:

A corporate officer such as a president, vice president, or secretary of your business.
A full-time employee of your company representing the business.
A family member: spouse, parent, child, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, step-parent, step-child, step-brother, or step-sister.
A general partner with authority to bind the partnership under Maryland law.
A fiduciary such as a trustee or executor.

The tenth designation is a catch-all labeled “Other.” If your representative doesn’t fit any of the nine specific categories, you can still use them, but you have to attach a written statement explaining the source of their authority.¹

Filling Out the Form

Taxpayer and Representative Details

Individuals enter their name, Social Security number, and mailing address exactly as they appear on state records. Businesses enter the entity name, federal employer identification number, and business address. For your representative, provide their full name, firm name if any, and a direct phone number so Comptroller staff can reach them.¹ Missing or incorrect identifying information is grounds for rejection.²

The Tax Matters Section

This is where most forms fail. You have to list the specific type of Maryland tax (income, sales and use, employment, withholding, and so on), the Maryland tax form number (for example 502 or MW506), and the exact years or periods covered.² A single form can carry as many tax types and years as you need, and consecutive years can appear as a range like “2022 thru 2025.”¹

Do not write “All years,” “All periods,” or “All taxes.” The Comptroller treats any power of attorney with that kind of general reference as invalid.¹ Every tax type and every period must be spelled out.

Scope of Authority

By default, Form 548 lets your representative talk to the Comptroller, receive and inspect your confidential tax information, and sign agreements or consents for you. It does not allow them to receive or cash your refund checks. If you want that authority included, you have to add it in the “additions or deletions” section of the form.³

Signatures

Sign and date the form. For a joint return, both spouses must sign unless one has given the other written authorization to sign for both.¹ Your representative signs the Declaration of Representative section and enters the designation number (1 through 10) matching their category. Notarization is not required.

How to Submit Form 548

Send the completed form to the Revenue Administration Division by whichever method suits you:

Mail: Comptroller of Maryland, Revenue Administration Division, P.O. Box 1829, Attn: POA, Annapolis, Maryland 21404-1829
Fax: 410-260-6213
Email: scan the signed form and send it to RADPOA@marylandtaxes.gov

Originals, photocopies, and faxed copies are all accepted.² The Comptroller does not send a formal confirmation letter, so if you need to verify that the authorization is active, your representative can call the Comptroller’s office and reference the specific tax years listed. If an auditor or agent is already assigned to your case, sending a copy directly to that person alongside the formal submission can speed things up.

Using a General Power of Attorney Instead

Form 548 is not the only option. The Comptroller will accept a durable power of attorney or any other power of attorney form authorized by Maryland law.² That can be useful if you already have a general financial power of attorney in place under the Maryland Uniform Power of Attorney Act.

The catch: the alternative document still has to include the same identifying information and the same specific tax matters that Form 548 requires. Type of Maryland tax, form number, years or periods, all of it. A broad grant of financial authority alone will not satisfy the Comptroller if the document doesn’t identify the specific tax matters, and a document missing those details is rejected the same way an incomplete Form 548 would be.²

Revoking or Replacing the Authorization

To appoint a different representative, file a new Form 548. The new filing automatically revokes any earlier power of attorney on file for the same tax matters and periods. If you want to keep a prior representative in place alongside the new one, check the retention box on the form and attach a copy of the earlier power of attorney you want to preserve.³

To revoke without naming anyone new, write “REVOKE” across the top of the first page of the previously filed power of attorney, sign and date below the annotation, and mail or fax the marked-up copy to the Revenue Administration Division at the same address used for new filings.¹

When the Authorization Ends

A Maryland tax power of attorney has no built-in expiration date. It stays in effect until you revoke it, until a new filing supersedes it, or until either the taxpayer or the representative dies.² A Form 548 you filed years ago for 2023 and 2024 income taxes still lets that representative access those years’ information today unless you revoked it. If your relationship with the representative changes, the authorization won’t lapse on its own; you have to revoke it.

1
Comptroller of Maryland. Maryland Form 548 Power of Attorney Instructions
2
Comptroller of Maryland. Tax Guidance – Power of Attorney
3
Comptroller of Maryland. Maryland Form 548 – Power of Attorney