How to Fill Out and Submit the Maryland Employee’s Withholding Certificate (MW507)

To fill out Maryland Form MW507, enter your name, Social Security number, address, and county at the top; work through Line 1 to claim your personal exemptions (using the Personal Exemption Worksheet on page 2 if your income is above the threshold); use Lines 2 through 8 only if extra withholding, a full exemption, a reciprocal-state situation, or the military spouse rule applies to you; then sign the form and give it to your employer. The MW507 is Maryland’s Employee’s Withholding Certificate, the state counterpart to the federal W-4, and your employer uses it to withhold both Maryland state tax and the local income tax charged by your county or Baltimore City, which ranges from 2.25% to 3.30%.¹

What to Have in Front of You

Download the current-year MW507 from the Comptroller of Maryland’s website or pick one up from your HR office.² Have these ready:

Your Social Security number and full legal name.
Your current home address, including the Maryland county or Baltimore City where you live. This sets your local tax rate.
Your filing status: single, married filing separately, married filing jointly, or head of household.
A rough estimate of your federal adjusted gross income for the year, so you know whether the personal exemption phase-out applies.

The county entry matters more than it looks. Several Maryland counties now use graduated local rates that change with income. Anne Arundel, for example, charges 2.70% on the first $50,000 for single filers but 3.20% above $400,000.¹ A wrong county means wrong local withholding all year.

Line 1: Your Personal Exemptions

Line 1 is the total number of withholding exemptions you’re claiming. If your adjusted gross income will be $100,000 or less ($150,000 or less for joint filers), you can simply count your personal exemptions and enter that number. Above those figures, work through the Personal Exemption Worksheet on page 2.²

Each exemption is worth $3,200 at full value for 2026, but that value shrinks as income rises. Single and married-filing-separately filers see the exemption drop to $1,600 between $100,000 and $125,000 of federal AGI, to $800 between $125,000 and $150,000, and disappear above $150,000. Joint filers and heads of household keep the full $3,200 through $150,000, see it cut to $1,600 between $150,000 and $175,000, and lose it above $200,000.³

The worksheet is six steps. Multiply your exemptions by the value from the table, add $1,000 for each person who is 65 or older or blind, add any itemized deductions above the $3,400 standard deduction, then divide the total by $3,200 and drop the fraction. That number goes on Line 1.² If you hold more than one job, don’t claim the same exemptions on both employers’ forms. Split them, or claim them all on the higher-paying job.

Line 2: Extra Withholding Per Paycheck

Line 2 is a flat dollar amount you want added to each paycheck’s withholding. It’s useful if you have non-wage income (rental income, freelance work, investment gains) that Maryland tax won’t come out of automatically, or if you’ve owed a balance at tax time in recent years.²

Line 3: Claiming Exempt From Withholding

If you owed no Maryland income tax last year, got back everything that was withheld, and expect the same this year, you can claim exempt on Line 3. Check both boxes (a and b), enter the year, and write “EXEMPT” in the space provided. Your employer will then stop withholding Maryland income tax entirely.²

This exemption expires every year. File a new MW507 to renew it. Seasonal workers and students whose annual income falls below the minimum filing threshold are the people who most commonly qualify.

Lines 4–7: If You Live in a Reciprocal State

Maryland has reciprocal tax agreements with four jurisdictions: Virginia, West Virginia, the District of Columbia, and Pennsylvania. If you live in one of them and work in Maryland, you owe income tax to your home state instead of Maryland, but you have to claim the exemption on the correct line yourself.⁴

Line 4: DC, Virginia, and West Virginia

Residents of the District of Columbia or Virginia who work in Maryland and don’t keep a place to live in Maryland for 183 days or more use Line 4 to stop Maryland state withholding. West Virginia residents use Line 4 regardless of how long they’re in Maryland; the West Virginia agreement has no 183-day condition.⁵

Lines 5, 6, and 7: Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania gets three lines because its arrangement is more layered. Line 5 exempts Pennsylvania residents from the state portion of Maryland withholding, provided they don’t keep a home in Maryland for 183 or more days.² Line 6 lets Pennsylvania residents of York and Adams counties claim exemption from local withholding. Line 7 covers Pennsylvania residents in other localities that don’t impose an earnings or income tax on Maryland residents.⁶

Line 8: Military Spouse Exemption

Under the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act, you can claim an exemption from Maryland income tax if all three of these are true: your spouse is on active duty stationed in Maryland under military orders, you’re in Maryland solely to be with your spouse, and you keep your legal residence in another state.²

Line 8 alone isn’t enough. You also complete Form MW507M, attach a copy of your spousal military ID card, and give all three items to your employer together. This exemption also expires yearly. The deadline for filing new MW507 and MW507M forms for the coming year is February 15.⁷

If Your Home State Has No Reciprocal Agreement

Living in Delaware, New Jersey, New York, or any other non-reciprocal state doesn’t let you skip Maryland withholding. Your employer withholds at the 7.0% nonresident rate, which covers the state income tax plus a special 2.25% nonresident tax that stands in for the local county rate.¹ You’ll usually get a credit on your home state return for tax paid to Maryland, but that’s handled at filing time, not on the MW507.

Submitting the Form and When to Redo It

Sign the MW507 and give it to your employer’s payroll or HR department. You don’t mail it to the state; your employer keeps it and uses it to set your withholding. Most payroll systems apply the new amounts within one or two pay cycles. A form submitted midyear only affects your remaining paychecks.

If you never turn one in, your employer must withhold as if you claimed one personal exemption, which usually pulls more tax from your check than needed.⁸

File a new MW507 whenever something changes that affects your withholding:

You move to a different county, since your local rate will almost certainly change.
You marry or divorce, which shifts both your filing status and your exemption count.
You gain a dependent, adding a personal exemption on Line 1.
Your income changes enough to cross an exemption phase-out threshold, which changes what each exemption is worth on the worksheet.

The Comptroller recommends filling out a fresh MW507 each year even if nothing obvious has changed, because income shifts can alter your exemption values without your noticing.²

Penalties for a False Certificate

Claiming exemptions you don’t qualify for carries real risk. Anyone who willfully provides false information on a withholding certificate, or willfully fails to provide required information, resulting in less than the required amount being withheld, is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500, up to six months in jail, or both.⁹ Under-withholding by inflating your exemption count also means owing the balance, potentially with interest, when you file your return.

1
Comptroller of Maryland. 2026 Maryland State and Local Income Tax Withholding Information
2
Comptroller of Maryland. 2026 Maryland Employee’s Withholding Certificate
3
Comptroller of Maryland. What’s New for the 2026 Tax Filing Season
4
Comptroller of Maryland. Administrative Release No. 3 – Nonresident Credits, Reciprocal Income Tax Agreements
5
Comptroller of Maryland. Personal Tax Tip 56 – When You Live in One State and Work in Another
6
Comptroller of Maryland. 2026 MW507 Instructions
7
Comptroller of Maryland. MW507M Exemption From Maryland Withholding Tax for a Qualified Civilian Spouse of Military
8
Library of Maryland Regulations. COMAR 03.04.01.01 – Withholding of Tax at Source
9
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Maryland Code Tax-General 13-1007 – Fines and Penalties for Income Tax Withholding Violations