Maryland Tax Form 502: Filing, Deadlines, and Payment Options

Maryland Tax Form 502 is the resident income tax return filed with the Comptroller of Maryland each year to report income and calculate both state and county income taxes on a single return.¹ For the 2025 tax year, filed in 2026, single residents with gross income of at least $15,750 and married couples filing jointly with at least $31,500 are generally required to file. Because Maryland folds the county-level local income tax into the same return, Form 502 handles both obligations at once.

Who Has To File

Two things decide whether you owe a Form 502: residency and income. Under Maryland Tax-General Code 10-101, you are a resident if you were domiciled in Maryland on the last day of the tax year, or if you kept a place of abode in the state for more than six months and spent at least 183 days there.² Domicile is the place you consider your permanent home and intend to return to. If you moved in or out during the year, you count as a resident for the portion of the year you lived in Maryland.

Once you meet the residency test, the Comptroller’s minimum income thresholds decide the rest. For the 2025 tax year:¹

Single, under 65: $15,750
Single, 65 or older: $17,750
Head of household, under 65: $23,625
Married filing jointly, both under 65: $31,500
Married filing jointly, one spouse 65 or older: $33,100
Married filing jointly, both 65 or older: $34,700

Even below these thresholds, file if your employer withheld Maryland tax from your paychecks. Filing is the only way to recover that money as a refund. Nonresidents and part-year residents who don’t meet the full-year residency test use Form 505 instead.³

Filing Deadline and Extensions

Form 502 for the 2025 tax year is due April 15, 2026. Maryland grants an automatic six-month extension to October 15, 2026, if you have already requested a federal extension and you don’t owe additional state tax.⁴ If you do owe tax, submit an estimated payment with Form PV by April 15. The extension gives extra time to file, not extra time to pay. Underpaying by April 15 produces penalties and interest even when the return itself is on extension.

What To Gather Before You Start

Before you sit down with Form 502, pull together:

W-2 statements from each employer, showing wages and Maryland tax withheld
1099 forms for interest, freelance income, retirement distributions, and other non-wage earnings
Your federal adjusted gross income from line 11 of Form 1040, which Maryland uses as its starting point⁵
Social Security numbers for you, your spouse if filing jointly, and every dependent
The county you lived in on December 31, which sets your local tax rate

The form and instructions are on the Comptroller of Maryland website, and the state’s free iFile system lets you file online.⁶

How Maryland Calculates Taxable Income

Maryland does not simply tax your federal AGI. It starts there, applies its own additions and subtractions, then subtracts a Maryland standard deduction and personal exemptions to reach Maryland taxable net income.

Additions and Subtractions

Under Tax-General Code 10-204, certain income left off your federal return gets added back for Maryland. The most common addition is interest on bonds issued by other states: tax-free federally, but taxable in Maryland.⁷ Tax-General Code 10-207 works the other way, letting you subtract items that are on your federal return but that Maryland cannot tax. The most common subtraction is interest on U.S. government obligations such as Treasury bonds and savings bonds.⁸ The result is your Maryland adjusted gross income.

Standard Deduction and Personal Exemptions

Maryland’s standard deduction runs much smaller than the federal one. For the 2025 tax year, it is $3,350 for single filers and married filing separately, and $6,700 for joint filers, heads of household, and qualifying surviving spouses.¹ You can itemize instead when your deductions exceed those amounts, though the low threshold means the math favors itemizing less often than it does on a federal return.

Maryland then allows a personal exemption of $3,200 per person, including dependents.⁹ A married couple with two children would subtract $12,800 in exemptions on top of the standard deduction. What remains is your Maryland taxable net income, the figure the rates apply to.

State and Local Tax Rates

State Brackets

Maryland’s state income tax is progressive. For single filers in the 2025 tax year:¹⁰

$1 to $1,000: 2.00%
$1,001 to $2,000: 3.00%
$2,001 to $3,000: 4.00%
$3,001 to $100,000: 4.75%
$100,001 to $125,000: 5.00%
$125,001 to $150,000: 5.25%
$150,001 to $250,000: 5.50%
$250,001 to $500,000: 5.75%
$500,001 to $1,000,000: 6.25%
Over $1,000,000: 6.50%

Joint filers, heads of household, and qualifying surviving spouses use a separate schedule with wider brackets in the middle: the 4.75% bracket extends to $150,000, the 5.75% bracket runs from $300,001 to $600,000, and the top 6.50% rate applies above $1,200,000.¹⁰

Local Income Tax

Every Maryland county and Baltimore City also levies a local income tax that is calculated right on Form 502. Local rates run from 2.25% to 3.30% of Maryland taxable income, based on where you lived on December 31.¹¹ The Comptroller collects the local piece for the counties, so there is no separate local return to file.

Credits That Reduce What You Owe

After the combined state and local tax is calculated, credits knock the number down.

The Maryland Earned Income Tax Credit equals 50% of the federal EITC you claim.¹² A $3,000 federal EITC becomes another $1,500 on the Maryland return. For lower-income working households, this is often the largest single credit and can produce a refund even without withholding.

If you live in Maryland but work in another state and pay tax there, Tax-General Code 10-703 provides a credit so the same income is not taxed twice. The credit is the lesser of what you actually paid the other state or the Maryland tax attributable to that income, and it matters most for residents commuting to D.C., Virginia, or Pennsylvania. Keep the other state’s return as documentation.

Once credits are applied, subtract the tax already paid through withholding and estimated payments. The remainder is your balance due or refund.

How To File and Where To Mail

Electronic Filing

The Comptroller’s iFile system files Form 502 online for free. You enter your information, the system handles the math, and you get confirmation immediately.¹³ Electronic returns are typically processed the same day they are transmitted, and direct-deposit refunds arrive within a few days after acceptance.¹⁴

Paper Filing

The mailing address depends on whether you owe. Returns with no payment go to:¹⁵

Comptroller of Maryland
Revenue Administration Division
110 Carroll Street
Annapolis, MD 21411-0001

If you owe tax, attach your check or money order to Form PV, the payment voucher, rather than to Form 502 itself. Place Form PV with the attached payment on top of Form 502 and mail to:

Comptroller of Maryland
Payment Processing
PO Box 8888
Annapolis, MD 21401-8888

Make checks payable to “Comptroller of Maryland” and write your Social Security number, tax year, and tax type on the check. The Comptroller estimates about 30 days to process a paper return.

Estimated Tax Payments During the Year

If you have significant income that is not subject to withholding, such as freelance earnings, rental income, or investment gains, quarterly estimated payments help you avoid an underpayment penalty. Maryland follows the same quarterly schedule as the IRS:

First quarter (January to March): due April 15
Second quarter (April to May): due June 15
Third quarter (June to August): due September 15
Fourth quarter (September to December): due January 15 of the following year

You report these payments on Form 502 when you file, and they reduce your balance due the same way withholding does. A significant shortfall through the year draws interest from the Comptroller.

Late Filing, Penalties, and Payment Plans

Missing April 15 triggers two separate consequences: a penalty for filing late and a penalty for paying late. Interest accrues on any unpaid balance from the original due date until the balance is paid in full. The Comptroller sets the rate each year; for 2025 it was approximately 11.5%. Penalties come on top of that interest. If you cannot pay in full, file on time and pay what you can. The late-filing penalty is typically steeper than the late-payment penalty alone.

If you owe more than you can pay at once, the Comptroller offers online payment agreements through the Individual Online Service Center. You will need the notice number from a recent tax bill to start one online.¹⁶ Interest keeps accruing on the unpaid balance while the plan runs, so paying it off faster costs less. Once an agreement is in place, automatic payments help avoid a missed installment, which can terminate the agreement.

1
Comptroller of Maryland. 2025 State and Local Tax Forms and Instructions
2
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Tax-General 10-101 – Definitions
3
Comptroller of Maryland. Maryland Form 505 – Nonresident Income Tax Return
4
Comptroller of Maryland. Tax Guidance – Extensions
5
Internal Revenue Service. Adjusted Gross Income
6
Comptroller of Maryland. Maryland Taxes Online Services
7
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Tax-General 10-204 – Additions to Federal Adjusted Gross Income
8
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Tax-General 10-207 – Subtractions From Federal Adjusted Gross Income
9
Comptroller of Maryland. Exemptions Worksheet
10
Comptroller of Maryland. Tax Computation Worksheet Schedules I and II
11
Maryland Comptroller. Tax Guidance – Maryland Income Tax Rates and Brackets
12
Maryland Department of Human Services. Earned Income Tax Credit
13
Comptroller of Maryland. Individual Interactive Services Application Selection
14
Maryland Comptroller. Income Tax Refund Information
15
Comptroller of Maryland. Maryland Form 502 – Resident Income Tax Return
16
Comptroller of Maryland. Individual Payment Agreement Entrance