There are two parts to the Maryland Relief Act concerning Unemployment benefits.
- The RELIEF Act provides $1,000 Unemployment Grants to 32,000 recipients. Questions about the Unemployment Grant should be directed to the Maryland Department of Labor, the agency that determines who will receive the grant. The recipients of these grants will be selected by the Maryland Department of Labor and the recipients will receive a check in the mail as a result.
- Unemployment Insurance Income Tax Subtraction-As follows:
Q: What is the Unemployment Insurance Benefits Income Tax Subtraction?
A: The RELIEF Act provides a State Income Tax Exemption for Unemployment Insurance (UI)Benefits for qualifying filers.
UI payments are currently subject to federal and state income taxation. Beginning with Tax Year 2020 and including Tax Year 2021, the Act exempts from the state income tax the UI benefits received by an individual earning less than $75,000, and couples filing jointly or individual heads of households earning less than $100,000.
Q: How can I claim the subtraction?
A: You may claim the subtraction on your 2020 and 2021 Maryland State Tax Return.
On the Comptroller of Maryland website, they are just now announcing that they will have revised 2020 forms available this week. After they get the forms available, then they contact the software companies to determine what they need to do next.
The software developers cannot do anything until the taxing authorities gives them the instructions, updates the Maryland tax system, and approves the software changes after they have been completed in the software.
Unfortunately, the details are not yet available from MD nor the Comptroller's website.
We will update the software as soon as we are able.
