DawnC
Employee Tax Expert

Deductions & credits

Maryland requires you to use the same deduction (standard or itemized) that you used on federal return.   Exceptions:


*  Any person who can be claimed as a dependent on another person’s federal return must claim a filing status of dependent taxpayer.


*  Married couples who filed a joint federal return, but who had different tax periods, may file joint or separate Maryland returns.


*  Married couples who filed a joint federal return, but who were domiciled in different states, counties, cities, towns, or taxing areas on the last day of the year, may file joint or separate Maryland returns.


If you want to switch your federal return to itemize, use the link below.  How do I change from the standard deduction to itemized (or vice-versa)?

 

Under current Maryland law, if the federal standard deduction is taken, Maryland taxpayers cannot itemize on their Maryland returns. The comptroller alerts Maryland taxpayers that taking the federal standard deduction may reduce their federal tax liability, but doing so may result in an increase to their Maryland income tax liability. Taxpayers are encouraged to run their income tax returns under both deduction methods, and to compare the results of taking the standard deduction versus itemizing deductions, to see which method causes the lowest overall tax liability.   

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