I paid MD income tax but I qualify for Military Spouses Residency Relief Act. How do I get all of my income taxes back from MD?

[oakandshieldhome]

Both my spouse and I claim FL as our tax domicile so we haven't paid state tax on our military income but I separated from the military in 2018 and began a new job. I was not aware of the MSRRA at the time. I have now paid MD income taxes that I think I should have been exempt from. I filled out MD non-resident form 505 and my refund does not reflect the total amount of taxes I paid in. What additional steps do I need to take?

[DanielV01 · Accepted solution]

Try the following:

On the Personal Information screen, make sure that when asked what state you lived in, you select Florida.  Because of military residence and MSRRA, you are not considered to be a Maryland resident.  When it asks if you worked in another state, you will say yes because you need the MD nonresident return (Form 505).  

On the Maryland return, look carefully for a screen option that asks if your taxes were withheld in error.  This is the case here.  Your company should not have withheld MD tax because you are a Florida resident per MSRRA.  

If this doesn't restore a full MD refund, comment what you see and we'll be happy to further assist.

[oakandshieldhome]

In the Personal Information screen I had selected FL for both me and my spouse, but there was not an option to say yes I worked in another state. I did have access to the MD form 505 regardless. On that form I could not locate withheld in error anyplace. What I did do was enter all of the info from my W2 including the money earned in MD and the taxes paid, but on the 505 I changed the "wages from Maryland sources" from the value on W2 to $0. This increased my refund to the full amount of income taxes I paid in 2018 to Maryland.

Thank you for the response. While it didn't directly lead me to a solution, I did get there in the end. We're very thankful!