Get your tax IDs in Maryland

An EIN, if you need one, takes minutes online. Maryland then adds a tax account for the taxes that actually apply, unemployment tax once you employ someone, and a new-hire report once you hire. Do not open an account just to have the number.

What’s different in Maryland

• Income tax is a state schedule plus a county tax. Individuals run 2% of the first $1,000, up to 6.50% of the amount over $1,000,000 for a single filer and over $1,200,000 for a joint filer. The county piece on the 2026 withholding table is 2.25% to 3.30%. Anne Arundel and Frederick counties use income brackets instead of one rate⁸.
• Sales tax is statewide. The general rate is 6%. There are no general local sales taxes². Alcohol, some digital products, and some technology services use other rates. They are below.
• A pass-through does not skip Maryland. An LLC or an S corporation can owe Maryland tax at the entity level. Step 9 has the rule.
• Unemployment tax has a band for new employers, not one starter rate. It is from 1.0% to 2.6%. A new construction employer headquartered in another state can be assigned the Maryland construction average, and not below the new-employer rate. The 2026 wage base is $8,500¹².
• The sales tax account and the trader’s license are different. Selling goods needs both. The license is on Licenses and permits.

Do this

1. Get an EIN from the IRS if you need one. It is free and, if approved, issued immediately¹⁴ online. You will need it to hire, to open many bank accounts, and to file unemployment reports. A sole proprietor with no employees can often use a Social Security number for federal tax. Don’t pay a website to apply for you.
2. Register the Maryland taxes that apply, on one application. Use the Combined Registration Application¹⁵. New businesses can start it from Maryland Business Express. The accounts on that path include sales and use tax, employer withholding, admissions and amusement tax, the tire recycling fee, and a transient vendor license. Open the ones that match the work. The Comptroller’s license and registration pages do not print a fee for the sales and use tax license itself.* Use the amount on the application. A trader’s license, if you sell goods, is a separate clerk filing and it does have a fee.
3. If you sell taxable goods, digital products, or taxable services in Maryland, register for sales tax before you collect it. The general rate is 6%. There are no general local sales taxes. Alcoholic beverages are 9%². The calculation tip also prints other rates, including short-term vehicle rentals and vaping products. Use the rate for what you actually sell. A digital product or a digital code is 6%⁴ on the digital products tip. Returns are due the 20th day of the month after the period ends. A Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday moves it to the next business day. New accounts are quarterly at first. The Comptroller can later change that to monthly, quarterly, twice a year, or yearly. File even when no tax is due³. Sales and use tax returns for periods beginning after December 31, 2026 have to be filed electronically, with exceptions for a disability, a religious objection to the technology, or a special need the Comptroller recognizes⁶. The same law requires electronic filing, for periods beginning after that date, of withholding, corporation income tax, pass-through entity tax, admissions tax, and several other business taxes, with the same exceptions.
4. If you sell data, technology, or software services, read the 3% rule before you use the general rate. Since July 1, 2025, a 3% rate applies to data and information technology services, and system or application software publishing services, judged one service at a time. The company's own industry code does not decide it. The list is in Technical Bulletin 56. Software sold as a service is 6% when sold for individual use, and 3% when sold for commercial use in an enterprise computer system. The June 2025 bulletin says there is no exemption for a sale to an affiliated company⁵. A May 27, 2026 alert says a sale of those services, or of a digital product or digital code, is exempt when the seller and the buyer are in the same affiliated group, effective July 1, 2026⁶. The bulletin predates that change.
5. If you sell into Maryland and you have no place here, read the remote-seller rule before you collect anything. The current regulation counts you as an out-of-state vendor at $100,000 of gross revenue, or 200 separate transactions, in the previous or current calendar year. Digital products and digital codes count⁷. It also counts a physical place, an agent, regular service visits, and regular use of your own vehicles. The Comptroller’s 2018 alert, written for 2019 and later years, says to register by the first day of the month after the month you meet either test¹⁶. The current regulation does not state that timing.* Check with the Comptroller once you are near either test. Having a location in Maryland takes you out of the “no place here” case and back to step 3.
6. If you file and pay sales tax on time, the state lets you keep a discount. The discount is 1.2% of the first $6,000 and 0.9% above that, and not more than $500 on a return³. Use the discount the return computes. Do not take it if the return is late.
7. If you are a person who must file, calendar the Maryland individual return. The 2026 state rates are 2% of the first $1,000, up to 6.50% of the amount over $1,000,000 for a single filer and over $1,200,000 for a joint filer. Brackets differ for a single filer and a joint filer. The county tax on the 2026 withholding table is 2.25% to 3.30%. Anne Arundel and Frederick counties use income brackets instead of one rate. Withholding cannot use a rate under 4.75%⁸. The return is due April 15¹⁷. This page does not compute the tax.
8. If the business is taxed as a C corporation, calendar the corporation return and the estimates. The return is due the 15th day of the 4th month after the tax year ends, or the original federal due date if that is later¹⁰. The rate on the 2026 estimate form is 8.25%. Estimates are required when the tax can reasonably be expected to exceed $1,000. Pay them the 15th day of the 4th, 6th, 9th, and 12th months of the tax year. Maryland does not allow a consolidated return. Each corporation files its own⁹. The estimate form is not the place to pay withholding or pass-through tax.
9. If the business is a pass-through, including an LLC or an S corporation, read the estimate form before you skip a Maryland return. A pass-through entity pays Maryland tax for nonresident members unless it elects to pay for every member. The election is irrevocable for that tax year. Estimates, when the entity owes them, are due the 15th day of the 4th, 6th, 9th, and 12th months of the tax year for an S corporation, and by the 4th, 6th, 9th, and 13th months for a partnership or LLC. The individual-member rate on that form is 6.50% plus the lowest local rate of 2.25%. An entity member is 8.25%¹¹. The form tells the entity to issue a Maryland Schedule K-1 so the member can claim the credit. An extra tax on net capital gain is paid by the individual, not by the entity. This page does not pick the election. The federal S corporation election is Form 2553¹⁸.
10. Register for unemployment tax when you first employ someone in Maryland. Most employers pay unemployment tax, except some nonprofit and governmental organizations. An employer is anyone who employs at least one person in Maryland. The tax-rate page says most businesses are contributory and pay quarterly. File and pay within 1 month after the end of each calendar quarter, in BEACON. For 2026, taxable wages are the first $8,500 paid to each employee. A new employer pays from 1.0% to 2.6%. A new construction employer headquartered in another state can be assigned the Maryland construction average, and not below the new-employer rate. Experienced rates on Table A run from 0.3% to 7.5%. The rates come from Table A for 2026, the same table as 2025, and the lowest of the six tables. The standard rate is 7.50% if you were due an experience rate and reported no taxable wages in a fiscal year because you did not file the quarterly reports. That standard rate is not the new-employer rate. Interest on a late balance is 1.5% a month, and a late report is $35¹².
11. Report new hires to the Maryland New Hire Registry. The report is due within 20 days of the day the employee begins work. A miss can mean a written warning the first time, then $20 for each month of a later violation, or $500 if the miss is a conspiracy to hide or falsify the report¹³. The statute is Labor and Employment §8-626.1. The hiring guide covers the federal side.

What you get back

An EIN from the IRS if you applied, a Maryland tax account only for the taxes you registered, and an unemployment account once the Division of Unemployment Insurance issues one. The sales tax account is not a trader’s license. That license is on Licenses and permits.