Items addressed in this release
Items addressed in previous release
What's new for ProSeries/Maryland
Forms
Electronic filing
Additional information
Maryland EIC incorrectly calculating for Married Filing Separately filers:
The Maryland EIC should not be calculating if the filing status is Married Filing Separately. This has been corrected in this release.
Efiled returns previously rejected with this Maryland reject code have been fixed in this release:
Form502-01540-020: Line 23 Amount of EIC cannot be greater than 0 if one of the taxpayers is using an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) on the tax return.
State income tax adjustment to itemized deductions should not include state sales tax:
The state income tax adjustment to Maryland itemized deductions only includes the state and local incomes taxes paid on Federal Schedule A, line 5a. Maryland sales taxes itemized on Federal Schedule A, line 5a, are not an adjustment to the Maryland itemized deduction amount.
Efiled returns previously rejected with these Maryland reject codes have been fixed in this release:
Form 502-01540-030: Line 22 Earned Income Credit - If greater than 0, then Line 1b Earned Income must be greater than 0.
Form 502-01620-010: Line 29 Local Earned Income Credit - Must be equal to Federal Earned Income Credit multiplied by local tax rate multiplied by 10; if Part-Year resident must be prorated using the Maryland income factor.
Form 502-01730-012: Line 42 Refundable Earned Income Credit - Must be equal to state EIC from Line 22 multiplied by .56 minus Maryland tax from Line 21 of Form 502; if less than zero, enter 0.
Personal Exemption Amount - For 2018, there have been no changes affecting personal exemptions on the Maryland returns.
Standard Deduction - The tax year 2018 standard deduction is increased to a maximum value of $2,250 for single taxpayers and to $4,500 for head of household, a surviving spouse, and taxpayers filing jointly.
Itemized Deduction Limitation - The State of Maryland follows the new federal tax law treatment to suspend the itemized deduction limitation threshold. This means that high-income taxpayers are not required to reduce their itemized deductions using the itemized deduction worksheet used in prior years.
Refundable earned income tax credit (REIC) - For 2018, the REIC amount for eligible residents is 28% of the federal EIC.
Income tax credit on Form 502CR for student loan debt - The refundable income tax credit available for certain individuals who have incurred at least $20,000 in undergraduate student loan debt has expanded eligibility to include graduate school debt. Certification must be attached.
New Income Additions and Subtractions from income:
Subtractions:
Increased pension exclusion - Maryland's maximum pension exclusion, which is available to qualifying taxpayers who are age 65 or older; are totally and permanently disabled; or have a spouse who is totally and permanently disabled, increased from $29,900 to $30,600 for tax year 2018.
Pension exclusion for qualifying retired correctional officer, law enforcement officer or fire, rescue, or emergency services personnel - Pursuant to House Bill 296 (Acts of 2018), the pension exclusion for Retired Law Enforcement Officer or Fire, Rescue, or Emergency Services Personnel has expanded eligibility to include retirement income of correctional officers. Up to a $15,000 subtraction for resident retired law enforcement officers, fire, rescue and emergency personnel who are at least 55 years old and (1) were employed by the State, a political subdivision of the State, or the federal government, and (2) receive pension income related to their above employment. An individual may not claim both this subtraction and the standard pension exclusion.
Other Subtraction Modifications:
The mileage rate for certain qualifying charitable use of a car on Form 502V has increased from 53.5 cents to 54.5 cents.
A new subtraction modification is available for any amount included in federal adjusted gross income for the first $50,000 of compensation received by an individual during the taxable year in exchange for the sale of a perpetual conservation easement on real property located in the State of Maryland. If filing a joint return each spouse is entitled to claim up to the maximum amount allowed.
A new subtraction modification of up to $7,500 is available for living organ donors who incur qualified expenses attributable to donation of that individual's organs. "Organ" means all or part of an individual's liver, kidney, pancreas, intestine, lung, or bone marrow. "Qualified expenses" means any unreimbursed travel or lodging expenses or lost wages. In the case of a joint return each spouse is entitled to claim the maximum subtraction amount.
A new subtraction modification is available for full-time Kindergarten through Grade 12 classroom teachers. Teachers may subtract up to $250 of unreimbursed expenses paid or incurred during the taxable year for the purchase of classroom supplies used by students in the classroom or by the teacher to prepare for or during classroom teaching.. A teacher may not subtract any expense that has already been subtracted from federal adjusted gross income under Section 62 of the Internal Revenue Code.
The Maryland Revenue Administration Division has approved for filing all forms and schedules included in ProSeries/Maryland.
You can file returns electronically with this version of ProSeries/Maryland.
Paid preparers who have prepared 100 or more Maryland individual income tax returns in the prior tax year are required to file all individual income tax returns electronically unless the taxpayer requests paper filing or the preparer has received a waiver from the Comptroller. See the Government Instructions and Tax Help for more information.
PDF Attachments
PDF attachments are supported for electronic filing with Maryland returns. As you create returns for electronic filing, ProSeries will automatically track attachments required to be submitted with the Maryland e-file return. If you would like to attach some or all of these attachments as PDF files you can now access that option for the Maryland return under the e-file menu (either from within the return or on the HomeBase when the return is highlighted). The Electronic PDF attachments section of the Maryland Information Worksheet, Part VII keeps track of required attachments that have been attached as PDF.
For a list of forms that can be e-filed, go to What's New for Maryland.
The Maryland Revenue Administration Division scans computer-generated forms to quickly process the income tax returns it receives. To meet the requirements for producing computer-generated forms, ProSeries is required to limit the width of the tax information printed on forms that are scanned. In certain cases, data you entered may be truncated. After completing a tax return, review the information that prints (for example, mailing address information), make any necessary changes, and reprint the return before mailing it.
When printing your clients' returns for filing, do not scale, fit, or shrink pages. Only print Actual Size. Scaled returns cause Maryland's scanning to fail, requiring manual review and delayed processing.
Some states use bar codes on computer-printed tax forms. This special formatting allows the state taxing authorities to process returns more quickly and efficiently. On-screen, you'll see only a small representation of the bar code on the lower-left side of the form. This image is static and does not change based on the information in the return. However, when you print the return, the bar code appears as a large rectangular box on the first page of the form. The width of the bar code is constant; the height varies according to the data in the return. In general, the more complex the return, the larger the printed bar code.
Important: Because the bar code image is a function of the data in the tax return, it's important that you reprint the page with the bar code if changes are made to any part of the return. Also, do not print blank copies of the main form and prepare them manually. The Maryland taxing authority may attempt to scan the form and reject it.
End of ReadMe file for ProSeries/Maryland