Audience: Individuals
If you are 65 or older, you can take advantage of several tax benefits on your Maryland return. You are allowed a higher income level before being required to file a return, and you are entitled to an additional personal exemption of $1,000. You may also qualify for a pension exclusion that increases each year, and your Social Security and Railroad Retirement benefits are not subject to Maryland tax.
Frequently Asked Questions for Seniors and Retirees
As a senior citizen, one of the tax benefits you enjoy is a higher income allowance before you are required to file a Maryland income tax return. You are required to file a return if your gross income exceeds the amount listed below for your filing status. These requirements apply to both resident and nonresident taxpayers. Do not include income from Social Security or Railroad Retirement benefits when determining your gross income.
| Filing Status | Gross Income |
|---|---|
| Single, 65 or older | $17,750 |
| Joint return, one spouse 65 or older | $33,100 |
| Joint return, both spouses 65 or older | $34,700 |
| Married filing separately, regardless of age | $15,750 |
| Head of household, 65 or older | $25,625 |
| Qualifying surviving spouse, 65 or older | $33,100 |
If you or your spouse is 65 or over or blind, you are entitled to an extra $1,000 personal exemption, in addition to the regular personal exemption that you may be entitled to. If you have a federal adjusted gross income of up to $100,000 (up to $150,000 if filing jointly) you are entitled to a $3,200 exemption on the Maryland return. For taxpayers with higher incomes, the exemption amount is limited. See the Exemption Amount Chart (PDF) included in Instruction 10 of the Maryland Resident tax booklet.
You must complete the Exemptions section (PDF) of the return to determine your total exemption allowance. Enter the number of exemptions in the appropriate boxes based upon your entries in parts A, B, and C of the Form 502. Make sure you check both boxes in columns 6 and 7 of the Exemptions section for each of your dependents who are age 65 or over on Form 502B. Enter your total exemption allowance on line 19 of Form 502.
As a federal government retiree, you can have state tax withheld from your pension.
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management provides an online service for retirees to begin, change or stop the withholding of Maryland income taxes from your annuity.
You can also obtain tax withholding assistance from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management by telephone at 1-888-767-6738 or by e-mail at retire@opm.gov.
Be sure to have your CSA or CSF retirement claim number handy - and your Social Security number - when contacting the office.
Individuals at least 55 years of age on the last day of the taxable year may subtract up to $20,000 of military retirement income received in the taxable year from their federal adjusted gross income. Individuals under the age of 55 on the last day of the taxable year may subtract up to $12,500 of military retirement income received in the taxable year from their federal adjusted gross income. Military retirement income means retirement income, including death benefits, received as a result of military service. The military retirement income subtraction is available to a military retiree or their spouse who receives the military retirement income.
The retirement income must have been received as a result of any of the following military service:
The benefit also applies to persons separated from active duty employment with the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or the Coast and Geodetic Survey.
To claim the benefit, complete Form 502 and follow the instructions included in the resident tax booklet for line 13. Be sure to indicate code letter u on line 13.
If you are a retired military member 65 years of age or older, you may also qualify for Maryland's pension exclusion.
Married senior citizens who both receive wages, interest, pension, business or other kinds of income that are subject to Maryland tax can subtract up to $1,200 or the income of the spouse, whichever is less.
You can use the Two-Income Married Couple Subtraction Worksheet in Instruction 13 of the Maryland resident tax booklet to help calculate the correct subtraction amount for your situation.
Maryland does not tax Social Security and/or Railroad Retirement benefits. If you receive Social Security benefits and/or Railroad Retirement benefits and any amount of those benefits is included in your federal adjusted gross income, you can exempt those benefits from state and local tax in these easy steps:
If you also are eligible for Maryland's pension exclusion, be sure to report all of your Social Security and/or Railroad Retirement benefits on line 3 of the pension exclusion computation worksheet - not just those benefits you included in your federal adjusted gross income.
You can call or visit any of our taxpayer service offices to receive free state tax assistance. If you bring a completed copy of your federal return and all related documents to any of our offices, we will complete your Maryland income tax return and even file it electronically for you - free of charge.
We also work closely with IRS to help support the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) programs which offer free tax preparation services to elderly taxpayers with low or moderate incomes. We help train VITA and TCE volunteers in preparation for each tax filing season.
The IRS works with the following sponsors to administer the program in Maryland: