Choose the Right Income Tax Form

Your residency status largely determines which form (paper or electronic) you will need to file your personal income tax.

If you are a Maryland resident, you can file long Form 502 and Form 502B or you may be eligible to file short Form 503 if your federal adjusted gross income is less than $100,000 and you are claiming two dependents or less. Taxpayers claiming more than two dependents must file Form 502 and Form 502B.

If you lived in Maryland only part of the year, you must file Form 502.

If you are a nonresident, you must file Form 505 and Form 505NR.

If you are a nonresident, you must file a Form 505X to amend your Form 505.

If you are a nonresident employed in Maryland but living in a jurisdiction that levies a local income or earnings tax on Maryland residents, you must file Form 515.

Special situations

If you are self-employed or do not have Maryland income taxes withheld by an employer, you can make quarterly estimated tax payments as part of a pay-as-you-go plan, using Form 502D.

If you owe additional Maryland tax and are seeking an automatic six-month filing extension of time to file, you must file Form 502E, along with your payment, by April 17, 2012. You should file Form 502E only if you are making a payment with your extension request.

If you need to make certain changes to your original Maryland return, you must file Form 502X-502XS for 2011. If you are amending a tax year prior to 1/1/2010 you can use Form 502X-502XS for tax years prior to 2011.

You can use the short Form 502XS if you are only:

• Changing previously reported wages, interest and dividends.
• Changing amount of tax withheld.
• Changing number of exemptions.
• Changing itemized deductions to a standard deduction.
• Changing the amount of standard or itemized deductions when associated with an income change.

For more information about Maryland forms, see Tax Forms and Instruction Booklets. See also Electronic Filing.

Forms for other states

You can find tax forms and information for other states and Washington, D.C. by visiting the Federation of Tax Administrators Web site. More