Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)

Rates (Fully-Refundable):¹

• 100% of federal EITC, for filers without dependents
• 50% of federal EITC, for filers with dependents

Eligibility Requirements: All Maryland filers who qualify for the federal credit are automatically eligible. See Maryland’s EITC information page.

Latest Legislative Action: 

• In 2023, Gov. Wes Moore signed the Family Prosperity Act of 2023, making permanent several temporary enhancements to the refundable state EITC introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic and expanding eligibility to include Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) filers.
• In May 2018, Maryland passed legislation to eliminate the minimum age requirement for the state-level EITC.
• In 1987, Maryland became the first state in the U.S. to enact a state-level EITC, offering a non-refundable credit equal to 50% of the federal credit.

Notes:

• The non-refundable credit is equal to the lesser of 50% of the federal credit or the state income tax liability in the taxable year. If the nonrefundable credit reduces a taxpayer’s liability to zero, the taxpayer is eligible to claim a refundable credit equal to 26% of the federal credit in tax year 2016, minus any pre-credit state tax liability.³
• Montgomery County, a large suburban county neighboring the District of Columbia, is one of three counties in the United States to offer a local EITC in addition to the state credit. Eligible families that filed for the EITC receive a county credit equal to 100% of the state’s refundable credit.⁴

Child Tax Credit (CTC)

Rate (Fully-Refundable): $500 per child

Eligibility Requirements: 

• Children with a disability under 17 years old; and
• Filers earning less than $15,000 per year

Latest Legislative Action: In 2023, Gov. Wes Moore signed the Family Prosperity Act of 2023, making permanent the state CTC and extending the credit to filers earning less than $15,000 per year and filers with children under 6 years old.⁶

• In 2021, Maryland established the state’s first refundable CTC valued at $500 per child with a disability to families earning $6,000 or less.⁵

Notes:

• Senate Bill 218 was originally introduced with the intent to include all children under age 6 or under 17 with disabilities, but the final enacted version limited eligibility to children with disabilities only.

Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC)

State CDCTC Rates (Refundable for single filers with incomes below $30,000, married filers with incomes below $50,000):

• Refundable: 32% for individual filers with incomes below $30,000
• Refundable: 32% for filers who are married filing jointly with incomes below $50,000
• Phase out: 0% for individual filers with incomes above $109,300
• Phase out: 0% for filers who are married filing jointly with incomes above $169,900

See Maryland’s tax credit information page.

Latest Legislative Action: In May 2019, Governor Larry Hogan signed legislation to significantly increase the size of the state’s Credit for Child and Dependent Care Expenses, expand the income limits, and make the credit refundable for single filers with incomes below $50,000 and married filers with incomes below $75,000.

Read the bill’s Fiscal and Policy Note page for more details.

Eligibility Requirements: See Maryland CDCTC information page.