Maryland Payroll Instructions

Maryland State Withholding Instructions

To assign the correct tax rate, open the Employee account and enter the correct state tax package into the Tax Package field. Choose the tax package according to where the employee resides, not where he or she works.

NOTE: Starting in 2000, state and local taxes were combined into one amount. Starting in 2008, there was a separate Tax Package for each county, rather than for each withholding rate. In 2011, we went back to having separate line items for state and local taxes, so they can be separated on the W-2 form.

To enter withholding information for an employee in your Goldenseal company file, follow these steps:

1. Open the Payroll tab on the left, and choose Employees.
2. Locate the employee's record.
3. Click the Payroll Setup button.
4. This is used only to calculate Federal taxes.
5. Choose the correct Tax package for the employee's place of residence, and W4 form. Choose Old W4 for pre-2020 forms. Choose New W4 Step2- if they did not check the box in step 2 of the new form. Choose Step2+ if they did check it.
6. Enter the number of federal dependents into the Federal Exemptions field.
7. Enter the number of dependents into the State Exemptions field.
8. Click OK.

Special MD County Instructions

The following counties have special instructions:

• Anne Arundel-- They now use a 2-step table to calculate county withholding. Goldenseal does the math automatically.
• Frederick-- Use the Frederic Low tax package for married or head of household status, and less than $100,000 annual income. Also use Low for single or married filing separately with less than $50,000 annual income. Use the standard Frederick tax package for others. There are three versions of each package, depending on their W-2 form.

Maryland State Unemployment Tax Instructions

In 2023, Maryland SUTA tax applies to the first $8,500 in wages for each employee (this cutoff amount has stayed constant for many years). The starting rate is 2.1% for new businesses (4.2% for construction). Experienced businesses pay 1.1% to 8.3% depending on their payroll history, past SUTA payments and UI claims.

To enter your Maryland state SUTA tax rate into Goldenseal payroll software, follow these steps:

1. Choose Payroll Setup from the Costs menu, and choose Tax Items.
2. You'll see a list of Tax Items. Open your state's SUTA item. HINT: If you don't see Maryland SUTA in the list, you'll need to import your state's payroll info first.
3. Enter the percentage rate that you pay into the percentage field to the right of Calculation method.
4. If the cutoff amount has changed, enter it into the dollar field to the right of First Adjustment.

Employees living in Other States

If you have employees that are residents of states other than Maryland, you'll need to import tax tables for each state. Assign the appropriate tax package to each employee, depending on where they live. The Maryland tax packages include a special tax for employees who live in Maryland but who work in Delaware.

Maryland Marital Status

Use the following to determine the value for the Marital Status popup menu in each Employee account:

• Single- single employee with one personal exemption
• Married- married employee filing a joint return
• Dual Income- married filing separate returns
• Head of House- employee claims Head of Family status, or qualified widow/widower
• Other- not used

State Tax Contacts

Website

Official State Lawn Ornament

Garden gnome with blue crab attached to toe.