Live in Maryland, Work in District of Columbia: Which State Taxes Your Paycheck?
Answer
Only Maryland taxes these wages. Unlike a state, District of Columbia has no power to tax nonresidents' income — the exemption is statutory rather than negotiated, and it reaches residents of all fifty states. Give your employer Form D-4A to certify nonresidence and file the Maryland resident return.
Last verified
The District of Columbia is not a state, and the difference shows up directly in a Maryland resident's paycheck. When Congress granted home rule it withheld the power to tax nonresidents, so the District taxes its own residents and nobody else.
The District is barred by section 602(a)(5) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act from taxing the income of anyone who is not a District resident. A nonresident working in DC files Form D-4A with their employer to certify nonresidence, and files no District return at all. This is the broadest nonresident exemption in the country and it reaches residents of all fifty states.
The certificate goes to your employer's payroll department, not to District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue, and it is not retroactive — filing it in June does not recover District of Columbia tax withheld in January. That money comes back only by filing a District of Columbia nonresident return for the year and claiming a refund.
What you file
- 1Give to your employer · District of ColumbiaForm D-4A
Give your employer Form D-4A to certify that you do not live in District of Columbia. District of Columbia cannot tax a nonresident's wages, so no District of Columbia return is required.
- 2Resident return · Maryland
File a Maryland resident return reporting all of your income.
The two states, side by side
| Maryland | District of Columbia | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes wages | Yes — graduated | Yes — graduated |
| Reciprocity partners | 4 (Form MW507) | 2 (Form D-4A) |
| Convenience rule | No | No |
| Nonresident return | Form 505 with Form 505NR | None — nonresidents exempt |
| Credit for other-state tax | Form 502CR | Schedule U (Form D-40) |
| Nonresident safe harbour | None published | Not applicable |
| Local income tax | Yes | No |
| Revenue department | Comptroller of Maryland | District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue |
| Last verified |
The other direction
Reversing the commute does not always reverse the answer. Living in District of Columbia and working in Maryland gives:Reciprocal agreement — file the exemption form.
Same two states, different situation
The withholding answer turns on how you are paid and where the work happens, not only on which two states are involved.
- Remote worker: Maryland → District of ColumbiaHome state only
- 1099 contractor: Maryland → District of ColumbiaHome state, plus the client state if you work there
- Moved mid-year: Maryland → District of ColumbiaTwo part-year returns
Other Maryland pairs
Questions people actually ask
I live in Maryland and work in District of Columbia. Which state takes the tax out of my paycheck?
Only Maryland taxes these wages. Unlike a state, District of Columbia has no power to tax nonresidents' income — the exemption is statutory rather than negotiated, and it reaches residents of all fifty states. Give your employer Form D-4A to certify nonresidence and file the Maryland resident return.
Which state should my employer be withholding for?
Maryland. Your employer should withhold Maryland tax rather than District of Columbia tax on these wages, but only once you have given payroll Form D-4A — the exemption is not automatic and it does not apply retroactively. If a District of Columbia line is showing on your pay stub, raise it with payroll now rather than at filing time.
What if District of Columbia tax was already withheld from my pay?
File Form D-4A with your employer to stop it going forward, then recover what was already taken by filing a District of Columbia nonresident return for that year and claiming a refund of the full amount. Maryland will still expect its own tax on the same wages, so do not treat the refund as a windfall.
How current is this?
The Maryland and District of Columbia rules on this page were last checked against Comptroller of Maryland and District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue on 2026-08-07. We re-check the full grid every December after state legislative sessions close, and re-check the convenience-of-the-employer states quarterly because that is where the rules move fastest.
Sources
Every fact above comes from the revenue department that publishes the rule. We do not cite secondary summaries, and we do not restate a figure we could not find at source.
- Comptroller of Maryland — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07
- Maryland — Form MW507accessed 2026-08-07
- District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue — individual income taxaccessed 2026-08-07