Maryland into Washington, DC
Live in Maryland, work in District of Columbia (2026)
Whether the two states have a reciprocity agreement, which form stops the withholding, and what your paycheck actually looks like after both states and any local tax have taken their share.
Is there a reciprocity agreement?
Yes, and it is stronger than an ordinary agreement. The District is barred by federal law from taxing nonresident wages at all, so DC takes $0 from you. File DC Form D-4A. Your Maryland state and county taxes are unchanged, and the commute changes nothing about your take-home.
Maryland residents commuting into the District have the firmest protection of anyone on this site, because it does not rest on an agreement that either side could walk away from. Congress prohibited the District from taxing the wages of people who live outside it. The District taxes its own residents and nobody else, full stop. Filing Form DC Form D-4A with your DC employer stops any withholding, and your entire tax picture stays Maryland's. At $100,000 as a single filer you pay $4,538 in Maryland state tax and $3,200 to your county, for a take-home of $71,442. That is the same $71,442 you would keep with a job in Bethesda rather than downtown. What trips people up is not the District at all. It is the county tax, which many new Maryland residents assume works like a city tax and drops away when they cross into DC. It does not.
At $100,000 single filer, against working at home in Maryland
This commute changes nothing about your take-home. You keep $71,442 either way.
Computed from the tax engine with 2026federal brackets, FICA, both states' income tax, and any local tax at either end. Standard deduction, no pre-tax contributions.
Who taxes you, and how much?
Single filer at $100,000, 2026 rules.
| Tax | Amount |
|---|---|
| District of Columbia income tax (work state) | $0 |
| Maryland income tax (resident state) | $4,538 |
| Combined state income tax | $4,538 |
| Montgomery County, MD local tax | $3,200 |
How the Maryland and District of Columbia rule works
The mechanism is a federal statutory bar, not a bilateral treaty, and the difference matters. An ordinary reciprocity agreement is a compact between two states, and compacts can be terminated, as Minnesota and Wisconsin proved when theirs ended in 2010. The District's inability to tax you is written into federal law and is not negotiable by anyone in the room. Maryland has an explicit reciprocal arrangement with the District as well, and Form DC Form D-4A is what your employer needs on file. Your Maryland county income tax, meanwhile, is levied on where you live. It attaches to residents and follows them to whatever job they hold, in the District or anywhere else. At $100,000 that is $3,200, and no commute changes it. The rate is set by your county rather than by the state, and it varies by several percentage points across Maryland, so two colleagues on the same District salary can hand over noticeably different amounts. If you are weighing a move within Maryland, that county rate is the line to compare, because it is the only part of this picture you can actually change.
The local tax the agreement does not cover
Your Maryland county tax does not go away. It is levied on the county you live in, not on the county you work in, and it is charged whether your employer sits in Silver Spring or on K Street. At $100,000 you owe $3,200 to Montgomery County, MD. Maryland is one of the few states where the local income tax is a serious number rather than a rounding error, so it belongs in any comparison you are making between a DC job and a Maryland one.
What this estimate covers
These figures apply 2026 federal brackets after the standard deduction, FICA, Maryland's income tax, District of Columbia's income tax where the agreement does not remove it, and the local tax at each end of the commute. State-administered payroll programs such as disability and paid family leave follow the work state, so where District of Columbia runs them they come out of your check on District of Columbia's schedule rather than Maryland's. They assume every workday is spent in District of Columbia and all of your wages are earned there.
One limit is worth naming. A split week, with some days worked from home, is not modelled: the credit, the local tax and the work-state payroll programs would each be apportioned across the two states, and this estimate treats the whole year as District of Columbia work.
Living in Maryland and working in District of Columbia: FAQ
Does the District tax me if I live in Maryland?
Which form do I file with my DC employer?
Do I still pay my Maryland county income tax?
Is my take-home different from working in Maryland?
Do I file a District tax return?
What if my employer withheld DC tax anyway?
This estimate is for planning purposes only and does not constitute tax or financial advice. Actual paycheck withholding depends on your employer's payroll system, custom W-4 elections, additional income, and personal tax situation. For specific tax-planning decisions, consult a licensed CPA or tax professional. Cross-state estimates additionally assume all wages are earned in the work state and exclude any apportionment of remote workdays.
See also
Reviewed
How This Page Is Reviewed
The Maryland to District of Columbia commute rule is taken from each state's own reciprocity guidance and withholding forms, and is reviewed against those primary sources before each tax-year update. Local tax figures come from the municipal research files behind the city pages.
Reviewed by
PaycheckCalc Research Desk
Last reviewed
2026-07-14