Sales Tax on Services in Maryland (2026) — What's Taxable

Enumerated list, widened in 2025

Only for the services Maryland names — and that list grew on July 1, 2025. The Comptroller states the rule plainly: charges for services are generally exempt from Maryland sales and use tax unless they are specifically taxable under Maryland law, with Tax-General Article § 11-101(m) holding the list. Chapter 604 of the Acts of 2025 then expanded that definition to reach data services, information technology services, and system and application software publishing services described in NAICS sectors 518 and 519 and subsectors 5415 and 5132, taxed at a separate 3% rate rather than the general 6%.

• Fabrication, printing, or production of tangible personal property by special order
• Commercial cleaning or laundering of textiles for a buyer engaged in a business that requires the recurring service, and cleaning of a commercial or industrial building
• Security service, including detective, guard, or armored car service and security systems service
• Credit reporting
• Cellular telephone and other mobile telecommunications service, "900"/"976"/"915"-type service, custom calling service, telephone answering service, pay per view television service, and prepaid telephone calling arrangements
• Transportation service for transmission, distribution, or delivery of electricity or natural gas, where the electricity or natural gas itself is subject to the tax
• Data or information technology services under NAICS sectors 518 or 519 or subsector 5415, and system or application software publishing services under NAICS subsector 5132 — subject to sales and use tax at a rate of 3% effective July 1, 2025

• A personal, professional, or insurance service that is not a defined taxable service and involves a sale as an inconsequential element for which no separate charge is made
• A labor or service for application or installation, and the charge for labor to repair or alter existing tangible personal property belonging to another to restore it to its original condition or usefulness
• A delivery, freight, or other transportation service for delivery directly to the buyer, unless the transportation service is itself a taxable service
• Any service for the operation of equipment used for the production of audio, video, or film recording
• A sale of cloud computing to a qualified cybersecurity business, and sales to or by a qualified company in the University of Maryland's Discovery District working with the Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security on quantum computing — the Comptroller issues no certificate for either, so the buyer must present and retain its own proof

Usually no — but check the NAICS codes before concluding it. A personal or professional service that is not a defined taxable service is outside the base, so ordinary accounting, legal, and advisory fees are not Maryland sales-tax charges. Since July 1, 2025, though, work described in NAICS subsector 5415 (computer systems design and related services) is taxable at 3% whatever the firm calls itself: the Comptroller says the classification a business reports as its primary activity is not determinative, and each service must be compared to the NAICS activity descriptions individually.

Maryland ran a narrow enumerated list for decades and then bolted a second, lower-rate regime onto it. Both are live at once, so the first question on a Maryland invoice is no longer “is this service taxable?” but “which rate applies?” — 6% for the long-standing categories, 3% for data, IT, and software publishing services.

The vendor’s own NAICS code does not decide it. Technical Bulletin No. 56 states that the classification a business reports as its primary business activity for income-tax purposes is not determinative, and that a business which has chosen a code other than 518, 519, 5415, or 5132 but sells a service described by those codes is required to collect the tax. A contract naming a NAICS code for procurement purposes does not settle it either.

SaaS is taxed at two different rates. Software as a service meets the definitions of both a digital product and a software publishing service. Sold for individual use it is a digital product at 6%; sold for commercial use in an enterprise computer system it is a taxable service at 3%. Where both could apply, Maryland law requires the higher rate.

One stale answer to retire. The Comptroller’s February 2024 list of taxable property and services still shows “custom computer services” among the nontaxable services. Technical Bulletin No. 56 (revised June 30, 2025) states that the exemption for customized software or SaaS is repealed effective July 1, 2025. Both documents are official and both are linked below; the 2025 bulletin is the later word, and this is exactly the kind of conflict an annual reference publication produces when a statute changes mid-year.

Multiple points of use. A buyer who knows at purchase that a taxable data, IT, or software publishing service will be used concurrently inside and outside Maryland may give the vendor an MPU certificate, which shifts the collection obligation to the buyer. For a subscription, one certificate covers the whole term as long as the Maryland apportionment does not change.

Every statement on this page traces to one of the official sources below. date_retrieved: 2026-07-30.

• Comptroller of Maryland — List of Tangible Personal Property and Services Subject to Sales and Use Tax (February 2024)
• Comptroller of Maryland — Technical Bulletin No. 56, Sales and Use Tax on Data or Information Technology Services and Software Publishing Services (revised June 30, 2025)

Economic nexus in Maryland triggers when remote sellers exceed $100,000 in gross sales OR 200 or more separate transactions into Maryland in the current or preceding calendar year — whichever is met first.

Read the full Maryland overview for thresholds, filing frequency, marketplace facilitator rules, and registration links. Use the nexus calculator to check whether you have crossed the threshold. For background on the post-Wayfair economic nexus framework, see the pillar guide.

The general rule above is easier to apply against a real trade. These national industry guides walk the same question for three service verticals, and each one names the state-by-state differences that decide whether a given invoice is taxable:

• Salon and barber sales tax guide
  haircuts, nail services, and retail product sales — the clearest case of a personal service whose taxability flips from state to state.
• Restaurant and food service sales tax guide
  prepared food, dine-in versus takeout, delivery, and gratuities, where the service and the product are billed together.
• Construction contractor sales tax guide
  labor on real property, materials, and the residential/nonresidential split that decides taxability in several states.

• Maryland · SaaS
  Software-as-a-service sales tax rules
• Maryland · Digital Products
  Sales tax on digital downloads, eBooks, courses, streaming
• Maryland · Thresholds
  Economic and transaction nexus thresholds

Compare Maryland's services rules with nearby and similar states' services sales tax guides:

• California Services sales tax
  Services nexus, taxability, and filing rules for California.
• Florida Services sales tax
  Services nexus, taxability, and filing rules for Florida.
• Hawaii Services sales tax
  Services nexus, taxability, and filing rules for Hawaii.
• Illinois Services sales tax
  Services nexus, taxability, and filing rules for Illinois.
• New Jersey Services sales tax
  Services nexus, taxability, and filing rules for New Jersey.
• New Mexico Services sales tax
  Services nexus, taxability, and filing rules for New Mexico.