臺北/美國生活筆記本

Maryland的州稅可以線上申報，所以比聯邦稅來得容易得多。但是也因為每次都是線上隨便填填，隔了一年之後該怎麼報又通通忘光光。趁著現在有點空，把想到的記下來。

Q: resident or non-resident?
A: 在Federal tax的標準中，持F簽證在美國未滿五年的留學生，算是non-resident alien，這個之前已經討論過了，可以參考[稅務筆記]1040 or 1040NR?及[稅務筆記]留學生報稅身份。但在MD的州稅規定，只看報稅者是否居住在美國，而不管簽證上的規定，說明如下：

WHO IS A RESIDENT?
You are a resident of Maryland if:
a. your permanent home is or was in Maryland (the law refers to this as your domicile).
OR
b. your permanent home is outside of Maryland, but you maintained a place of abode (that is, a place to live) in Maryland for more than six months of the tax year. If this applies to you and you were physically present in the state for 183 days or more, you must file a full-year resident return.

所以只要在MD居住滿六個月，在MD州稅法上就算是resident了。

Q: 可以扶養配偶或子女嗎？
A: MD州稅對於撫養的定義跟聯邦稅一樣。在聯邦稅法上，來自台灣的non-resident alien不能扶養配偶或子女，所以MD州稅上也不行。在稅表上請選擇single。

Exemptions Allowed
You are permitted the same number of exemptions which you are permitted on your federal return; however, the exemption amount is different on the Maryland return. Even if you are not required to file a federal return, the federal rules for exemptions still apply to you. Refer to the federal income tax instructions for further information.

Q: itemized deduction or standard deduction?
A: MD稅法上可以自行選擇用itemized deduction或standard deduction，而且不需要跟聯邦稅表上的一樣。

You may itemize your deductions only if you itemized deductions on your federal return. See Instruction 14 for completing lines 19a and b of Form 502. Enter the result on line 19. You are not required to itemize deductions on your Maryland return simply because you itemized on your federal return. Figure your tax each way to determine which method is best for you.

在聯邦稅法中，non-resident alien只能用itemized deduction。因此，在MD稅法上可以自行選擇用itemized deduction或standard deduction，當然是選擇多的那一個囉！如果聯邦稅的itemized deduction中只有包含州稅的話，通常申報MD州稅選擇standard deduction會比較多。

有興趣的人可以到這裡下載instructions慢慢讀。目前只有想到這些，以後想到再補充囉！