Maryland Sales Tax on Digital Products (2026)

Last reviewed: August 15, 2026 — tax law changes; verify with the Comptroller of Maryland

Selling ebooks, courses, templates, or software to buyers in Maryland? As of August 2026, Maryland taxes digital goods more broadly than almost any state: 6% on most digital products since March 2021, plus a 3% "tech tax" on data and IT services since July 2025.

In this guide

  1. The quick answer
  2. What's taxable and what isn't
  3. Rates: the 6% tax and the 3% tech tax
  4. Economic nexus: when remote sellers must register
  5. Marketplace facilitator rules
  6. Registering and filing
  7. The multi-state picture
  8. FAQ
  9. Sources

The quick answer

Yes — Maryland taxes digital products, and it taxes them broadly. Effective March 14, 2021, the state's 6% sales and use tax applies to the sale of a "digital product" or "digital code" obtained or delivered electronically, per the Comptroller's Business Tax Tip #29 — ebooks, digital periodicals, music, ringtones, video, streaming, canned software delivered electronically, SaaS for individual use, and, critically, subscriptions and access, not just permanent downloads.

The rules have kept moving. In 2022, HB 791 and SB 723 narrowed the definition to exclude software and SaaS bought solely for commercial purposes in an enterprise computer system. Then, effective July 1, 2025, Chapter 604 of 2025 (the budget bill, HB 352) added a separate 3% tax on data, IT, and software publishing services and repealed the old custom software exemption, per the Comptroller's Sales and Use Tax Updates 2025–2026 alert.

What's taxable and what isn't

The table summarizes Maryland's general treatment by category as of August 2026, per Business Tax Tip #29 and the Comptroller's 2025 guidance. Classification of an individual product is ultimately the Comptroller's call, not ours.

Category Maryland treatment (as of August 2026)
Ebooks, digital newspapers and magazines, music, audio files, ringtonesTaxable at 6% — expressly listed digital products
Video, movies, streaming, subscriptionsTaxable at 6% — the tax reaches subscriptions, access, and streaming, not just downloads
Online courses — prerecordedTaxable at 6% — prerecorded instruction delivered electronically is a digital product
Online courses — live and interactiveNot taxable — live instruction in a skill or profession with contemporaneous interaction is excluded (schools and universities are excluded outright)
Stock photos, graphics, templates, digital artGenerally taxable at 6% when delivered electronically — Business Tax Tip #29's photography examples apply the 6% rate to final digital images
Canned (COTS) software, downloaded; SaaS for individual useTaxable at 6% — treated as digital products since March 14, 2021
Software / SaaS solely for commercial use in an enterprise computer systemExcluded from the 6% digital-product tax (2022 amendments) — but generally taxed at 3% as a software publishing or data/IT service since July 1, 2025
Custom software and related servicesFormerly exempt; the exemption was repealed effective July 1, 2025 — now generally within the 3% tech tax
Data/IT services: cloud storage, web hosting, data processing, IT consultingNot digital products, but taxed at 3% as data/IT services since July 1, 2025 (NAICS 518, 519, 5415)

The education carve-outs deserve care if you sell courses: under Business Tax Tip #29, prerecorded instruction is taxable even if students can message the instructor afterward — interaction must be contemporaneous with live instruction.

Rates: the 6% tax and the 3% tech tax

Maryland has no county or city general sales taxes, so a single statewide rate applies per category (see the Comptroller's sales and use tax page). As of August 2026, two rates matter to digital sellers:

SaaS straddles both rates. Per the Comptroller's Technical Bulletin No. 56, SaaS sold for individual, non-commercial use is a digital product taxed at 6%, while SaaS purchased solely for commercial purposes in an enterprise computer system is generally a software publishing service taxed at 3%. The 2025 law also adds narrow exemptions from the 3% tax (notably cloud computing sold to a qualified cybersecurity business) and lets a buyer using a product concurrently inside and outside Maryland present a multiple points of use (MPU) certificate to apportion. Sourcing likewise follows the buyer: a digital product sale is presumed to occur at the customer tax address, a statutory hierarchy running from the buyer's known primary use location down to the billing address — so you need the buyer's address at checkout.

Economic nexus: when remote sellers must register

Since South Dakota v. Wayfair (2018), states can require out-of-state sellers to collect based on sales volume alone. Maryland's threshold, set by COMAR 03.06.01.33 and restated in the nexus section of Business Tax Tip #29, treats you as an out-of-state vendor required to collect if, during the previous or current calendar year, either:

Note the or: either prong alone triggers the obligation, so a low-priced digital product with steady volume can create nexus well before $100,000 in revenue. Digital product sales have counted toward the thresholds since March 14, 2021, and as of August 2026 the Comptroller's guidance still lists both prongs — despite some third-party summaries suggesting otherwise. Near the numbers? Confirm before deciding not to register.

Marketplace facilitator rules

Maryland requires a marketplace facilitator — a person that facilitates retail sales by listing or advertising tangible personal property, digital codes, or digital products in a marketplace and collects payment from the buyer — to collect and remit the tax on sales it facilitates for marketplace sellers, per Tax-General Article § 11-101(c-2) and Business Tax Tip #29. Sell through a registered marketplace, and the platform collects Maryland tax on those facilitated sales. That does not make the topic disappear: sales through your own website are not marketplace sales — collecting on that side remains yours once you have nexus. Keep records of marketplace versus direct sales, and confirm what each platform collects.

Registering and filing

If you must collect Maryland sales and use tax, you register for a sales and use tax license by filing a Combined Registration Application (CRA) through the Comptroller's portal, Maryland Tax Connect, at mdtaxconnect.gov — choose "Register a Business in Maryland," per the Comptroller's Register a Business in Maryland guide. Once registered, you file and remit through Maryland Tax Connect on the schedule the Comptroller assigns; the sales and use tax page has current filing information, and taxability questions can go to the Comptroller's inbox listed in Business Tax Tip #29, sut@marylandtaxes.gov.

The multi-state picture

Maryland's 6%-versus-3% split only answers for Maryland buyers. If you sell nationwide, at least 41 states plus DC tax some form of digital goods, each drawing the lines differently — our state-by-state guide maps the landscape, and the Digital Seller's Sales Tax Checklist condenses the compliance steps into a printable two-pager. SurcoPay's built-in tax tooling applies the right treatment per state at checkout and tracks your sales against each state's nexus threshold.

FAQ

Does Maryland charge sales tax on digital products?

Yes. Since March 14, 2021, Maryland's 6% sales and use tax has applied to digital products and digital codes delivered electronically — ebooks, music, video, streaming, subscriptions, prerecorded courses, canned software, and SaaS for individual use (Business Tax Tip #29). Live interactive instruction is excluded, and enterprise commercial software generally falls under the 3% tech tax instead as of July 1, 2025. Not tax advice; verify with the Comptroller of Maryland.

Is the Maryland rate 6% or 3% for my product?

Digital products and digital codes are taxed at 6%. Since July 1, 2025, data, IT, and software publishing services (NAICS 518, 519, 5132, and 5415) are taxed at 3% under Chapter 604 of 2025 (HB 352). SaaS splits across the two: individual, non-commercial use is a 6% digital product, while SaaS bought solely for commercial use in an enterprise computer system is generally a 3% taxable service per Technical Bulletin No. 56.

What is Maryland's economic nexus threshold?

Under COMAR 03.06.01.33, an out-of-state vendor must register and collect if, during the previous or current calendar year, gross revenue from sales delivered into Maryland exceeds $100,000 or the vendor makes 200 or more separate transactions for delivery into the state. Either prong alone triggers the obligation, and digital product sales count toward the thresholds.

Sources

Official Comptroller of Maryland publications relied on for this guide, with the secondary references used to cross-check them listed last:

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