Maryland EIN: Your Central Registration Number (CRN)

After your EIN in Maryland

The Comptroller's Combined Registration Application (CRA) registers several Maryland tax accounts in one filing, including the Sales and Use Tax License and the Employer's Withholding Tax Account, filed online through Maryland Business Express or Maryland Tax Connect. Unemployment insurance is a separate registration with the Maryland Department of Labor in BEACON.

The Comptroller assigns each employer a Central Registration Number (CRN), an eight-digit Maryland tax account number used for withholding and most other Maryland business taxes. You should have only one CRN for withholding, and filing withholding returns online requires both the CRN and the FEIN or SSN.

Employers with one or more employees in Maryland must also register with the state's Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) program, a registration of its own on the program's paid leave site. Starting January 1, 2027, employers are responsible for withholding FAMLI contributions.

Maryland employers withhold local (county) income tax along with state tax, using the rate for the Maryland county where each resident employee lives. Each county sets its own local rate.

Also on the Maryland list

• Register with the Comptroller of Maryland through Maryland Tax Connect using the Combined Registration Application, which opens accounts such as the sales and use tax license and employer withholding in one filing. It asks for the nine-digit EIN and, as a required field, the entity identification number the Department of Assessments and Taxation assigned at formation.
• File Form 1, the Annual Report and Business Personal Property Return, with the Department of Assessments and Taxation by April 15 every year, online through Maryland Business Express. It asks for the Department ID and the nine-digit EIN, and the instructions tell filers not to enter a Social Security number in its place.

Agency sites checked November 1, 2026 · All 50 states

What is different about Maryland

• In Maryland the office that files LLC formations is also the state's property assessment agency, so the annual report and the business personal property return are one combined filing, Form 1. An LLC that does not file it receives an estimated assessment and forfeits its Maryland charter.
• The Department of Assessments and Taxation assigns its own Department ID, a letter followed by eight digits, and a Maryland LLC's starts with W. The department warns that this is not the FEIN banks ask for, although its Maryland Business Express entity search can look up a business by EIN as well as by Department ID.
• Maryland state business licenses, including the trader's license for retail sellers, are issued by the Clerk of the Circuit Court where the business is located, and the Comptroller says first-time applicants must register with the Department of Assessments and Taxation before going to the clerk. Form 1 then asks businesses that need a trader's license to report their commercial inventory.

Before you apply

The SS-4 must match the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation filing; its department ID is a state index, not a tax ID.

Maryland EIN questions