Maryland FAMLI: What Employers Owe and When Contributions Start

Informational only. This guide is not legal, tax, or payroll advice. FAMLI rules can turn on facts specific to your business, so consult a qualified employment attorney or CPA before you act on any specific situation.

Maryland FAMLI is the state's Family and Medical Leave Insurance program, the source of Maryland paid family leave for eligible workers. It is funded through payroll contributions, so the employer's job is mostly about collecting, reporting, and remitting the right amount on time. The start dates moved during the 2025 session, and many older articles still show the original schedule. This guide covers what employers owe now and the dates that matter.

The dates that matter

House Bill 102, signed May 6, 2025, moved contributions to January 1, 2027 and benefits to January 2028. The schedule below reflects that change and the employer deadlines set around it. Confirm each date at paidleave.maryland.gov before you rely on it.

Date	What happens
September 1 to November 15, 2026	Window to file a Declaration of Intent through your online FAMLI account if you want to keep a private plan option open
January 1, 2027	Contributions begin
April 2027	First quarterly wage and hour report due, and quarterly reporting starts for all employers
April 30, 2027	First quarterly contribution payment due
Summer 2027	Private plan applications open
October 1, 2027	Private plan applications due
January 2028	Benefits begin (the statute sets January 3, 2028 as the outer date)

What the contribution rate is

The total maryland famli contribution rate for 2027 is 0.9% of wages. Maryland Labor reaffirmed that rate in April 2026, so build your payroll around it. How the 0.9% is split depends on how many employees you have, and that split is the first thing to get right.

Employers with 15 or more employees

You remit the full 0.9%. You may withhold up to 50% of that amount, which is 0.45% of wages, from employees. Anything you do not withhold is your cost.

Employers with fewer than 15 employees

You are responsible only for the employee half of the contribution, which is 0.45% of wages. Because the 15-employee line decides which split applies to you, document how you count headcount and confirm that method with the agency.

What the numbers look like on a paycheck

For every $1,000 of covered wages, the full 0.9% is $9.00. At the 0.45% employee share, the employee contributes $4.50. For a 15-plus employer that withholds the maximum, the employer covers the other $4.50 on the same wages. Confirm with the agency whether any wage ceiling applies before you finalize your payroll math, because a ceiling changes every figure above.

Why the 15-employee line matters

The threshold is the most consequential number in this guide, and it is easy to get wrong at the margins. An employer with 14 employees is responsible only for the 0.45% employee half. An employer with 15 employees remits the full 0.9% and may pass up to half of it to staff. On a $1,000 payroll, that difference is $4.50 per pay period that the employer has to fund itself, before any other cost.

Count the way the agency counts, not the way your office counts. Seasonal help, part-time staff, and owners can all raise questions about headcount. Write down your method and the date you made it, and keep that record with your payroll files.

The private plan decision: September to November 2026

Maryland allows qualifying employers to apply for a maryland famli private plan in place of paying into the state program. If you think you might want one, the first step is a Declaration of Intent, filed through your online FAMLI account between September 1 and November 15, 2026. The window closes on November 15, 2026, so this is the step with a hard date.

Three points about the declaration matter for planning:

• It is not binding. Filing it does not commit you to a private plan.
• If the state accepts your declaration, your 2027 contributions are held in escrow.
• Private plan applications open in summer 2027 and are due October 1, 2027.

Filing keeps the option open, but it does not tell you whether a private plan is worth the cost. The figures in this guide do not establish what a private plan costs or how it compares to the state program. Get quotes from insurers or brokers, and confirm the application requirements on paidleave.maryland.gov before summer 2027.

Quarterly wage and hour reporting starts April 2027

All employers must file quarterly wage and hour reports starting April 2027. That applies whether you stay with the state program or move to a private plan. Reporting is a separate obligation from the contribution, so your records need to be accurate from the first 2027 pay period, not from the first report.

Set up your payroll so you can pull hours and wages by employee, by quarter, without rebuilding the data by hand. Confirm the report contents, the filing method, and the exact due dates on paidleave.maryland.gov, because the agency sets those details and this guide does not list them.

The first payment: April 30, 2027

The first quarterly contribution payment is due April 30, 2027. Before your first 2027 payroll run, confirm the remittance method, the payment schedule, and how the first quarter is handled with the agency. A payroll error in the first quarter is harder to fix than one in a later quarter, so test the process in a payroll cycle or two before the due date.

Checklist for employers

1. Log in to or set up your online FAMLI account. Declarations and reporting run through it.
2. Decide before November 15, 2026 whether to file a Declaration of Intent. If you are unsure, get a private plan quote now, because the window closes whether or not you have decided.
3. Write down how you count employees, confirm the method with the agency, and keep the record. This sets your contribution split.
4. Update payroll software for the 0.9% rate starting with 2027 pay periods, and decide in writing how much, if any, you will withhold from employees, up to 50%.
5. Calendar April 2027 for the first quarterly wage and hour report and April 30, 2027 for the first contribution payment.
6. If you choose a private plan, calendar summer 2027 for the application opening and October 1, 2027 for the deadline.
7. Brief your payroll provider and bookkeeper on these dates now, so the 2027 setup is not left to the last month of 2026.

Common mistakes

• Using the old schedule. Articles that show 2025 or 2026 contribution start dates predate HB 102 and are out of date.
• Treating the declaration as a commitment. It is not binding, but acceptance places your 2027 contributions in escrow, which affects cash flow.
• Withholding more than the limit. Employee withholding is capped at 50% of the total contribution, which is 0.45% of wages.
• Guessing your headcount. The 15-employee line decides your split, so document how you counted.
• Waiting for contributions before reporting. Wage and hour reports start in April 2027, before most employers would expect a first remittance to be due.
• Relying on memory for dates. Dates in this guide come from the state's approved schedule as of October 2026. Check paidleave.maryland.gov before each filing.

Questions to ask your payroll provider

Before you commit to a payroll system for 2027, ask the provider whether it can split the 0.9% between employer and employee shares by headcount, whether it can record the 50% withholding limit, and whether it produces the quarterly wage and hour data in a format the state can accept. If the answer to any of these is no, plan the workaround now rather than in March 2027.

Where to get help and confirm dates

Confirm every date and figure in this guide at paidleave.maryland.gov, the official Maryland FAMLI resource. Legislation and agency guidance can change, and the state page controls over any article, including this one.

For free business planning support, the Maryland Small Business Development Center Network offers advising across the state. For questions about your legal obligations or the terms of a private plan, speak with an employment attorney. For payroll treatment and how contributions affect your tax picture, a CPA or payroll provider can model your numbers against your actual headcount and wages.

Bottom line

For most employers, the work is simple to describe and easy to miss: confirm your headcount, set the 0.9% rate into your 2027 payroll, file the November 15, 2026 declaration if you want to keep a private plan open, and calendar the April 2027 reporting and payment dates. Start the headcount and payroll checks now, because the first deadline that matters for most businesses is the declaration window in fall 2026, not the first payment in 2027.

This guide is informational content, not legal, tax, or payroll advice. Consult a qualified attorney or CPA about your situation before you make a filing or payroll decision.