Maryland FAMLI with a third-party administrator: you register first, then sign the Power of Attorney within 30 days of the invitation

Short answer, as of October 8, 2026: A third-party administrator (TPA) cannot register your business. The State says: "TPAs cannot complete registration on behalf of their clients. This helps prevent unauthorized enrollment." Your Authorized Officer registers first. The TPA then sends you a Power of Attorney invitation in the FAMLI system, and you "must sign within 30 days" of that invitation. Registration for TPAs and the Power of Attorney invitations opened on Sep 1, 2026, the day that registration opened to all employers.

Who does what

Steps for the employer

1. Choose your Authorized Officer. The registration page names: owner or partner, executive director, CEO, CFO, COO, president, secretary, household employer, or a person with equal legal authority.
2. Have the Authorized Officer verify identity through Login.gov. The check uses a Social Security Number and a driver's licence or state ID. The State says these "will not be stored in your FAMLI account".
3. Register the business. You need the EIN, the 6-digit NAICS code, the physical and mailing addresses, a business email and the Resident Agent details. The business email must be different from the Authorized Officer's email. The registration walk-through has each screen.
4. Select the employer registration type. The registration guide warns that a wrong registration type (employer or TPA) cannot be changed later.
5. Tell your TPA that the registration is complete.
6. Wait for the Power of Attorney invitation from the TPA.
7. Sign the Power of Attorney within 30 days of the invitation.

If the invitation expires

The TPA page says: "The invitation expires after 30 days." The same page says: "Please check with your TPA and request a new invitation, if it expired." The State's page says that expired invitations are sent again by CSV upload.

What the State gives to TPAs

The TPA page has email templates for client messages and a client CSV template. The State also publishes a quarterly-report file guide and a step-by-step registration guide. All of these are new since Sep 1, 2026.

What does not change when you use a TPA

• The rate: 0.9% of wages up to the Social Security wage base, 0.45% employer and 0.45% employee. An employer with fewer than 15 employees remits the employee half only.
• The start: withholding applies to wages paid on or after January 1, 2027.
• The first report and payment: Apr 30, 2027. See the first quarterly report guide.
• The notices: the one-pay-period notice in December 2026 and the notices from July 2027.
• The small-employer count: the quarterly report's "Total employee headcount" field must hold every employee paid in the quarter, in Maryland and elsewhere. Make sure that your TPA has that number each quarter. If the field is blank, the State's file guide says the EIN is not eligible for small-employer status (COMAR 09.42.02.08).

Questions to ask a TPA

This site does not suggest a company. These questions come from the State's rules:

1. Are you registered in the FAMLI system as a TPA?
2. Do you file the quarterly wage and hour reports, and by which way: CSV upload, manual entry or SFTP?
3. When will you send the Power of Attorney invitation?
4. How do you get my total employee headcount (Maryland and elsewhere) each quarter?

Lists: TPAs and payroll bureaus, payroll providers, PEOs and CPA firms. Any fact we read on a firm's own page shows with the date we read it.

This is a private website, not a government site. General information, not legal, tax or insurance advice. Official site: paidleave.maryland.gov.