diff --git a/rebar.config b/rebar.config
index b2653a2..38858b5 100644
--- a/rebar.config
+++ b/rebar.config
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 {erl_opts, [
+  % uncomment to always decode to maps
+  % {d, maps_always},
   {platform_define, "R14|R15", 'no_binary_to_whatever'},
   {platform_define, "^((?!R1[456]).)*$", 'maps_support'}
 ]}.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/jsx_to_term.erl b/src/jsx_to_term.erl
index d5db2c3..4ace068 100644
--- a/src/jsx_to_term.erl
+++ b/src/jsx_to_term.erl
@@ -69,9 +69,14 @@
 
 -spec to_term(Source::binary(), Config::config()) -> json_value().
 
+-ifdef(maps_always).
+to_term(Source, Config) when is_list(Config) ->
+    (jsx:decoder(?MODULE, [return_maps] ++ Config, jsx_config:extract_config(Config)))(Source).
+-endif.
+-ifndef(maps_always).
 to_term(Source, Config) when is_list(Config) ->
     (jsx:decoder(?MODULE, Config, jsx_config:extract_config(Config)))(Source).
-
+-endif.
 
 parse_config(Config) -> parse_config(Config, #config{}).