Semileptonic B meson decays into the four lightest excited charmed meson states (D∗0, D∗1, D1, and D∗2) and their counterparts with s quarks are investigated, including the full lepton mass dependence. We derive the standard model predictions for the differential branching fractions, as well as predictions for the ratios of the semi-tauonic and light lepton semileptonic branching fractions. These can be systematically improved using future measurements of the total or differential semileptonic rates to e and μ, as well as the two-body hadronic branching fractions with a pion, related by factorization to the semileptonic rate at maximal recoil. To illustrate the different sensitivities to new physics, we explore the dependence of the ratio of semi-tauonic and light-lepton branching fractions on the type-II and type-III two-Higgs-doublet model parameters, tanβ and m±H, for all four states. https://arxiv.org/abs/1606.09300