Do I need to submit payment to my Maryland state return if I'm submitting an amendment that reduces amount due to 0?

[egk1]

I submitted my 2021 MD state return about a week ago, owing $500. I have not sent in the payment yet (I elected to pay by check). Turbo Tax lists my return as 'Accepted'.

I ended up amending my 2021 federal return today (switched from standard deduction to itemized).

This has now allowed me to amend my state return (though I have to mail it in) and has lowered the amount of tax due down to $0. Turbo Tax says that I now should get a refund of $500 (a refund of the original payment that I owed, which as I stated above, I haven't yet mailed in).

The instructions on 502X said that I need to wait 6 weeks after submitting a return before I submit an amendment, which would mean I would have to wait until after the April filing deadline.

Should I:

1) Ignore the 502X instructions and mail in the amendment stating that no refund is due (since I haven't mailed the original payment), or

2) Should I mail in the original payment due, wait six weeks, and then mail in the amendment claiming a refund of the $500 just paid (this sounds ridiculous to me but… bureaucracy, ugh.)

[ThomasM125 · Accepted solution]

It would be easiest to mail in the payment and then get a refund later on. This is because if you don't make the payment you will get a penalty for late payment of tax which may be hard to get reversed, potentially requiring a lot of communication and back and forth with the state.