Maryland · Payroll closure
Close a Maryland payroll tax account.
Maryland splits payroll between the Comptroller and the Department of Labor, and the two closures look nothing alike. Withholding ends with a form. Unemployment ends with a menu selection inside BEACON, or a phone call. Doing one and not the other is the usual outcome.
Last updated:
Who you are dealing with
Comptroller of Maryland
- Handles:
- Employer withholding account
- System:
- Maryland Tax Connect
- Form:
- Form MW506FR, the Final Report Form, which also appears in the withholding coupon booklet. Filed with the final return
Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Unemployment Insurance
- Handles:
- Unemployment insurance employer account
- System:
- BEACON
- Form:
- Account Maintenance in the BEACON left menu, then Inactivate Employer Account
- Phone:
- 410-949-0022 from Central Maryland, 1-800-827-4839 elsewhere, Monday to Friday 8:30 to 16:30
Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Unemployment Insurance, payroll closure
State fee. $0. Neither the Comptroller nor the Department of Labor charges to close an employer account. Tax already assessed is unaffected.
Our fee. $180 per state, flat. State fees are passed through at cost.
When you have to close or cancel
You close when you stop paying Maryland wages. If you expect to employ in Maryland again, note that BEACON's language is inactivate rather than close, and the same menu carries Reactivate Employer Account, so the account can be brought back rather than re-registered.
Final returns come first
Form MW506FR is filed with your final Maryland withholding return, so the final return and the closure travel together rather than in sequence. Tell your payroll provider to file MW506FR with the final return if someone else runs your payroll, because it is easily left out of a routine last filing.
How long it takes
Maryland does not publish a processing time for either action. The BEACON route gives you an immediate on-screen result, which the paper route does not, so we use BEACON for the unemployment side unless there is a reason not to.
What we do
We confirm which accounts are open, file any outstanding final returns, submit each cancellation, and follow up until every agency confirms in writing. You keep the client. We never email them.
Opening an account in another state instead? State payroll tax registration covers the withholding and unemployment accounts payroll software will not open.
What makes Maryland harder than average
- Two agencies with nothing in common. The Comptroller wants a form. The Department of Labor wants a menu selection inside BEACON. Neither process resembles the other and neither one triggers the other.
- MW506FR travels with the final return, and payroll providers forget it. If a third party runs your payroll, the final return often goes in clean while the MW506FR does not, which leaves the withholding account open behind a perfectly good last filing.
- Inactivate is not quite close, and that is deliberate. BEACON's Account Maintenance menu offers Inactivate Employer Account and Reactivate Employer Account as a pair. That is genuinely useful for a seasonal employer and confusing for one that is gone for good.
- The phone line is regional and has hours. 410-949-0022 from Central Maryland, 1-800-827-4839 from elsewhere, weekdays 8:30 to 16:30. Worth knowing before you plan to sort it out on a Saturday.
Dissolving the company is not the same as closing the tax accounts
Articles of dissolution leave the withholding, unemployment, and sales tax accounts open, and those agencies keep expecting returns until each one is closed with them. That is the separate filing that stops the notices.
How Maryland compares
Every state closes them differently. The table compares Maryland with the other states we have documented, agency by agency.
For CPAs and bookkeepers
Send the state, the last payroll or sale date, and the account numbers. The written confirmations come back to you. We do not dissolve the company and we do not take over payroll.
Questions and answers
What form closes a Maryland withholding account?
Form MW506FR, the Final Report Form. It also appears in the withholding coupon booklet, and it is filed with your final Maryland withholding return rather than as a separate later step.
How do I close the unemployment account?
In BEACON, choose Account Maintenance from the left menu, then Inactivate Employer Account and follow the prompts. You can also do it by phone on 410-949-0022 from Central Maryland or 1-800-827-4839 from elsewhere, weekdays 8:30 to 16:30.
My payroll company filed the final return. Am I closed?
Only if they also filed MW506FR. That is the single most common gap in Maryland, because a final return can be filed correctly without it and nothing flags the omission.
I might hire in Maryland again. Should I still inactivate?
BEACON pairs Inactivate Employer Account with Reactivate Employer Account, so the account can be brought back rather than re-registered. Whether that is better than closing depends on your plans, which is a business call rather than something we advise on.
What do you need from me to start?
The legal name and FEIN, the Maryland Central Registration number, the unemployment insurance account number, the date of the last Maryland wages, and whether the final withholding return has already gone in.
Also in Maryland
Agency details verified 2026-08-03
About the provider
Regcrest LLC is a document preparation and filing service based in Allentown, Pennsylvania, founded in 2026. It prepares and files state payroll and sales tax registrations, account closures, and resale certificates on behalf of the businesses that instruct it, and works behind accounting firms, bookkeepers, and payroll providers as well as directly with businesses.
Regcrest LLC is not a CPA firm and not a law firm. It gives no tax or legal advice. It files in all 50 states, and publishes a full page for the 29states it has verified against the agency's own material so far, each one showing the date it was checked. For anything that turns on your specific situation, ask a licensed accountant or attorney.