State Guide

How to Dispute a Toll in Maryland

Navigating violations with DriveEzMD / E-ZPass Maryland (Maryland Transportation Authority) can be confusing. Follow this guide to fight your charge.

Generate a Maryland Dispute Letter

Disputing a Toll in Maryland

Maryland is the state where small tolls turn into enormous bills, and the reason is structural. Every unpaid video toll transaction generates its own citation with its own civil penalty, and no cap on the total appears anywhere in the statute or the regulations. Understanding the timeline matters more here than almost anywhere else, because the most valuable options close permanently once your debt is referred to collections.

Valid Reasons to Dispute a Toll in Maryland

• The license plate was misread by the camera system.
• You were not the registered owner of the vehicle on the violation date in Maryland.
• You had a valid, funded transponder account that should have covered the toll.
• You have proof the toll was already paid.
• The vehicle was sold, stolen, or rented to someone else at the time.
• The toll equipment malfunctioned or charged a duplicate toll.

Step-by-Step Filing Instructions

1. Act before your deadline — at least 30 days from the notice of toll due, then 30 days from the citation mailing date to pay or elect a trial. Note the exact response date printed on your notice.
2. Gather your evidence — vehicle registration, transponder statement, bill of sale, or police report.
3. Write a dispute letter stating your plate number, notice number, violation date, and the reason you're disputing.
4. Submit through the agency's official portal, or send by certified mail so you have proof of the submission date.
5. Keep copies of everything and follow up if you don't receive a response within about 30 days.

Maryland Toll Law and Your Rights

The governing statute is Maryland Transportation Article section 21-1414, Failure to Pay Electronic or Video Toll, supported by COMAR chapter 11.07.07. The registered owner is liable for the video toll under section 21-1414(b), and liability is decided on a preponderance of the evidence under section 21-1414(f).

Here is the mechanism that produces five-figure bills. COMAR 11.07.07.09B(1) sets the civil penalty at $25, and MDTA issues a citation for each individual unpaid video toll transaction. The penalty is per transaction, not per notice, and no cap on the aggregate appears in section 21-1414, section 21-1417 or COMAR 11.07.07. To see the scale: in financial year 2025 MDTA billed roughly $129 million in original video tolls but assessed roughly $258 million in civil penalties, about double the tolls themselves.

The clock runs in stages and each one closes an option. The Notice of Toll Due gives you at least 30 days from its mailing date. The civil penalty attaches 15 days after the toll violation occurs. MDTA must then mail the citation no later than 60 days after the violation, and you have 30 days from that citation's mailing date to pay or to contest. A past-due notice gives 15 days before referral to the Motor Vehicle Administration, and a final notice gives 15 days before referral to the Central Collection Unit.

Contesting means a trial, not an agency hearing. Under section 21-1414(d) and COMAR 11.07.07.07A you may pay, or elect to stand trial in the District Court of Maryland. You must notify MDTA by the citation payment due date and give the video toll transaction numbers. If the District Court rules against you, you can appeal to the Circuit Court within 30 days, where the case is heard de novo, meaning it is presented over again rather than reviewed on the record.

The waiver powers are the most valuable and least known part of Maryland law. Section 21-1414(h) states plainly that the Authority may waive any portion of the video toll due or civil penalty assessed. COMAR 11.07.07.08D then lists the grounds MDTA may act on before a referral to collections: problems with notice delivery, such as notices not reaching the address on file; extended absences, expressly including hospitalisation, incarceration and long-term out-of-state travel; licence plate theft or fraud; emergency diversions onto a toll facility; and payment processing errors. Supporting documentation is required.

Since 1 October 2025, Maryland law also requires an installment plan. Section 21-1417, added by House Bill 1465 of 2025, states that the Authority shall establish an installment payment plan program, and MDTA's programme covers anyone owing at least $300 in unpaid video tolls and civil penalties. The programme page offers reduced penalties on outstanding debt that has not yet been sent to the Central Collection Unit. Apply by emailing EZPassTollHelp@mdta.state.md.us with your name, phone number and the mailing number from your toll notice.

Timing is everything, because both the waiver grounds and the reduced penalties are tied to debt that has not yet reached the Central Collection Unit. Once it does, the CCU adds a 17 percent administrative fee on top, and your options narrow to paying, a CCU payment plan, or a confessed judgment.

Registration consequences arrive in two tiers. A single unpaid final toll violation lets MDTA ask the MVA to refuse a registration renewal or transfer, which is the flag. Once you owe $1,000 or more in unpaid final toll violations, MDTA can ask the MVA to suspend the registration outright, and amounts already referred to the CCU still count toward that $1,000. Either can be lifted within three business days of full payment or of entering a confessed judgment with the CCU.

There is no active general toll amnesty in Maryland. Waiver programmes ran in 2015 and 2022 and have ended. A 2026 relief bill that would have let MDTA reduce penalties on accounts already in collections passed the Senate but died in the House Environment and Transportation Committee without a vote. Do not wait for an amnesty that has not been enacted.

MDTA has published a clear scam warning: DriveEzMD will never request payment by text message. Legitimate channels are the driveezmd.com website, the DriveEzMD app, a Customer Service Center, the phone number 1-888-321-6824, and mailed citations carrying QR codes.

Major Toll Roads and Authorities in Maryland

• The Maryland Transportation Authority operates all state toll facilities under the DriveEzMD and E-ZPass Maryland brands, including the Fort McHenry Tunnel, the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel, the Francis Scott Key Bridge crossing, the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway on I-95, the Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge, the Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, and the I-95 Express Toll Lanes.
• Video tolling applies whenever a vehicle passes a toll point without a valid E-ZPass transponder. Video toll rates are higher than transponder rates, and each unpaid video toll transaction can become a separate citation carrying its own $25 civil penalty.
• Paying early is cheaper. MDTA offers a 15 percent discount, up to $5 per transaction, if you pay online or in person before the official toll notices are mailed.
• Debt referred to the Maryland Central Collection Unit is handled on 1-833-847-9876 rather than by MDTA, and carries a 17 percent administrative fee. Reaching MDTA before that referral is worth real money.

Maryland Toll Authority Mailing Addresses

• Maryland Transportation Authority (disputes and citation remittance) — Maryland Transportation Authority, P.O. Box 5060, Middle River, MD 21220-5060
• Important: each entry is labeled by purpose (payment, contest/dispute, or violation). Send your dispute to the address shown for disputes, and always confirm against the exact address printed on your own notice, since agencies use different PO boxes for payments versus written disputes.

What to Put in Your Maryland Dispute Letter

1. Work out exactly which stage each transaction is at before writing, because Maryland's most valuable options close at different moments and the largest one closes at referral to collections.
2. If your debt has not yet been referred to the Central Collection Unit, lead with a waiver request. Cite section 21-1414(h), which allows the Authority to waive any portion of the video toll or civil penalty, and then cite the specific ground in COMAR 11.07.07.08D that fits your situation.
3. The COMAR grounds are specific, so match yours precisely: notices that never reached the address on file, an extended absence including hospitalisation, incarceration or long-term out-of-state travel, licence plate theft or fraud, an emergency diversion onto a toll facility, or a payment processing error. Attach documentation for whichever you claim.
4. Ask about the installment plan under section 21-1417 in the same letter if you owe $300 or more. The programme explicitly offers reduced penalties on debt not yet sent to collections, so requesting it early is worth far more than requesting it late.
5. If you are challenging the tolls themselves rather than asking for relief, you must elect a trial within 30 days of the citation mailing date and give the video toll transaction numbers. That election is what preserves your right to be heard in the District Court.
6. Demand an itemised breakdown. With a penalty of $25 per transaction and no cap, the arithmetic is the argument: ask how many transactions, on what dates, at which gantries, and how much of the balance is tolls as opposed to penalties.
7. If someone else was driving, Maryland requires a notarised admission or statement from the actual operator. A plain letter will not do it, so get the statement notarised before you send anything.
8. If the vehicle was leased or rented, supply the lease or rental agreement identifying the lessee by name and address. If it was stolen, supply the police report. Either way, the transfer of liability request must reach MDTA by the Notice of Toll Due payment date.
9. Be careful about relying on having sold the vehicle. A sold or transferred vehicle is not among Maryland's confirmed statutory transfer-of-liability categories, so treat proof of sale as support for a discretionary waiver rather than as an automatic defence.
10. Send it certified mail with return receipt to the current MDTA address, and never respond to a text message about a Maryland toll, because DriveEzMD does not request payment that way.

What to Expect After You File

Once your dispute is submitted, the toll authority reviews your evidence and the original toll image before responding — most decisions in Maryland arrive within 30 to 90 days. Sending your letter by certified mail, or keeping the confirmation number from an online submission, gives you proof that you filed on time if you ever need to escalate.

If your dispute is approved, the charge is dismissed or reduced and any related late fees are typically removed. If it's denied, you usually still have the right to request a hearing or pay the reduced base toll. Either way, responding in writing before the deadline protects you from registration holds and collection activity, which are far harder to undo later.

More Maryland Toll Help

• What happens if you don't pay a toll in Maryland
• The Maryland toll dispute process, step by step

Frequently Asked Questions