$ cat u.pl
use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper;

my $hashRef = {amountSubmitted=>1};
print "a hash reference: ", Dumper($hashRef), "\n";

my %hash = (amountSubmitted=>0);
print "a hash expands to a list: ", Dumper(%hash), "\n";

print "pass the hash as a ref: ", Dumper(\%hash), "\n";