Fined out part 2: Fine notices

Overview

A fine notice is a fine issued by an authorised officer which contains details of the alleged offence and the monetary payment attached to that offence.

Even if you can’t afford to pay it upfront, it is best not to ignore a fine notice. If you do, it just gets more expensive and more complicated. As well as the increasing the amount of money you owe, Revenue NSW can:

• ask Transport for NSW to suspend your driver licence or cancel your car registration
• take money from your bank account or wages
• refer your debt to a private debt collection agency
• register an interest on any land or property you may own, and
• order the sheriff to take your goods or property and sell them to pay the amount you owe.

Each action taken may add more to your debt, they include:

• $65 to Revenue NSW when an overdue fine is issued ($25 if you are under 18)
• $65 to Transport for NSW for certain recovery action, such as suspension of your driver licence, and
• $65 to the Sheriff for any action by their office.

When you get a fine notice, read it carefully and make sure you know when the due date is. If you do nothing about the fine notice within that time, Revenue NSW will send you a fine reminder notice to the address provided by the issuing authority or the address recorded with Transport for NSW, and you have a further 28 days to deal with the fine notice before an overdue fine is issued.

Your options to deal with a fine notice are:

• pay the fine
• organise a payment plan or add the fine to an existing payment plan
• apply for a 50% reduction of a penalty notice fine if you are on a Centrelink or Veterans benefit
• ask for a review of your fine or overdue fine if there are special or extenuating circumstances
• nominate another driver. If the fine relates to a parking or traffic offence issued to you as the registered owner of the vehicle, and you were not the driver of the vehicle, you can apply online telling Revenue NSW the name and address of the responsible driver. The fine will be withdrawn from your name and a new fine notice will be issued to the correct driver
• decide to have the matter heard in a Local Court, or
• apply for a Work and Development Order (WDO).

If you don’t deal with the fine by the due date on the fine reminder notice, Revenue NSW will send you an overdue fine notice and an additional $65 will be added to the fine amount.

For more information, see Fined out part 4: Recovery action by Revenue NSW.

Pay the fine in full

If you do not want to request a review of a fine and you can pay it, then it is best to pay by the due date to avoid an overdue fine notice and additional costs. Once a fine has been paid in full the matter is finalised and no further recovery action occurs.

Paying the fine does not mean that you are admitting that you are guilty, however some traffic matters will stay on your record once you have paid the fine. These can be brought up in court later if you are being sentenced for other driving offences. If you pay either a fine notice or fine reminder notice you are accepting responsibility for the fine. If the offence incurs demerit points with Transport for NSW, these will be applied once payment is made. This will happen if payment is made in part or in full.

For more information, see Fined out part 7: Demerit points and your driver’s licence.

Payment plans

You can set up a payment plan to pay over a longer period on your fine or overdue fine. It's best to set up the payment plan or have the fine added to an existing payment plan before the due date on the fine reminder notice to avoid any extra costs. If an overdue fine has been issued, you can still have a payment plan.

To set up a payment plan for a fine or overdue fine go to Set up a payment plan on the NSW Government website.

You can also choose to have your repayments deducted from your Centrelink payment by choosing Centrepay as your payment method, or apply via your MyServiceNSW account.

Requesting a review

If you believe a fine should not have been issued to you or your personal situation or circumstances resulted in you receiving the fine, in certain circumstances you can ask for it to be reviewed. You can make a request for a review of a fine or an overdue fine at any time except if the fine has been paid in full and no fine reminder has been issued, then the request for review must be made within 60 days from the date the fine was issued.

To request a review of your fine, go to MyPenalty on the Revenue NSW website.

For help with requesting a review and what documents you need to provide, see the Review Assist Guide on the NSW Government website. To apply online you’ll need to enter the fine notice number and the date of the offence. If you’ve lost your fine and are unable to log in, call Revenue NSW on 1300 138 118.

You can also request a review online with your MyServiceNSW account or by calling 13 77 88.

To request a review via post you will need to provide proof of identification such as your address, date of birth or driver licence number.

You can submit documents in writing to:

Revenue NSW
PO Box 786
Strawberry Hills NSW 2012

Make sure you request a review before the due date on the fine notice to avoid further costs or action.

Revenue NSW will tell you about the outcome of your review in writing via email or a letter including what options you will have to finalise if unsuccessful.

Telling Revenue NSW about special or extenuating circumstances

If you believe there are special circumstances in your case, or you want to ask for leniency, you can request a review of your fine. You can apply online or you can complete a form and send it to Revenue NSW. You must add supporting documents if you are asking to have the fine withdrawn.

The Revenue NSW Review Assist Guide explains what evidence you need to provide when you ask for this type of review. See Review Assist Guide: Special circumstances on the NSW Government website for more information.

Revenue NSW will review the fine if:

• there was a medical emergency, like taking someone who needs urgent medical attention to a hospital
• the offence was committed because you feared for your safety
• there was a mechanical breakdown and for example, your car was parked in a no parking zone, and
• you have had a good driving record for the last 10 years.

Revenue NSW will not consider applications for leniency for some more serious offences, where safety is an issue, for example if:

• you were excessively speeding. This means speeding more than 20 km/h over the limit
• you were using a mobile phone while driving
• you ignored RailCorp safety notices
• demerit point offences in school zones, or
• you went through a red light.

If Revenue NSW does not withdraw the fine, they will tell you in writing and will also send you a new a fine reminder notice. You will given extra time to pay the fine or to decide if you want to apply to have your fine heard in court.

Nominating another driver

If you own the vehicle involved but were not driving or in control of it at the time of the offence, you can fill out and submit an online nomination to let Revenue NSW know who was driving the vehicle, or who owns it.

You can find the relevant form via Nominate someone else for a fine on the NSW Government website.

You can also nominate another driver with your MyServiceNSW account on the Service NSW website.

You can nominate another driver at any time, even after an overdue fine has been issued. As long as Revenue NSW has enough time to transfer the fine to the correct driver. When you submit the details online to Revenue NSW the fine should be withdrawn from your name and a new fine notice issued in the name of the nominated driver.

It is a criminal offence to provide false or misleading information on a nomination. There are significant penalties for this offence including fines.

You can’t use the nomination process if you were given an on-the-spot fine by a police officer, a rail transit officer or another authorised government officer.

Self-nomination as driver

You can nominate yourself as the person in charge of a vehicle at the time an offence for which a fine notice has been issued.

You can let Revenue NSW know your details by sending a Statutory Declaration to Revenue NSW with the details of the offence and your details.

Deciding to go to court

You can apply to have your fine heard in court if you:

• believe you are not guilty, or
• believe the fine is too harsh.

Before deciding to apply to have your fine heard in court, you may wish to consider applying for a review of the fine (see above), as it is a lot simpler than going to court and you will still be able to apply to go to court if the review is unsuccessful. To go to court you can apply online or fill out a court election form via Nominate someone else for a fine on the NSW Government website, or apply online with your MyServiceNSW account o the Service NSW website.

You should apply to go to court before the due date on your fine reminder notice.

If the due date on the fine reminder notice has passed, you will need to wait until you receive an overdue fine from Revenue NSW. You can apply to have an overdue fine listed in court however you will need to prove that you were prevented from paying or managing your fine before the due date – this is called hindrance. You will need to supply supporting evidence, such as medical or travel documents.

When an overdue fine is issued, any demerit points will remain on your licence until your court election is processed.

When Revenue NSW receives the court election form, they will send you a court attendance notice telling you when to go to court.

If your court election for an overdue fine is NOT successful you have the right to appeal to the Local Court. You have 28 days from the date of Revenue NSW’s decision to send in your application to the Local Court and there is an application fee for each overdue fine you are appealing. The registrar of the Local Court may waive this fee if you ask for this when submitting your form.

To appeal a Revenue NSW decision to the Local Court you need to do the following:

1. Use a general ‘application notice to the Local Court’ form available under Applications to the Local Court on the NSW Local Court website. You can download this form in PDF or Word DOC format to fill out on your computer or by hand.
2. On the form in the orders sought section you need to write ‘Appeal against refusal application by Commissioner, Section 50 Fines Act’.
3. Submit the form with the Revenue NSW letter stating that they refused your request to court elect your fine to your Local Court registry.
4. You can request for the fee to be waived at this time also.
5. The registry will give you a court attendance notice with all the details you need to turn up to court.
6. If your application to allow you to court elect your fine is successful, you will get another court attendance notice to take your case to court. You will then get the opportunity to have your say.
7. If your application is unsuccessful, Revenue NSW will be notified and you will be issued with a new overdue for payment of the fine.

This process applies to fine notices only. For information on appealing a court fine, see Fined out part 3: Court fines.

It’s a good idea to get legal advice before you do any of this. The maximum fine a court can give you may be higher than the amount in the fine notice, and the court can order you to pay some court costs as well. A lawyer can help you decide if this is the right option for you.

Applying for a work and development order (WDO)

If you are under 18 years of age, homeless, experiencing serious financial hardship, mental illness, intellectual disability or cognitive impairment or have a serious addiction, you may be eligible to pay off your fine through a WDO.

A WDO means you do an approved activity with a WDO sponsor organisation or health practitioner to pay off all or part of your fines, such as unpaid work, education and personal development courses, counselling or treatment programs.

For more information, see Fined out part 5: Responding to Revenue NSW recovery action.

Downloads

You can download ‘Fined out’ as a PDF in English.

More information

There are nine parts to the ‘Fined out’ resource – you are currently viewing part 2.

Updated October 2025