Costs in fine cases
In addition to any court fine you may receive for the offence you committed, you may also be ordered to pay other costs.
The costs you have to pay will be set out in the 'Notice of Penalty' that will be sent to you after the court has dealt with your case.
Sample: Notice of Penalty 
(51.214 kb) or
text only version
Sample: Notice of Penalty - Explained (49.451 kb) or
text only version
Court costs levy
A 'court costs levy' is a fee for having your case heard at court.
If you plead guilty or are found guilty of any offence the court will order that you pay mandatory court costs of $85 (as at 1 July 2022) unless you:
- get a section 10 for a case in the NSW Drug Court
- get a section 10 dismissal for an offence that does not have a jail sentence
- are convicted in the Children's Court
- receive a jail sentence (other than a suspended sentence).
Victims support levy
This is a levy that
must be paid for certain offences.
Any person who is convicted of an offence in NSW must pay a victims support levy of $90.00 (as at 1 July 2022), for all offences except offences relating to:
- parking
- offensive language
- travelling on public transport without paying the fare or without a ticket
- engaging in offensive conduct.
Legal costs
This is an amount that you may be ordered to pay the other party. In fines cases the other party is usually a prosecutor. Depending on the offence, the prosecutor may be a police, council or RSPCA officer, or a lawyer representing Transport for NSW (TfNSW) (formerly known as Roads and Maritime Services or RMS).
The amount of professional costs you may be ordered to pay can vary from case-to-case, and depends on the amount that the prosecutor asks for and what the magistrate thinks is just and reasonable.
Professional costs are not usually ordered in most criminal and traffic matters. If the matter is prosecuted by police, it is extremely rare that an order will be made for you to pay prosecution costs.
Traffic fines can be issued either by TfNSW (for camera-detected offences) or by police. If you applied to have your fine heard in court and plead guilty, police will often prosecute these on behalf of TfNSW. If you plead ‘not guilty’ TfNSW will usually prosecute the matter. If you are unsuccessful and you are found guilty, Transport for NSW may seek costs. TfNSW do not usually seek costs in licence appeals. Other prosecuting bodies such as local councils (for example, if you were disputing a council parking fine) or the RSPCA, may seek costs.
If you are not sure whether you will have to pay any of the above costs if you got to court, you should get
legal advice.