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Costs in fine cases

Information about when a court may make a costs order in a fine case.

Court costs and levies

If you plead guilty or are found guilty, and you are sentenced for the offence, you may receive a fine. You may also be ordered to pay:

  • ​the court costs levy
  • the victims support levy
  • legal costs.

The costs you must pay will be set out in the Notice of Penalty that you will receive after the Court has finalised your case.

Sample: Sample Notice of Penalty

Sample: Sample Notice of Penalty - Explained

For more information about paying these costs, see Pay your court fine.

A court costs levy is a fee for having your case heard at court.

If you are convicted of an offence, the Court will order you to pay a court costs levy, unless you: 

  • are convicted 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 of NSW
  • receive a jail sentence (other than a suspended sentence).

The current levy is $85 (as at 1 July 2023).

The money goes towards the operating costs of the Courts and justice system.

It is not a penalty imposed by the Court.

If you are convicted of an offence in NSW, you must pay a victims support levy, except where your offence relates to:

  • parking
  • offensive language
  • travelling on public transport without paying the fare or without a ticket
  • engaging in offensive conduct.

The current levy is $97.00 for summary offences and $214.00 for indictable offences (as at 1 July 2023).

The money goes into the Victims Support Fund and is used to provide financial assistance to victims of violent crime in NSW.

It is not a penalty imposed by the Court.

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.