Request a review

Revenue NSW will consider your personal situation and any special circumstances that led to you receiving the fine.

Revenue NSW will use the NSW Government Caution Guidelines and Internal Review Guidelines under the Fines Act 1996 as a framework to guide their decision-making. This ensures the process is fair and upholds the public expectation of road safety in NSW. Revenue NSW also take into account the Review Assist guidelines.

Once a review is submitted, Revenue NSW will put your fine on hold while they investigate your request. There will be no action taken until a decision is made and you have been advised of the outcome.

You can request a review in the following ways:

• online via myPenalty, or
• by writing a letter to Revenue NSW.

Online via myPenalty

To login to myPenalty, you will need the fine notice number and the date of the offence.

By writing a letter to Revenue NSW

You can write a letter to Revenue NSW to request a review of a fine.

You will need to:

• provide your full name, address and contact details
• provide the fine notice number and date of the offence
• provide your driver licence number, if you have one
• explain why you are seeking the review
• attach any copies of documents that support your claim, for example, the police report, or your receipt from a parking meter that turned out to be the wrong meter.

You can send your letter to Revenue NSW:

Revenue NSW
PO Box 786
Strawberry Hills NSW 2012

You don’t need to pay a fee to request a review.

You should make a copy of your letter before you send it to Revenue NSW. 

If you are going to request a review in writing, you should make sure Revenue NSW receives your letter well before the due date. If Revenue NSW receives it after the due date, they may not accept it.

Revenue NSW may need to contact you or the authority that issued your fine for further information.

Revenue NSW must cancel a fine if:

• it was issued in breach of the law
• it was given to you by mistake
• you have an intellectual disability, mental illness cognitive impairment or are homeless and, because of your condition, you are unable to:
  • understand that your behaviour was an offence, or
  • control your behaviour 
• you should have been given an official caution instead
• there were exceptional circumstances that meant you should not have been given a fine.

Some examples of exceptional circumstances include where:

• you were assisting police or in police custody
• you experienced a medical emergency
• you were unable to purchase a train ticket because the machine was broken and there was no other way to buy one
• you were trying to escape violence or the threat of violence
• your vehicle was broken down.

If Revenue NSW cancels your fine, it won’t appear on your driving record.

If you have already paid the fine, you will be given a refund and any demerit points added to your driving record will be removed.  

When Revenue NSW gives you a caution, it means that the offence took place and that you are responsible, however due to your circumstances were offered some leniency.

Revenue NSW may give you a caution where:

• the offence did not involve risks to public safety, damage to property or financial loss, or have a significant impact on other people
• the offending behaviour is at the lower end of the scale of seriousness
• you didn’t knowingly or deliberately commit the offence
• you have admitted your guilt, shown remorse, and stopped the offending behaviour
• you committed the offence because of a medical or other serious emergency
• you are from another state or country and didn’t realise you were committing an offence.

Offences that pose serious safety risks are unlikely to be cautioned.

If you are given a caution, you won’t have to pay the fine and demerits points won’t be added to your driving record. The caution will still appear on your driving record.

In some circumstances, Revenue NSW can issue you with a caution for offences that attract demerit points, because you have a 10 year clear driving record. If you commit another offence within 10 years of the caution, you will not be eligible to have the new offence cautioned. 

For more information on when you might be able to seek a caution for a 10 year clear driving record, see Review Assist on the NSW Government website. 

If Revenue NSW decides that the fine stands, what happens next depends on whether you have already paid the fine.

If you have paid the fine, Revenue NSW will send you a notice of the review decision.

If you have not paid the fine, you will be sent a new Fine Reminder Notice, which will include a new due date to pay by.

If you decide to pay the fine, the offence may be recorded on your driving or criminal record, and if the offence carries demerit points, they will be added to your driving record.

For more information, see Pay your fine.

If you are not happy with the outcome of the review, you can still apply to go to court. For more information, see Go to court.