Unpaid Fines in Victoria: Fines Victoria, Notices of Final Demand and the Work and Development Permit

Fines Victoria, the Department of Justice and Community Safety business unit run by the statutory Director, Fines Victoria, handles fines from some enforcement agencies, including Victoria Police, at every stage, but for others, such as public transport operators and local councils, it generally becomes involved only once a Notice of Final Demand issues, so until then deal with the agency named on the notice; either way, act within the 21 days the Infringement Notice allows, rather than the 28 days used elsewhere.

How Victoria's fines system works

Two Acts run Victoria's infringement system. The Infringements Act 2006 governs how enforcement agencies issue and manage infringement notices and how a matter is referred to the Magistrates Court. The Fines Reform Act 2014 sets up the administrative collection and enforcement model run by the statutory Director, Fines Victoria, with enforcement warrants issued by the Magistrates Court and executed by the Sheriff of Victoria.

Fines Victoria, a business unit of the Department of Justice and Community Safety, is not a single front door for every fine at every stage. Its own published guidance is explicit: for some enforcement agencies, including Victoria Police, Fines Victoria can accept payments or applications at any stage. For others, including public transport operators and local councils, Fines Victoria can only take payments or most application types once the fine reaches Notice of Final Demand stage, so before that a reader has to deal directly with the agency that issued the fine. Fines Victoria also cannot decide whether a court fine gets a rehearing, since only the issuing court can do that, and a fine issued to a child is never enforced by the Director at all; it goes to the Children's Court of Victoria instead.

Receiving a fine: the payment ladder

An Infringement Notice gives 21 days to pay or act otherwise. Miss that date and a Penalty Reminder Notice follows, adding a $30.00 fee and 14 more days. Miss that and a Notice of Final Demand follows, adding $155.60 (a cumulative $185.60 above the original fine) with 21 days to comply; this is also the point at which Fines Victoria takes over fines from agencies it was not previously handling. Miss that too, and Fines Victoria can apply to the Magistrates Court for an Enforcement Warrant, adding $68.00 (a cumulative $253.60), issued electronically under section 115(3) of the Fines Reform Act 2014 and sent to the Sheriff of Victoria. The final step before a warrant is finalised is a personally served 7 Day Notice, available to individuals only and never a company, which is the last chance to pay, arrange payment or seek a review before the sheriff finalises the warrant.

Every one of those fee figures is published as of 1 July 2026, adjusted in July each year, so they are not evergreen and should be rechecked at online.fines.vic.gov.au before relying on them for a fine received well after this date. Fines sent to the address a person has registered with VicRoads count as legally received seven days after the notice date even if the person moved and never actually saw it, which is why VicRoads records need updating within 14 days of a move.

Paying your fine and payment plans

Fines Victoria accepts BPAY (biller code 49031), phone payment on 1300 735 124, in person at Australia Post, and Centrelink deduction, and it offers fortnightly or monthly instalment arrangements. Instalments and the hardship options below are available to someone who cannot pay the full amount by the due date; each later notice stage, the Notice of Final Demand and the Enforcement Warrant, adds its own fee.

Contesting a Victorian fine

Two review tracks exist depending on stage. Internal review applies at Infringement or Penalty Reminder Notice stage, and enforcement review applies at Notice of Final Demand or Enforcement Warrant stage; both share the same five statutory grounds: Person Unaware, Contrary to Law, Mistake of Identity, Exceptional Circumstances and Special Circumstances. Person Unaware must be applied for within 14 days of finding out about the fine, is only available where the fine was not handed over in person, is not available for traffic or tolling offences, and if successful at Infringement or Penalty Reminder Notice stage it grants a further 21 days to act; if successful at Notice of Final Demand or Enforcement Warrant stage the fine goes back to the issuing agency, which can withdraw it, warn the person, prosecute, re-issue it, or arrange payment. Mistake of Identity cannot be used if someone else was driving the vehicle, since driver nomination is the correct route for that, and it is unavailable once Notice of Final Demand or Enforcement Warrant stage is reached without having nominated.

Excessive speeding, drink driving, drug driving, and drug or alcohol boating offences, along with any court issued fine, are not eligible for internal review at all. Enforcement review is unavailable once a fine is paid in full, if it has not yet been registered with Fines Victoria (go to the issuing agency instead), for court ordered fines, for the same excessive speed or drink or drug driving offences, once a 7 Day Notice has already expired or been waived, or where a prior enforcement review already decided the matter on one of the four non special grounds. Either application puts the fine on hold while it is considered. An internal review is decided within 90 days and the result arrives by post; if it succeeds, the enforcement agency can withdraw the fine, issue an official warning, refer the matter to court, approve a payment arrangement or waive or vary fees, and if it fails, the notice states the amount and due date and the person can still apply to have the matter heard in the Magistrates Court. Fines Victoria gives no set time for an enforcement review; if it succeeds, the collection fee is removed, enforcement is cancelled and the fine goes back to the issuing agency, and if it fails, the person has 21 days to pay, arrange instalments or, if eligible, apply for a Work and Development Permit or the Family Violence Scheme, or enforcement continues.

A fine still at Infringement or Penalty Reminder Notice stage can instead be taken to the Magistrates Court, or the Children's Court for a person under 18, but this option disappears once Notice of Final Demand stage is reached; only a review remains available then, and not for excessive speed, drink driving or drug driving fines. For excessive speed, drink driving, drug driving or boating matters, this is called a Notice of Objection and must be lodged within 28 days of the Infringement Notice issue date and before any licence suspension takes effect. A magistrate hearing the matter can convict and set a new fine higher or lower than the infringement amount, dismiss the matter, adjourn it, or order unpaid community work, but a proven excessive speed, drink driving or drug driving offence requires the magistrate to suspend the licence, sometimes for longer than the infringement penalty itself would have run.

For a camera detected offence, nominating the responsible driver is only available at Infringement or Penalty Reminder Notice stage; it is generally too late once a Notice of Final Demand issues, except in limited circumstances such as family violence, and Fines Victoria advises not paying a fine that is to be nominated. A false nomination carries a fine of more than $10,000 plus licence suspension, higher again for a company. For some offences a fine issued to a company is set above $3,000 to encourage it to nominate, and a company that fails to nominate three or more times within 12 months may receive an additional fine of more than $22,000, even where every underlying fine was paid. Excessive speed camera offences (25 km/h or more over the limit, or more than 135 km/h in a 110 km/h zone) must be nominated within 28 days of the Infringement Notice or the offence is recorded as a conviction with an automatic licence suspension; drink or drug driving and drink or drug boating fines cannot be nominated at all. For the wider mobile phone and speed camera network behind these notices, see our guide to mobile phone detection cameras in Australia, and for how speeding fine amounts are calculated across Australian states, see our guide to speeding fines in Australia.

Hardship support

The Special Circumstances ground above is also the entry point to non financial relief. It covers mental or intellectual disability, disorder or illness, serious drug, alcohol or volatile substance addiction, homelessness, or family violence victimisation at the time of the offence, or severe or disabling long term circumstances that exist now even if they were absent at the time. A successful Special Circumstances application does not remove demerit points for an eligible driving offence: after an accepted internal review the enforcement agency applies them, and after a successful enforcement review any points already received stay on the licence; see our Victoria demerit points guide and the demerit points lookup tool for how points interact with an infringement.

The Work and Development Permit lets an eligible person reduce a fine through unpaid work, clinician provided treatment, courses, drug or alcohol programs, or, for people under 25, mentoring, under an approved sponsor. Eligibility broadly mirrors the Special Circumstances list plus acute financial hardship, but the permit has real limits confirmed on its own page: a fine already in a payment arrangement must be removed from that arrangement first, a court fine can never be added at all, and a fine cannot be added once it is paid, issued to a company, subject to a 7 Day Notice whose 7 day period has expired, subject to a sheriff arrest or vehicle seizure and sale notice, subject to an attachment of earnings or debts or a land charge, or registered with the Children's Court. A fine under an active nomination, review or Family Violence Scheme application also cannot be added while that application is pending, though it can be added later if the application is rejected or withdrawn.

The Family Violence Scheme withdraws infringement fines where family violence was a main reason the person could not control the offending conduct, name the driver, or reject a nomination. It excludes court fines, company fines, most local council fines other than parking, drink or drug driving or drink or drug boating offences, and excessive speeding more than 25 km/h over the limit or over 130 km/h. It cannot be used once a fine is paid in full, referred to court, or after an expired or waived 7 Day Notice, a sheriff vehicle seizure, or an attachment or land charge direction. A successful application either withdraws the fine and reverses any demerit points, or holds it for up to six months so the actual driver can be nominated. Fines issued to a person under 18 are not enforced by the Director, Fines Victoria at all; they are handled through the Children's Court of Victoria on a separate track.

What happens if you do not pay

From Notice of Final Demand stage, the Director, Fines Victoria can apply a set of sanctions under Parts 7, 8 (section 89) and 9 of the Fines Reform Act 2014: suspending or blocking renewal of a driver licence or permit, suspending or blocking renewal or transfer of a vehicle registration or blocking registration of a vehicle in the debtor's name, deducting from a bank account or wages or money owed to the debtor, and charging and selling land the debtor owns. A Production of Information direction under Part 6 can compel a Statement of Financial Circumstances and potentially an in person examination; ignoring it is itself an offence carrying a penalty of more than $11,000, can trigger further sanctions, can get future payment extension or instalment requests refused, and can escalate to a Magistrates Court summons for oral examination, where ignoring the summons lets the court issue an arrest warrant. A company director personally identified through ASIC records can be served a Declared Director notice under section 29, with 28 days to act, and can apply to the Magistrates Court under section 30 for an order that they are not a declared director.

Once an Enforcement Warrant issues, Sheriff of Victoria officers can make a payment demand at the debtor's address, stop the debtor at a police roadblock, wheel clamp, detain or sell the vehicle, remove its number plates, search for and seize other property to sell, and arrest the debtor. The sheriff may release an arrested person on a community work permit if they consent, which is not available where the outstanding registered infringement fines exceed 100 penalty units (Fines Reform Act 2014 sections 150 and 151). Imprisonment is possible but is a court-ordered last resort. Under Part 14 of the Act, an arrested person in default must be brought before the Magistrates Court within 24 hours, and the Court may order imprisonment of one day per penalty unit still unpaid, up to 24 months (section 165B).

The Court must not order imprisonment if the person shows they had no capacity to pay or another reasonable excuse (section 165(4)), and may order it only if no other order, such as a fine default unpaid community work order, time to pay or instalments, is appropriate (section 165(5)). Once issued, an enforcement warrant stays in force until the amount is paid, the warrant is cancelled, or it is executed (section 124); it does not lapse with time.

Interstate enforcement

No dedicated Fines Victoria page describing interstate enforcement was located for this guide; the agency's own pages describe VicRoads address obligations and licence or registration sanctions in purely Victorian terms. Neither the Fines Reform Act 2014 nor the Infringements Act 2006 contains a reciprocal interstate enforcement scheme like Part 9 of Tasmania's Monetary Penalties Enforcement Act 2005, which lets Tasmania request enforcement by a declared court in a reciprocating state.

Recent changes

The Fines Reform Regulations 2026 and Infringements Regulations 2026 replace the Infringements Regulations 2016, due to sunset, and the Fines Reform Regulations 2017. The government's own Regulatory Impact Statement states that current fees applied until 30 June 2026 and the new fees commenced from 1 July 2026, which is the origin of the fee ladder set out above; the Infringements Regulations 2026 took effect on 6 June 2026 and the Fines Reform Regulations 2026 on 1 July 2026. The underlying administrative model, meaning the Director, Fines Victoria and the Penalty Reminder Notice, Notice of Final Demand and Enforcement Warrant ladder, is not a 2026 change; the Fines Reform Act itself commenced in full on 31 December 2017. Both governing Acts were also amended from 23 September 2026 by the Justice Legislation Amendment (Family Violence, Coercive Control, Good Character, Risk Assessment and Other Matters) Act 2026 (No. 41/2026). Among other changes, it added section 171AAA to the Fines Reform Act, which makes null and void any warrant to imprison for an unpaid infringement fine that was issued under the pre-2018 provisions and never executed, cancelled or recalled.

For how fines and enforcement work in Australia's other states and territories, see our Australia fines overview.

Current fees and amounts

All figures below are stated as of 1 July 2026 and are adjusted every July.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many days do I have to pay a Victorian infringement fine?

21 days from the Infringement Notice. That is shorter than the 28 day window used in several other Australian states, so do not assume Victoria matches them.

What happens if I ignore a Penalty Reminder Notice in Victoria?

A Notice of Final Demand follows, adding $155.60 to the fine (a cumulative $185.60 above the original amount) with 21 days to comply, and this is also when Fines Victoria takes over collection from agencies it was not previously managing.

Can I still go to court once a Notice of Final Demand has issued?

No. Court election at the Magistrates Court or Children's Court is only available at Infringement or Penalty Reminder Notice stage; once a Notice of Final Demand issues, the remaining route to challenge the fine is an enforcement review, which is not available for excessive speed, drink driving or drug driving fines.

What is a Work and Development Permit and can I use it for a court fine?

It lets an eligible person reduce a fine through unpaid work, treatment, courses or mentoring under an approved sponsor instead of paying. A court fine can never be added to a Work and Development Permit; it only applies to infringement fines that meet the eligibility criteria.

Can Fines Victoria or the Sheriff put me in prison for an unpaid fine?

Only through a court, and only as a last resort. Sheriff of Victoria officers can arrest a debtor under an Enforcement Warrant, and the sheriff may release a consenting person on a community work permit (not available where more than 100 penalty units is owed). A person not released must be brought before the Magistrates Court within 24 hours, and the Court may order imprisonment of one day per penalty unit still unpaid, up to 24 months, but only if no other order, such as community work, time to pay or instalments, is appropriate, and never if the person shows they had no capacity to pay or another reasonable excuse (Fines Reform Act 2014 sections 165 and 165B).

Do Victorian fine fees change every year?

Yes. The Penalty Reminder Notice, Notice of Final Demand and Enforcement Warrant fees, along with the penalty unit and fee unit values, are stated as of 1 July 2026 and are adjusted every July, so figures from a different financial year will not match.