How Your Fine Is Calculated

How much is the fine? How is it calculated? Unfortunately in Ontario very little is straightforward. Not even the math. The amount you could end up paying is based on five components:

How you were charged;
The set fine or statutory amount;
A victim surcharge added to every fine;
Court costs; and
Your arguments during sentencing.

If you have a summons there is no dollar amount written on it, just instructions to appear in court.

If you have a ticket there are two amounts listed: the "Set Fine" and the "Total Payable". The "Total Payable" is the sum of the set fine, plus court costs, plus a victim fine surcharge.

For example, if you are charged with speeding 20km/h over the limit, the "total payable" is $95:

$75 Set fine (20km x $3.75 per km)

+ $15 Victim Fine Surcharge

+ $5 Court costs

$95 Total Payable

This will be the amount written on your ticket. If you go to court and lose, you will likely pay this amount. It should not cost you any more to fight your ticket but read on.

If the amount on your ticket was calculated incorrectly, this error will not be enough to get you charge dismissed. (See fatal errors below.)

How Were You Charged

In Ontario, there are two aspects to being charged with an offence. First, you allegedly broke some law. For example, speeding is an offence under the Highway Traffic Act. Second, the physical act of charging you is covered under the Provincial Offences Act:

Part 1 Traffic Tickets (where an officer stops you and hands you a ticket, no arrest)
Part 2 Parking Tickets (where a ticket is left on your windshield)
Part 3 Serious Offences (you are issued a summons to appear in court, you may be arrested)

If you are charged under Part 1 or Part 2, you cannot be fined more than the actual fine amount or $500, whichever is lower and there is no possibility of imprisonment. So for example, if you are facing a charge with a maximum fine of $50,000 but were charged under Part 1, then the most you can pay is $500. If you are charged under Part 3, which has no limit, then you could be fined $50,000. If the act allows for imprisonment, this is also possible under Part 3.

For a more detailed explanation of charging acts, see Step 3, What's the charge?

The Fine Amount

The amount of the actual fine is determined by one of two things: a set fine or the fine listed under the statue (the law you broke).

1. Set Fines

Set fines were initially established to be used as an out of court settlement and technically set fines should be used only if there is no trial. If you plead guilty, you pay the amount on your ticket out of court. However both courts and prosecutors have been inconsistent with the application of set fines, often relying on them for administrative expediency during sentencing. In other words, if you request a trial and lose, you could still end up paying the amount on your ticket. Unfortunately not everyone pays the same amount for the same offence. You could end up paying more or less. For a full discussion on what could happen if you are found guilty, see Step 5, Sentencing.

Not all offences have set fines. If they do, it is determined by the Ontario Court of Justice and listed here. The most common set fines can be found under Schedule 43. For example, the charge of speeding has a set fine:

Ontario Court of Justice Schedule 43, schedule B SPEEDING -- SET FINE AMOUNT
Kilometres	SET FINE
a) 1-19 kilometres per hour over the maximum speed limit	$2.50 per kilometre
b) 20-29 kilometres per hour over the maximum speed limit	$3.75 per kilometre
c) 30-49 kilometres per hour over the maximum speed limit	$6.00 per kilometre
d) 50 kilometres per hour or more over the maximum speed limit	No out of court settlement

2. Fines Under Statues

The law you broke may contain fine amounts. In most cases if a set fine already exists then the police officer who tickets you or the justice who sentences you will use that amount. However, if there is no set fine, the law you broke will contain instructions as to what penalty will be imposed.

Sometimes the amount is not specific but is expressed by a range: "Every person who is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine of not less than $250 and not more than $20,000." In this example the justice can fine you any amount between $250 and $500 if you were charged under Part 1. He can fine you any amount between $250 and $20,000 if you were charged under Part 3.

The Highway Traffic Act, section 128(14) lists speeding fines which are different than the Court of Justice set fines above:

Highway Traffic Act s.128(14) SPEEDING FINES
Kilometres	SET FINE
a) 1-19 kilometres per hour over the maximum speed limit	$3 per kilometre
b) 20-29 kilometres per hour over the maximum speed limit	$4.50 per kilometre
c) 30-49 kilometres per hour over the maximum speed limit	$7 per kilometre
d) 50 kilometres per hour or more over the maximum speed limit	$9.75 per kilometre

Notice how the Ontario Court of Justice set fine amount and the amount under the the Highway Traffic Act are different. Although at first glance there may appear to be a discount if you pay the fine instead of requesting a trial, if you lose at trial you could end up paying less than the set fine amount, the set fine amount or the amount listed under the Highway Traffic Act. For a full discussion on what could happen if you are found guilty, see Step 5, Sentencing.

Victim Surcharge

Since 1996, on top of any fine amount, the province also adds a victim surcharge under the Victims' Bill of Rights. The surcharge applies to provincial and federal fines and is credited to a special Victim Justice Fund to assist victims of crime. The revenue is allocated to programs and services such as SupportLink, Victim Support Line, Victim Crisis Assistance and Referral Services and Victim/Witness Assistance Programs.

The surcharge amount is listed under Regulation 161 of the Provincial Offences Act:

Victim Fine Surcharges
Fine Range ($)			Surcharge ($)
0	-	50	10
51	-	75	15
76	-	100	20
101	-	150	25
151	-	200	35
201	-	250	50
251	-	300	60
301	-	350	75
351	-	400	85
401	-	450	95
451	-	500	110
501	-	1000	125
Over 1000			25% of actual fine

Court costs.

Court costs are covered under Regulation 945 of the Provincial Offences Act. You are charged $5 when an officer hands you a ticket. The same amount is added to the total payable if you were given a summons. The other possible court costs are only added if you do not appear in court but are convicted anyway:

Type of Cost	Amount ($)
For service of offence notice or summons	5.00
Failure to respond to Part 1 Offence Notice	5.00
Failure to appear at Part 1 trial	10.00
Failure to respond to a Part 2 Offence Notice	3.75
Failure to respond to a Part 2 Notice of Impending Conviction	16.00
Failure to appear at Part 2 trial	12.75
Failure to appear at Part 3 trial	30.00
Service of a parking infraction not under a municipal by-law	3.75

Incorrect Amount On Your Ticket -- Is It a Fatal Error?

You should look up the law that has your charge to see what the fine amount will be. Also check to see if there is a set fine. If the amount on your ticket is different than either amount, you still won't be able to argue that the ticket has a fatal error. The justice will simply correct the error. However you can use the error as an example of sloppy work by the police. For example, if they can't add two numbers together then how likely is it that they were able to use a radar gun properly to catch you speeding?

How to Force a Fatal Error

If the amount on your ticket is incorrect and you do not think you will be successful fighting your case in court, you can take another approach. In London (City) v. Young, 2008 the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that if the set fine or the total payable amount is incorrect, then it is a fatal error.^[1] But, and this is the important point, the error is only fatal if you do not respond to your ticket. You must actually ignore all of your options and choose to be found guilty by default. Don't pay the fine. Don't request a trial. You must do nothing.

The court ruled that under section 9 of the Provincial Offences Act the justice must examine your ticket and if there is any error on the face of it, it cannot be corrected. Theoretically errors that could be corrected at trial can become fatal errors if they prevent you from being convicted. These should include an incorrect fine amount, misspelled name, incorrect driver's licence, incorrect address or incorrect citation of the charging act. If the justice does not have sufficient information to convict you then he must quash the ticket.

This is a very different situation than if you challenge the ticket. At trial, the justice can amend these errors. But he can't if you default on the ticket. The default provisions of the Provincial Offences Act do not allow amendments.

Warning: this strategy does have some risk. The risk you take is that the justice may not be aware of or may not agree with London (City) v. Young, 2008 or may not consider the error a fatal one. Since you cannot argue anything, you leave it up to the justice to do the right thing. There is no guarantee that they will. However, if they don't quash the ticket, you then have an opportunity to appeal based on an error of law: the justice should have quashed the ticket based on Section 9(1)b, " where the certificate of offence is not complete and regular on its face, the justice shall quash the proceeding." You can then argue on appeal that the error was fatal.

More Information

For a full discussion on errors, how to make a motion to have your ticket thrown out and how to take advantage of errors during your trial, see Quash the Trial.

For an explanation of errors on a ticket and to find out which ones are fatal, see Fatal Errors.

1. See Tracey Tyler, No conviction if fine wrong, court rules, Toronto Star, May 31, 2008.

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