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Sentencing Act 2002

Sentences, orders, and related matters - Monetary penalties - Fines

40: Determining amount of fine

You could also call this:

"How a court decides the amount of money you must pay as a fine"

Illustration for Sentencing Act 2002

When a court decides how much you must pay as a fine, it looks at how much money you have. The court considers this when deciding if the fine should be more or less. It does this along with following the rules in sections 7 to 10.

If a law says you must pay a certain amount of money as a fine, you might be able to pay less. However, if the law says there is a minimum amount you must pay, you cannot pay less than that.

Sometimes a court gives you a fine and also tells you to pay for something called reparation. In this case, the court thinks about how much reparation you must pay when deciding your fine. It also considers that any money you pay must be used in a certain order, as stated in sections 86E to 86G of the Summary Proceedings Act 1957.

When the court thinks about how much money you have, it does not consider that you must also pay a levy under section 105B. This means the court ignores the levy when deciding if you can afford to pay the fine.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM136009.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Criminal lawCrime and justice > Courts and legal help
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39: Power to impose fine instead of imprisonment, sentence of home detention, or community-based sentence, or

"The court can choose a fine instead of prison or other punishments."

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41: Financial capacity of offender, or

"How much you can afford to pay if you get a fine"

Part 2Sentences, orders, and related matters
Monetary penalties: Fines

40Determining amount of fine

  1. In determining the amount of a fine, the court must take into account, in addition to the provisions of sections 7 to 10, the financial capacity of the offender.

  2. Subsection (1) applies whether taking into account the financial capacity of the offender has the effect of increasing or reducing the amount of the fine.

  3. If under an enactment an offender is liable to a fine of a specified amount, the offender may be sentenced to pay a fine of any less amount, unless a minimum fine is expressly provided for by that enactment.

  4. Subsection (4A) applies if a court imposes a fine—

  5. in addition to a sentence of reparation; or
    1. on an offender who is subject to an earlier sentence or order of reparation.

      1. In fixing the amount of the fine, the court must take into account—

      2. the amount of reparation payable; and
        1. that any payments received from the offender must be applied in the order of priority set out in sections 86E to 86G of the Summary Proceedings Act 1957.

          1. When considering the financial capacity of the offender under subsection (1), the court must not take into account that the offender is required to pay a levy under section 105B.

          Compare
          Notes
          • Section 40(4): replaced, on , by section 8 of the Sentencing Amendment Act 2011 (2011 No 47).
          • Section 40(4A): inserted, on , by section 8 of the Sentencing Amendment Act 2011 (2011 No 47).
          • Section 40(5): inserted, on , by section 6 of the Sentencing (Offender Levy) Amendment Act 2009 (2009 No 42).