Mandatory Surcharge and Crime Victim Assistance Fee

In New York, the mandatory surcharge and crime victim assistance fee are statutory charges added to almost every criminal and traffic conviction, running from $60 for a traffic infraction to $325 for a felony, with DWI cases and other add-ons pushing the total much higher. They’re imposed on top of any fine, restitution, or jail sentence, and judges have almost no discretion to waive them.

What These Two Charges Are

Two separate charges get levied together at sentencing. The mandatory surcharge funds the state’s court and criminal justice operations. The crime victim assistance fee supports victim services, counseling, and compensation programs.¹ The court collects them as one combined amount, but they flow into different accounts.

The authority comes from Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 1809 for traffic convictions and Penal Law Section 60.35 for criminal convictions. Both statutes make these charges mandatory, meaning a judge cannot simply drop them because you can’t afford to pay or because the fine already feels steep.

How Much You Owe by Offense Level

The amount depends on how the conviction is classified. The Penal Law and VTL set their own schedules, but the dollar amounts for felonies and misdemeanors line up across both statutes.²

Felony: $300 surcharge plus $25 crime victim assistance fee, combined $325.
Misdemeanor: $175 surcharge plus $25 crime victim assistance fee, combined $200.
Penal Law violation: $95 surcharge plus $25 crime victim assistance fee, combined $120.
Traffic infraction (non-DWI): $55 surcharge plus $5 crime victim assistance fee, combined $60.

If your case is in a town or village court rather than a city court, an additional $5 is added to the surcharge.¹ A misdemeanor goes from $200 to $205 in that setting.

What’s Not Covered

Parking tickets, pedestrian violations, and bicyclist violations are exempt.¹ Red-light and speed camera tickets are also excluded because they impose liability on the vehicle’s owner rather than on a convicted driver. Nearly every other courtroom conviction carries the charges, including Penal Law felonies, misdemeanors, and violations.³

Penal Law 60.35 also authorizes several additional charges for specific offenses that catch defendants off guard: a $50 sex offender registration fee for sex offenses, a $50 DNA databank fee for designated offenses, and a $1,000 supplemental sex offender victim fee for certain felony or misdemeanor sex crimes.³ Ask your attorney whether any apply before you accept a plea.

Extra Charges on DWI Convictions

DWI and DWAI convictions pull in surcharges from multiple statutes, and the total adds up fast. On top of the base surcharge and crime victim assistance fee, two additional charges apply to convictions under VTL Section 1192:

A $25 surcharge under VTL 1809-c for any DWI or DWAI conviction, as well as certain aggravated unlicensed operation offenses.⁴
A $170 surcharge under VTL 1809-e specific to DWI-related convictions.²

A misdemeanor DWI in a town court totals $175 base surcharge + $25 crime victim fee + $5 town court add + $25 (1809-c) + $170 (1809-e) = $400 in surcharges alone, before any fine.

The Driver Responsibility Assessment

Separate from the court surcharges, the DMV bills DWI defendants directly after sentencing. Under VTL Section 1199, anyone convicted of a DWI-related offense under VTL 1192, or anyone found to have refused a chemical test, must pay $250 per year for three years. That’s $750 total, billed by the DMV, not the court.⁵ The DRA also applies to equivalent boating and snowmobile impaired-operation convictions.

Add it up and a first-offense misdemeanor DWI in a town court produces roughly $1,150 in mandatory government charges before the judge imposes any fine.

When and How You Pay

Payment goes to the clerk of the court where you were convicted. If you aren’t incarcerated, or you’re serving fewer than 60 days, the full amount is due within 60 days of sentencing.⁶

For vehicle and traffic convictions, VTL Section 1802 provides an installment plan the court must offer at sentencing. No setup fee. Monthly payments are capped at the greater of $25 or two percent of your monthly net income, so the court cannot demand more than you can reasonably afford.⁷ The court can require a Financial Disclosure Report to set the number.

One meaningful protection: as long as you’re meeting the installment schedule, the court cannot suspend your license for nonpayment and cannot pursue additional collection action.⁷ If your income drops after the plan starts, you can petition the court up to twice a year to reduce the monthly amount. Collection only begins if you miss a payment and 90 days pass.

What Happens If You Don’t Pay

The penalties snowball. The most immediate consequence is driver’s license suspension, which stays in place until you pay the full outstanding balance. You’ll also owe a separate DMV suspension termination fee to get the license reinstated.

The court can convert the unpaid balance into a civil judgment by filing a certified copy of the sentencing order with the county clerk.⁸ Once that judgment exists, the state can pursue wage garnishment, asset seizure, or referral to a collection agency.

In extreme cases, a court can issue an arrest warrant and impose a jail term to compel payment. But the statute requires the court to advise you that if you’re unable to pay, you have the right to apply for resentencing at any time.⁸

That right matters because of constitutional protections. Under Bearden v. Georgia, a court cannot revoke probation or jail you for failure to pay without first investigating why you haven’t paid. If you tried but genuinely couldn’t afford it, the court must consider alternatives to incarceration. Only if you willfully refused despite having the means, or no alternative would serve the state’s interests, can jail be ordered.⁹ If a court threatens jail over unpaid surcharges without asking about your finances, raise the issue immediately, ideally through counsel.

When Surcharges Can Be Waived

The general rule is that mandatory surcharges are not waivable. Most judges will say their hands are tied, and the statute backs them up. A few narrow exceptions exist.

Courts must waive the surcharge and crime victim fee for anyone convicted of prostitution, or for a defendant the court finds was a victim of sex trafficking.¹⁰

For defendants under 21 at the time of the offense, the court has broader discretion to waive all surcharges and fees on a finding that payment would cause unreasonable hardship to the defendant or dependents, would undermine reintegration into society, or that waiver serves the interests of justice.¹⁰

If you’ve already paid restitution or reparation under Penal Law Section 60.27, you aren’t required to pay the mandatory surcharge or crime victim fee on top of that.³

Outside those situations, the surcharges stick. For most people struggling to pay, the installment plan under VTL 1802 is the realistic path.

Bankruptcy Won’t Clear This Debt

Filing for bankruptcy will not eliminate mandatory surcharge debt. Under federal law, debts for fines, penalties, or forfeitures payable to a government entity are excluded from discharge, as long as they aren’t compensation for actual financial loss.¹¹ Mandatory surcharges and crime victim assistance fees fit that exception because they’re punitive, not compensatory. Federal courts have consistently treated criminal court fees, victim assessments, and similar obligations as nondischargeable, including in Chapter 13 cases. If you’re weighing bankruptcy for other debts, assume these surcharges will survive it.

Refunds After a Conviction Is Vacated

If your conviction is later overturned or vacated, you’re entitled to a refund of what you paid. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that states cannot force a defendant whose conviction was invalidated to prove actual innocence before recovering fees and costs. The refund must come with minimal procedural hurdles, whether the defendant is found innocent or the conviction was tossed on procedural grounds.

Getting the money back may require filing a motion with the court or contacting the clerk’s office directly. If you’ve had a conviction vacated and the surcharges haven’t been returned, raise it with your attorney or the clerk promptly.

1
New York State Senate. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law 1809 – Mandatory Surcharge and Crime Victim Assistance Fee Required in Certain Cases
2
Office of the State Comptroller. Reporting New Fees and Surcharges to the Justice Court Fund
3
New York State Senate. New York Penal Law 60.35 – Mandatory Surcharge, Sex Offender Registration Fee, DNA Databank Fee, Supplemental Sex Offender Victim Fee and Crime Victim Assistance Fee Required in Certain Cases
4
New York State Senate. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law 1809-C – Additional Surcharge Required for Certain Convictions
5
New York State Senate. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law 1199 – Driver Responsibility Assessment
6
New York State Unified Court System. Mandatory Surcharge, Crime Victim Assistance Fee and Other Fees
7
New York State Senate. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law 1802 – Receipts for Fines or Bail; Installment Payment Plans
8
New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 420.10 – Collection of Fines, Restitution or Reparation
9
FindLaw. Bearden v. Georgia
10
New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 420.35 – Mandatory Surcharge and Crime Victim Assistance Fee; Applicability to Sentences Mandating Payment of Fines
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 523 – Exceptions to Discharge