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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>62533</law_id><section_number>19.2-353.5</section_number><catch_line>Interest on fines and costs</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="19.2">Criminal Procedure</unit><unit label="chapter" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="21">Recovery of Fines and Penalties</unit><unit label="article" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="3">Collection and Disposition of Fines</unit></structure><text>
						<section id="A"><p><span class="prefix-number">A.</span> For purposes of this section, &#x201C;<span class="dictionary">incarcerated</span>&#x201D; or &#x201C;<span class="dictionary">incarceration</span>&#x201D; means confinement in a local or regional correctional facility, juvenile correctional facility, state correctional facility, residential detention center, or facility operated pursuant to the Corrections Private Services Act (&#xA7; <a class="law" title="Definitions" href="/53.1-261/">53.1-261</a> et seq.). <a id="paragraph-228039" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/19.2-353.5/#A"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="B"><p><span class="prefix-number">B.</span> No interest shall accrue on any fine or costs imposed in a criminal case or in a case involving a traffic infraction (i) for a period of 180 days following the date of the final <span class="dictionary">judgment</span> imposing such fine or costs; (ii) during any period the <span class="dictionary">defendant</span> is <span class="dictionary">incarcerated</span>; and (iii) for a period of 180 days following the date of the <span class="dictionary">defendant</span>&#x2019;s release from <span class="dictionary">incarceration</span> if the sentence includes an active term of <span class="dictionary">incarceration</span>. <a id="paragraph-228040" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/19.2-353.5/#B"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="C"><p><span class="prefix-number">C.</span> A person who owes fines and costs on which interest has accrued during a period of <span class="dictionary">incarceration</span> may move any <span class="dictionary">court</span> in which he owes fines and costs to <span class="dictionary">waive</span> the interest that accrued on such fines and costs during such period of <span class="dictionary">incarceration</span>. Upon certification of the period of <span class="dictionary">incarceration</span> by the superintendent, warden, or other official in charge of a correctional facility on a form developed by the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme <span class="dictionary">Court</span>, such interest shall be waived. <a id="paragraph-228041" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/19.2-353.5/#C"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="D"><p><span class="prefix-number">D.</span> In no event shall interest accrue during any period in which a fine, costs, or both a fine and costs are being paid in deferred or installment payments pursuant to an <span class="dictionary">order</span> of the <span class="dictionary">court</span>. Whenever interest on any unpaid fine or costs accrues, it shall accrue at the <span class="dictionary">judgment</span> rate of interest set forth in &#xA7; <a class="law" title="Judgment rate of interest" href="/6.2-302/">6.2-302</a>. <a id="paragraph-228042" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/19.2-353.5/#D"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section></text><history>1987, c. 648; 1988, cc. 106, 508; 1995, cc. 375, 566; 1996, c. 226; 2016, c. 282; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 388; 2025, c. 337.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
