                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

INTEREST ON FINES AND COSTS (§ 19.2-353.5)

A. For purposes of this section, &#8220;incarcerated&#8221; or
&#8220;incarceration&#8221; 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; 53.1-261 et seq.).

B. 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 judgment imposing such fine or costs; (ii) during any
period the defendant is incarcerated; and (iii) for a period of 180 days
following the date of the defendant&#8217;s release from incarceration if the
sentence includes an active term of incarceration.

C. A person who owes fines and costs on which interest has accrued during a
period of incarceration may move any court in which he owes fines and costs to
waive the interest that accrued on such fines and costs during such period of
incarceration. Upon certification of the period of incarceration 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
Court, such interest shall be waived.

D. 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 order of the court. Whenever interest on any unpaid fine or costs
accrues, it shall accrue at the judgment rate of interest set forth in &#xA7;
6.2-302.

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.