Ontario Licence Plate Sticker Refund
Ontario eliminated licence plate sticker fees in March 2022 and issued refunds for fees paid since March 2020. Here is everything you need to know about the refund, including what to do if your cheque never arrived.
What Is Your Situation?
Select your situation and we will tell you what to do next.
What Happened and Who Qualifies
On March 13, 2022, Ontario eliminated licence plate renewal fees and the requirement to display a physical sticker on your plate. This applied to passenger vehicles, light commercial vehicles under 3,000 kg, motorcycles, and mopeds owned by individuals.
The government automatically issued refund cheques for all sticker fees paid between March 1, 2020 and March 12, 2022. Cheques were mailed to the address associated with each vehicle owner's driver's licence starting in late March 2022 and throughout April 2022.
Most people who qualified received their cheque without having to do anything. If yours never arrived, or it was lost, stolen, damaged, or sent to a deceased person, replacement cheques were available until March 31, 2025.
You qualified if you:
You did NOT qualify if:
How Much You Should Have Received
The refund covered all sticker fees paid between March 1, 2020 and March 12, 2022. The amount depended on how many renewals you paid for during that window and where you live.
The exact amount varied based on the timing of your renewals. If your sticker renewal straddled the March 1, 2020 start date, you received a prorated refund calculated by month.
If Your Cheque Never Arrived or Was Lost
If you requested a replacement before the deadline, you may have been required to submit supporting documents. If you have questions about a pending request, contact ServiceOntario at 1-800-387-3445 (TTY: 1-800-268-7095).
Common reasons the original cheque did not arrive:
If you moved out of the province and needed the cheque sent to your new address, you were required to write a letter to ServiceOntario including your new mailing address, Ontario driver's licence number (or your name and date of birth), and a photocopy of your new driver's licence from the province or country where you now live.
For address change assistance, you can also call the dedicated line at 1-888-333-0049.
If the refund cheque was issued in the name of a deceased person, you can deposit it directly into the account of the estate if the executor has endorsed it to the estate. Speak to your financial institution about the specific process. To have the cheque reissued "in the Estate of" the deceased, you needed to contact ServiceOntario before the March 31, 2025 deadline.
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What About Going Forward?
Even though sticker fees are gone, you still need to renew your licence plate registration. For most passenger vehicles, this now happens automatically at no cost. The renewal confirms that your vehicle has valid insurance and that you have no outstanding fines.
If your automatic renewal fails (usually because of an insurance mismatch or unpaid fines), you will need to renew manually online or at a ServiceOntario centre.
Read the full licence plate renewal guide →Credits and Refunds for Other Vehicles
Heavy commercial vehicles (over 3,001 kg) and snowmobiles still require paid sticker renewals. If you return a heavy vehicle plate before its renewal date, you can request a refund or credit for the remaining time. Visit a ServiceOntario centre with your plates and the original vehicle permit. A representative will explain your credit or refund options.
Snowmobile validation sticker refunds are only available if the sticker has never been used.
Credits from previously returned plates can be applied to other vehicle licensing transactions, including renewing another plate registered to you. To use a credit, tell the customer service representative before they start processing your transaction.
Driver's Licence Refund (Moving Out of Province)
This is a separate process from the sticker refund. If you have moved out of Ontario and stopped driving here, you can request a refund for the remaining time on your driver's licence (calculated in 6-month blocks). If you are within 6 months of your licence expiry, you are not eligible.
Write and sign a letter to ServiceOntario that includes your new mailing address, your Ontario driver's licence number (or name and date of birth), a photocopy of your new driver's licence from the jurisdiction where you now live (showing the issue date), and a confirmation letter from that licensing authority stating that you surrendered your Ontario licence.