If your approach to paying fines is to delay until the debt collectors start circling, you are not alone.

More than $248 million in fines - almost 29 per cent of the more than 3 million fines paid in the 2018-19 financial year - were not paid on time.

In the tardiness stakes, parking tickets were our top source of grief, with almost 300,000 fines running overdue last financial year, according to data from Revenue NSW.

NSW Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello says the reforms will make it easier to pay fines. Credit:Nick Moir

However, NSW residents will soon be running low on excuses for leaving debts unsettled, with the state government intent on curbing lateness via reforms to the Fines Act.