What an expired-registration ticket costs in Wisconsin

Can it be dismissed?

No written dismissal path. No Wisconsin statute or court rule dismisses a §341.04 ticket on proof of renewal, and the statute points the other way: §341.04(3)(c) says that in addition to the forfeiture the court shall order the offender to apply for registration and pay the required fee, so renewing is something the court orders on top of the penalty, not a substitute for it. Whether to amend or drop the charge after you renew is up to the prosecutor and the court in your case. The real defense is timing: if a complete renewal application with the fee had already been made before you were stopped, you were allowed to drive (§341.04(2m)(b)), and WisDOT says you may legally drive once you submit the renewal fee. The statute does not say when a renewal sent by mail counts as made, so keep proof of the date you submitted it. A registration extended because you were on active duty in the armed forces and absent from Wisconsin had not expired either (§341.08(7)).

What happens beyond the fine

No points, and no suspension tied to this offense: WisDOT’s charge code list assigns 0 demerit points for an unregistered vehicle under §341.04(1), and §341.04 itself provides for no license suspension. On paper, a court that enters judgment on any traffic forfeiture may also suspend your operating privilege (§345.47(1)), using its general power under §343.30(1) to suspend for up to one year on conviction of a state traffic law, but nothing in §341.04 or the deposit schedule calls for that here. The pressure lands on the registration instead. If 45 days pass after conviction without WisDOT receiving your registration application and fee, WisDOT must order you to register, and if it does not receive them within 20 days of that order it may suspend any or all of your registrations until you do (§341.04(3)(c)). Reinstating a suspended registration costs a $25 fee on top of the registration fee (§341.36(1)), and driving on a suspended registration is a separate forfeiture under §341.03. Ignoring the citation is worse than paying it: if you neither pay the deposit nor appear, the court may enter a default judgment or issue a warrant (§345.26(1)(b)2., §345.37(1)), and if a judgment goes unpaid the court must order either jail until it is paid, for no more than 90 days, or instead a suspension of your operating privilege for 30 days or until you pay, for no more than one year (§345.47(1)). A court that finds you cannot pay because of poverty must offer an installment plan first.