Motor Accident Compensation in Victoria: TAC Claims, Benefits and Time Limits

Victoria runs a no-fault Transport Accident Commission (TAC) scheme under the Transport Accident Act 1986, paying statutory benefits to almost anyone hurt in a transport accident regardless of fault, while reserving common law damages for a narrower serious injury track.

How the TAC scheme works

Victoria's motor accident compensation scheme is run by the Transport Accident Commission (TAC), a Victorian Government statutory body, under the Transport Accident Act 1986. TAC's own guidance states plainly that a person injured in a Victorian transport accident can make a TAC claim to help pay for treatment and support, even if the accident was their own fault, confirming the scheme's no-fault design.

The Act has two main tracks. Part 3 sets out no-fault statutory compensation, payable regardless of fault, subject to narrow exclusions such as self-inflicted injury or an unregistered vehicle on private land. Part 6 sets out a separate common law damages track, available only where someone else was at fault, or partly at fault, and the injury meets the serious injury test described below. TAC is funded in part through a transport accident charge collected alongside vehicle registration, which varies by risk zone and is indexed annually on 1 July, similar to the way the scheme's other dollar figures are re-indexed each year.

Who is covered

TAC covers drivers and passengers injured in an accident caused by the driving of a motor vehicle, motorcycle, bus, train or tram, and pedestrians and cyclists injured in the same way. Cyclists who collide with a stationary vehicle's door are also covered, for collisions on or after 9 July 2014. TAC also covers a person who suffers a mental injury from witnessing an accident, helping at the scene, or as a bereaved family member, and allows a family member to claim on behalf of an injured or deceased relative.

Where the at-fault vehicle cannot be identified or is not properly indemnified, Victoria works differently from most other states: rather than a separate Nominal Defendant body, TAC itself is the payer of last resort. A person who could otherwise have sued the vehicle's owner or driver can instead recover damages directly against TAC, capped at what could have been recovered from the actual driver, or at what TAC would have owed under its own indemnity, whichever is less. The claimant must give TAC written notice within a reasonable time after learning the vehicle was unidentified, or otherwise satisfy a court that TAC was not materially prejudiced by late notice.

A related but separate exclusion applies to accidents involving an uninsured or unregistered vehicle on private land: these are generally carved out of the no-fault statutory benefits track, though the Act preserves a right to sue for damages in that situation.

Time limits and how to claim

A TAC claim must generally be lodged within 12 months of the accident, or within 12 months of an injury from the accident first becoming evident, if it was not apparent at the time. Unlike a workplace injury claim, there is no 30-day notice-to-employer requirement, the 12-month clock runs from the accident or from when the injury first became evident. TAC can extend that period to up to 3 years where it considers there are reasonable grounds for the delay, though this extension is discretionary rather than automatic. A person who was under 18 at the time of the accident can claim up until they turn 21, or within 3 years of the accident, whichever is later.

A claim must be made in a form approved by TAC and lodged with TAC. In practice, TAC accepts claims online, by phone, or with the help of a Patient Liaison Officer in hospital. TAC's own lodgment guidance lists a police report number, or the reporting officer's details, as an expected item for a road accident claim, though this is explicitly not required for a public transport accident. Separately, the Act requires the driver or operator of a vehicle involved in an accident to report to TAC, in the prescribed form, within 28 days if TAC requests it, whether or not a report was made to police, with a penalty for non-compliance that does not itself affect the injured person's own entitlement to benefits. General Victorian road rules also require certain accidents to be reported to police, though the specific reporting deadline for that separate duty was not confirmed for this article and should be checked with Victoria Police directly if in doubt.

No-fault statutory benefits

Income replacement is paid first as Loss of Earnings, based on the gap between pre-accident and current earnings, and after a period of time as Loss of Earning Capacity instead. Both are capped at a maximum weekly amount that TAC re-indexes to CPI every 1 July; as of 1 July 2026, the maximum weekly Loss of Earnings payment is $1,730, with a minimum of $865 or full pre-accident earnings if lower, and the maximum weekly Loss of Earning Capacity payment is $1,500, with a minimum of $800. Eligibility is formally reviewed at 18 months.

A separate lump sum is payable for permanent impairment assessed at more than 10 percent. The Act's own printed dollar table for this lump sum is out of date, current amounts run well above the figures printed in the consolidated Act text because the underlying base amounts are increased administratively each 1 July under a CPI formula, not by amending the printed Act. TAC publishes the actual current table separately; as of 1 July 2026, the lump sum starts at $8,060 for an impairment just over 10 percent and rises in steps to a maximum of $451,650 at 100 percent impairment. A reader should always check TAC's own current indexed table rather than the dollar figures printed in the Act itself.

Reasonable medical, hospital, rehabilitation and like expenses are payable with no fixed dollar cap. Some specific support categories, such as child care costs and home services, are generally limited to a set number of hours a week and, for most claimants, to the first 5 years after the accident, but that 5-year limit does not apply to a person with a severe injury, who can continue receiving that support without the time limit. TAC administers this severe injury support itself; Victoria does not appear to have a separate lifetime care authority distinct from TAC, unlike New South Wales's separate Lifetime Care and Support Authority.

Common law damages: the serious injury test

A common law damages claim under Part 6 requires the injury to meet the Act's serious injury test, and someone else must be at fault, or partly at fault, for the accident. There are two ways to meet the test. If TAC's own impairment assessment rates permanent impairment at 30 percent or more, the injury is automatically deemed a serious injury, with no further test needed. Below 30 percent, a claimant can still bring a claim under a narrative test, either because TAC itself is satisfied the injury is a serious injury and issues a written consent certificate, or because a court grants leave to bring the proceedings after being satisfied the injury meets the definition. A serious injury is defined as a serious long-term impairment or loss of a body function, a permanent serious disfigurement, a severe long-term mental or behavioural disturbance, or loss of a foetus. A denied narrative-test application is reviewed by the County Court, a different forum from VCAT, which handles general benefits disputes described below.

A successful common law claim can recover damages for pecuniary loss (lost earnings or earning capacity) and pain and suffering, subject to both a lower threshold and an upper cap, and reduced by any statutory benefits already paid for the same loss to prevent double recovery. Pecuniary loss for the first 18 months after the accident is excluded, as are the medical and like expenses already covered on the no-fault side, and the value of gratuitous domestic or nursing services already provided free by a family member. A death gives rise to a separate claim under Part III of the Wrongs Act 1958, with its own capped, indexed maximum.

These figures are indexed annually and TAC's own indexation schedule, not the dollar amounts printed in the Act, sets the actually payable numbers; the Act's printed text runs roughly 2.2 to 2.3 times lower than the current figures and should never be quoted as current. As of 1 July 2026, the threshold for both pecuniary loss and pain and suffering is $70,130, the maximum pecuniary loss award is $1,578,760, the maximum pain and suffering award is $701,620, and the maximum Wrongs Act death damages award is $1,149,230.

Disputes

A TAC decision can first be challenged through a free internal review, requested within 12 months of the decision, sometimes called an informal review. For a claimant represented by a lawyer through the Law Institute of Victoria or the Australian Lawyers Alliance, a pre-issue Dispute Resolution Protocol review is generally required before the dispute can go to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), unless both sides agree to skip it. TAC must reconsider a review application, or issue a notice, within 28 days of receiving it. VCAT hears general benefits disputes and may award costs; a claimant's filing fee is refunded if they succeed.

This VCAT pathway is separate from a serious injury dispute below 30 percent impairment, which, as described above, is decided by the County Court rather than VCAT; the two forums should not be confused. If a decision is revoked or varied in the claimant's favour on review, TAC may contribute toward legal costs on the County Court's Scale A and cover reasonable medical report expenses. No TAC or Transport Accident Act source states that common law claims are handled on a no-win-no-fee basis, so that should not be assumed.

Interstate accidents

TAC pays compensation to a Victorian resident injured or killed in an interstate accident involving a Victorian-registered vehicle, and to a non-Victorian resident who is the driver or passenger of a Victorian-registered vehicle at the time of an interstate accident. TAC benefits are not payable to a Victorian resident injured interstate where the accident does not involve a Victorian-registered vehicle.

For an interstate-registered vehicle causing an accident in Victoria, TAC's public guidance does not directly state which scheme's no-fault benefits the injured person can claim; this should be confirmed directly with TAC or the relevant interstate insurer rather than assumed. What is confirmed is narrower: an interstate vehicle temporarily in Victoria is exempted from Victoria's own transport accident charge if it is insured under its home state's compulsory scheme, and TAC must stop funding services it is providing outside Victoria within 28 days if a further claim for the same accident is made with an interstate insurer, which suggests some coordination exists between TAC and other states' schemes without spelling out exactly how liability is divided.

Work journeys and other consequences

If the accident happened on a work journey, to work or from work, a workers compensation claim may also be relevant; see our Victoria workers compensation guide for how that scheme interacts with a TAC claim. A driver who caused the accident may separately face demerit points or drink driving penalties; see our guides to Victoria demerit points and Victoria drink driving penalties. A TAC claim itself runs on the deadlines described above under the Transport Accident Act, rather than the general civil statute of limitations that applies to most other Victorian injury claims; see our Australian statute of limitations guide for how that general regime works. For an overview of how CTP schemes compare across Australia, see our motor accident compensation hub.