The Transport Accident Commission (TAC) is a Victorian no-fault accident compensation scheme for Victoria’s registered motor vehicles.

When you register your vehicle within Victoria, you take out insurance covering you if you’re injured in a transport accident or if you injure another person in a transport accident.

You may be eligible to file a TAC claim if your road accident occurred in Victoria or involved a Victorian-registered vehicle anywhere in Australia.

If another party is at fault, either fully or partially, for your road accident, your compensation claim can be covered by TAC.

TAC is a government organization in Victoria that provides compensation to individuals injured in transport accidents. The specific compensation and benefits you are entitled to will vary significantly based on the circumstances surrounding your injury.

Barbante Personal Injury Lawyers can assist you in navigating the TAC claims process and provide guidance throughout.

Your first step will usually be to lodge a TAC compensation claim. Barbante Personal Injury Lawyers will be able to advise you with this process.

This process generally involves:

• Reporting the accident to the police.
• Submitting a TAC claim form
• Providing a special medical certificate with your claim, which your doctor will complete

Once your TAC claim is lodged and accepted, you can be eligible to receive medical benefits and loss of income payments very quickly.

Once you’ve lodged your claim with the TAC, they have 21 days to accept, reject or request more information from you to help them make a decision.

If you’re seeking compensation for time taken off work, you will need to provide a medical certificate from your doctor and evidence of your earnings. Additionally, you’ll have to submit monthly medical certificates to the TAC for as long as you are unable to or restricted at work.

If necessary, you can give the form directly to your employer’s WorkCover Agent or WorkSafe. Next, visit your local doctor and obtain a WorkSafe Certificate of Capacity. This should also be given to your employer or the WorkCover Agent. If your claim is not accepted within 30 days, it is important to contact the Agent for a response. Finally, contacting a lawyer for legal advice about your WorkCover claim is advisable to protect your rights and entitlements.

If you’re injured in an accident, you could be entitled to the following benefits and compensation:

Medical and associated expenses

If you have been injured in a Transport Accident, you could be entailed to reasonable medical and like expenses for your accident injuries. Some examples TAC can pay for include:

• Medical expenses inducing surgical, ongoing treatment, rehabilitation, medication
• Travel expenses for travelling from medical appointments and other essential appointments
• Household Support Services for expenses related to mainlining your household while you are injured

Impairment Benefit

A one-off lump sum payment is available if you have a permanent physical or psychological condition caused by your transport accident.

Your injury will need to be assessed by an independent medical examiner under the American Medical Association Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment. This requires specially trained doctors to test your injuries for function and range of motion, measuring against what is in the normal range for most people. Each injury is given a percentage rating based on the level of impairment. You will be entitled to a lump sum if you score a Whole Person Impairment percentage of more than 11%. This amount is indexed each year. This percentage rating is then given to the TAC to assess your eligibility for an impairment benefit. TAC can assess your level of impairment as soon as three months after your accident.

Before your impairment can be assessed, your injuries must be considered stable, for example, not expected to change over time due to surgery. If your injuries have not stabilised, TAC can make a partial payment of your impairment benefit until your injuries have healed and stabilised, i.e., your injury is unlikely to get any better or worse. The impairment benefit is made in addition to the benefits and payments you receive from the TAC, such as medical services, income support and common law damages. Your right to apply for an impairment assessment may expire six years from the accident date.

Loss of income

If you are unable to work due to your injuries, the TAC can pay you income support.

For the first 18 months following your accident, you may be entitled to Loss of Earnings (LOE) Benefits from the TAC. To be eligible for LOE Benefits, you must be considered an ‘earner’ by the TAC. An ‘earner’ can include:

• People who were receiving TAC or workers compensation benefits before the accident;
• People who became unemployed shortly before the accident; or
• People who had agreed to start a new job but have been unable to because of the accident.

Earners also include self-employed people, employees, casual workers and apprentices who have worked in the period leading up to the accident. The TAC will look at your work history in the two years before the accident.

To get TAC to pay loss of income, you must:

• Obtain certificates of incapacity from your doctor and provide them to the TAC. You will have to do this for the duration of time you are seeking wages to be paid.
• Provide your tax returns and other wage documentation to TAC
• Notify the TAC if you return to work while they are paying you loss of earnings benefits. If you do not notify the TAC, you could face prosecution and damage to your claim.
• Seek advice from a lawyer experienced in TAC claims to ensure you receive all benefits you are entitled to.

For the first 18 months following your accident, you may be entitled to Loss of Earnings (LOE) Benefits from the TAC. To be eligible for LOE Benefits, you must be considered an ‘earner’ by the TAC. This requirement is usually met if you were employed full-time, part-time or casual or self-employed at the time of your accident. If you were unemployed, you might still be eligible for LOE Benefits.

In assessing your LOE Benefits, the TAC will consider your ‘pre-accident weekly earnings. When this has been determined, the TAC may pay you income support at 80% of your pre-accident weekly earnings. As of July 1 2020, this amount cannot exceed $1,430 per week.

After the first 18 months following your accident, your entitlement to income support may continue as a Loss of Earnings.

• Loss of Earnings Capacity Benefits (LOEC) are calculated by considering your work capacity if you were not injured in your accident. After three years, LOEC Benefits may only continue if you are assessed at 50% or more impaired and are unable to work or have a reduced earning capacity.

You must keep lodging monthly medical certificates from your doctor with the TAC to continue to be paid.

Common Law Compensation 

In addition to medical and like expenses, an impairment benefit, and income loss, the TAC may also be required to pay compensation via a common law claim.

As the TAC is the Insurer for road accidents, in most cases, it will be required to pay compensation on behalf of the person at fault for the accident.

If the accident was caused or partially caused by someone else, you might be entitled to common law damages, which include:

1. Pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life
2. Past and future economic loss

To obtain the compensation, you need to be able to prove that:

1. The accident was caused or contributed to by another party (negligence)
2. You have a ‘Serious Injury’.

A ‘Serious Injury’ is a legal test and detailed consideration of your circumstances. A medical opinion will be required to determine if you have a serious injury. Serious injuries can include:

• Permanent impairment of 30% or more; or
• Long-term physical injury or loss of body function which impacts your working life, social, domestic or recreational activities; or
• Long-term severe psychological injuries which impact your working life, social, domestic or recreational activities; or
• Serious scarring or disfigurement; or
• Loss of a foetus.

After you have been found to have a ‘Serious Injury’, court proceedings may be commenced to obtain common law damages.

Barbante Personal Injury Lawyers can assist you regarding these entitlements. It is also essential to obtain further instructions regarding the accident circumstances to see whether a common law claim to sue another party might be possible.

Yes, if you were injured while driving an unresisted motor vehicle, you are still covered by TAC, provided that the vehicle was capable of being registered with VicRoads.

Yes, if you were the victim of a hit-and-run and the driver cannot be found, you are still entitled to claim compensation through the TAC.

If you are injured in a transport accident while working, you could be entitled to compensation under the WorkCover system. You may also have common law rights to compensation under the Transport Accident scheme. Contact Barbante Personal Injury Lawyers for advice as to how this works.

If you sustain injuries as a driver in a single-vehicle accident, the TAC you are likely to be covered by TAC for benefits, including payment of medical expenses, loss of wages and a lump sum payment for your permanent impairment.

Unless you can establish that the accident was caused or contributed to by a third party, you are unlikely to receive compensation for pain and suffering or long-term loss of earning capacity.

You must make a claim within one year of the date of the injury or the date you first realised you were injured due to a transport accident. However, the TAC may consider a claim made outside this time limit – for up to three years – if reasonable grounds exist for the delay.

TAC may also consider a claim made outside the one-year limit if reasonable grounds exist for the delay in making a claim. Extending on reasonable grounds is limited to making a claim within three years from the date of the accident or the date you first realised you were injured.

TAC will only consider claims made outside of the three years if the person is less than 18 years of age at the time of the accident.

To challenge a TAC decision is limited to 12 months and cannot be prolonged. If you disagree with the TAC’s decision, you can request an internal review or escalate the issue to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) for resolution. However, it’s important to note that you must commence the process within 12 months of the initial decision.

If the decision is disputed formally via a lawyer, this 12 month period is effectively suspended for the duration of the dispute.

You may also be entitled to other benefits such as:

• Total and Permanent Disablement or Permanent Incapacity claims within your Superannuation Scheme
• Income Protection

These schemes depend on your policy as they all operate with different and specific requirements that need to be satisfied.