TAC income support changes at 18 months: the timetable, and what it does not decide

The amount has changed, or a letter has arrived saying it will. This page sets out the income support timetable in Victoria's transport accident scheme, run by the Transport Accident Commission, with the section numbers, so a letter can be held against the scheme's own rules. It explains a scheme. It does not assess anyone's claim.

The scheme has dates built into it. When income support changes at 18 months, or again at 3 years, that is usually the timetable running, not a finding about you.

What is paid in the first 18 months?

LOE is the first income support payment. TAC policy states that LOE benefits "are payable for a maximum period of 18 months, from the date of accident or when the injury first manifested itself".

Inside that period the rate depends on whether there has been a return to work:

• No return to work: the greater of "80% of the client's pre-accident weekly earnings" or the prescribed minimum, capped at the lesser of the prescribed maximum or "100% of the client's pre-accident weekly earnings".
• Partial return to work: "85% of the difference between the client's pre-accident weekly earnings and the client's 'current weekly earnings'".

Scheme amounts index each 1 July. On the 1 July 2026 schedule, LOE runs to a maximum of $1,730 a week with a minimum of $865. That is the ceiling and the floor the scheme sets, not anyone's own figure.

What happens at 18 months?

At 18 months LOE ends and a different payment may begin. The TAC states that Loss of Earning Capacity benefits "are payable from 18 months after the accident" (s.53). The test is whether the person "continues to suffer a loss of earning capacity due to their transport accident injuries, 18 months after the date of the transport accident" (ss.49, 50, 51).

Total LOEC is "80% of the client's weekly pre-accident earning capacity". Partial LOEC is "85% of the difference between the amount of the client's pre-accident earning capacity and amount of the client's post-accident earning capacity" (ss.49(2), 49(3), 49(5), 49(5A), 50(2), 50(3), 50A, 51). On the 1 July 2026 schedule, LOEC runs to $1,500 a week with a minimum of $800.

Two things change along with the name. The calculation moves from what someone earned to earning capacity. So does the character of the payment. The TAC treats LOEC as "compensation for loss or impairment of earning capacity and as such are no longer considered to be payments in substitution for lost earnings", capital in nature and not taxed as income, while LOE under ss.44 and 45 is taxable. If a tax position looks different after the 18 month mark, that may be why.

When does Loss of Earning Capacity end?

LOEC runs from 18 months until the first of these happens:

• "the expiry of 3 years from the date of accident, which applies to a client who is less than 50% impaired"
• "normal retirement age" is reached, or age pension age where the pre-accident occupation has no set retiring age, for a client assessed at 50% or more impairment
• "the pecuniary loss component of a common law action settles"
• there is no longer a loss of earning capacity from the transport accident injuries

A separate cap sits over the top. Where pension age or the occupation's normal retirement age is reached, LOEC stops 36 months after the date of accident, whatever the impairment level. Payments can also be suspended where someone does not take part in rehabilitation (s.74(2)(b)).

You may have heard about a 5 year point. The TAC "can review your ongoing entitlement to total or partial LOEC benefits which may include a reassessment of your impairment rating, once in each 5 year period", and a client may ask for a review at any time. That applies where impairment is assessed at 50% or more and LOEC continues. It is a review cycle, not a second cut off date for everyone.

What are the impairment and common law thresholds?

The impairment benefit is "a one-off lump sum payment made by the TAC if you have permanent impairment", where impairment is assessed at "11% or more". It is calculated under s.47 and the TAC Impairment Benefit Table. Injuries must be "stable according to your health providers, and unlikely to change over time" first, and the TAC notes the process "can take time, in some cases up to 18 months".

Common law damages have two gateways: impairment "determined at 30% or more", or a Serious Injury Certificate from the TAC, with an application to the County Court open where the TAC refuses one. Proceedings run "within 6 years from the date of injury", and a court may extend that. Settling the pecuniary loss component ends LOEC (ss.93, 94, 96).

What if the accident happened at work?

A transport accident that happened at work or while travelling for work can sit inside Victoria's workers compensation scheme as well, which has its own separate timetable: a first entitlement period of 13 weeks, a second of 117 weeks out to 130, then a test that combines no current work capacity likely to continue indefinitely with whole person impairment of more than 20% (Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 (Vic), ss 152, 161, 162, 163(1)). The impairment limb was added on 31 March 2024. Which scheme applies, and how the two sit together, is a legal question worth putting to a specialist.

Is this the same test a TPD policy uses?

No. Every number above belongs to the transport accident scheme. The 18 month mark, the 3 year mark, and the 11%, 30% and 50% impairment figures are that scheme's timetable and that scheme's thresholds.

Total and permanent disability cover and income protection cover inside superannuation are contracts. The test is written in the policy and the fund's insurance guide, and an insurer applies it, not the TAC. A TPD policy is assessed under its own definition, set out in the policy document, not under a scheme's whole person impairment percentage. The 11%, 30% and 50% figures do not appear in those policies at all.

So the test that ends one scheme is not the test a TPD or income protection policy uses, and a termination or expiry under the TAC scheme does not decide the other. That runs in both directions. None of it means a claim exists. It means one door closing is not a decision about a different door, and what any policy would do depends on the policy.

What can you do this week?

Ask the TAC for a copy of your claim file. Worth asking for the claim form, decision letters, medical reports, any impairment assessment, and a printout of payments made on the claim. Those documents show which payment type was being paid, which test was applied, and on what date. The dates matter more than the letters.

Call your super fund. Have a member number if you can find one. "I'm not sure" is a fine answer to anything they ask. Worth asking:

• What insurance is attached to this account: total and permanent disability, income protection, or death cover?
• How much is each type of cover for?
• Is the cover active now, and has it ever lapsed or been switched off?
• What cover was attached on the date of my accident?
• Can you send me the insurance guide and the policy wording that applied then?
• Are there time limits I should know about for making a claim?

If you have worked for several employers, every fund is worth a call, including ones you no longer pay into.

Write the dates down. Date of accident. Date income support started. Date of any letter changing or ending it. Date of any impairment assessment. Every later conversation starts with those four dates.

What costs nothing?

• The TAC's claims policy is published in full. The pages listed below are the scheme's own manual.
• Your super fund can tell you what cover is attached to your account, at no cost.
• If a superannuation or insurance claim decision does not seem right, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) is the free external dispute body (afca.org.au).
• The National Debt Helpline offers free financial counselling on 1800 007 007 (ndh.org.au).

ClaimGuide does not run claims, assess entitlements, or tell you what a policy will pay. We explain how these systems connect and, if you want, introduce you to a firm on our panel that handles this type of claim. You never pay us. Panel firms do.

Check everything on this page

Every figure and section reference above was checked against these sources on 14 August 2026.

• Transport Accident Act 1986 (Vic), in force version list. Authorised version No. 157, in force 6 August 2025. Authorised consolidated text (PDF).
• TAC, How long are Loss of Earnings (LOE) benefits payable for?
• TAC, How are Loss of Earnings (LOE) benefits assessed?
• TAC, How long are LOEC benefits payable for?
• TAC, Eligibility for LOEC benefits
• TAC, How are LOEC benefits assessed?
• TAC, Loss of Earnings Capacity (LOEC) benefits, for what ends when and the 5 yearly review.
• TAC, Taxation of No fault Compensation
• TAC, Impairment benefits overview and Impairment benefits process
• TAC, Claims for Common Law Damages and What is serious injury?
• TAC, Indexation of benefits schedule, for the 1 July 2026 weekly amounts.
• Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 (Vic), authorised version 053, for ss 152, 161, 162 and 163, and WorkSafe, Scheme modernisation for the 31 March 2024 commencement.