TAC charge on a work ute: what Victorian electricians pay

The TAC charge is the third party insurance built into every Victorian rego. For a business ute or van carrying up to two tonnes, it is $607.20 a year in a high-risk (metropolitan) postcode, $460.90 in a medium-risk postcode and $319.00 in a low-risk one, including GST and insurance duty, from 1 July 2026.

What is the TAC charge on a business vehicle?

Every Victorian rego renewal is two charges in one. There is the registration fee, which goes to the state’s Consolidated Fund, and there is the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) charge, which is third party insurance.

The TAC charge covers the owner and driver for liability if the vehicle causes the death or injury of another person. You do not buy it separately. VicRoads collects it with the registration fee at every renewal, which is why it rarely gets a second look. Our Victorian fleet compliance guide covers how it sits alongside roadworthies and renewals.

For a business, the part that matters is that it is charged per vehicle. The TAC’s reasoning is that there are more vehicles in Victoria than licence holders, so charging per driver would push the cost up for everyone. Four utes means four TAC charges, even if only two electricians hold the keys. Three things set the amount:

• Class — the type and use of the vehicle: passenger, goods, motorcycle and so on
• Risk zone — the postcode where the vehicle is usually kept, rated high, medium or low
• Eligible discounts — the pensioner and trade apprentice concessions

What does not count is who drives. The TAC does not look at driving records, because the registered owner may not be the person behind the wheel. That describes most small fleets.

How much is the TAC charge on a ute or van in 2026–27?

The TAC publishes a new schedule every year, because the Transport Accident Act 1986 indexes the charge to CPI on 1 July. The current schedule applies from 1 July 2026.

A work ute or van usually sits in the goods vehicle class: any vehicle designed, constructed or primarily used for carrying goods, up to and including two tonnes carrying capacity. The TAC names utilities in that class explicitly.

The last column is VicRoads’ published annual renewal fee for a ute (including dual cab), tray or van up to two tonnes, with the TAC charge included. Insurance duty is a state charge collected by the State Revenue Office. It does not go to the TAC.

A goods vehicle over two tonnes carrying capacity moves up a class: $885.50 a year in the high risk zone, $774.40 in medium and $664.40 in low.

Why doesn’t a Melbourne ute get the cheaper rate?

The TAC’s own FAQ asks why a big ute costs less than a small sedan. Its answer: a ute is a goods-carrying vehicle, generally used for business, so WorkSafe Victoria — not the TAC — is responsible for a high proportion of injury claims made by its occupants. Utes also usually carry two people, where a passenger car can carry five.

The 2026–27 schedule shows where that stops being true.

In a high-risk postcode, the goods vehicle discount is gone. VicRoads’ renewal fees tell the same story: $959.90 for a metro ute against $958.80 for a metro sedan.

For an electrical contractor working out of metropolitan Melbourne, that settles one argument. Choose between a ute, a van and a wagon on what carries the cable drums and the ladder. The TAC charge will not tip it either way.

Which postcode decides the risk zone?

The postcode where the registered vehicle is usually kept. VicRoads calls this the garage address — the place where you normally keep the vehicle — and it can be different from the business address or the owner’s home.

Zones do not follow council lines or suburb reputations. The TAC’s own example of why neighbours can pay different amounts is Carrum Downs (3201), in the high risk zone, and Skye (3977), in the medium zone. Geelong’s 3220 is medium. Everything else follows one rule:

Victorian postcodes not listed above are deemed to be low risk.
— TAC charges schedule, effective 1 July 2026

The full high and medium postcode lists are printed in that schedule. Checking each vehicle’s garage address against them takes a couple of minutes.

What should a small fleet check before each renewal?

Each ute and van is its own registration with its own garage address. In a business where technicians take vehicles home, those addresses can drift away from what VicRoads has on file.

The TAC lists moving to a postcode in a higher risk zone as one reason a charge goes up, alongside CPI and changing vehicle type. VicRoads asks people to update their details within 14 days of moving, and the garage address is one of the three addresses it records.

A short list for each renewal round:

• Garage address matches where the vehicle is normally kept now, not where it was kept the day you bought it
• Class is goods vehicle for every ute and van — the TAC says a vehicle that may be misclassified is a question for VicRoads
• Business account — myVicRoads business lets you update garage addresses under Key Tasks, renew vehicles in bulk and download a CSV of every rego due with its expiry date and total cost
• Still in Victoria — VicRoads says business vehicles must stay garaged in Victoria to stay registered there

Here is what the zone alone does to a four-ute fleet over a year, on the 2026–27 figures:

The rule is where each vehicle is normally kept, and that is the address to record. Getting it right means the zone on the bill is the one the ute actually lives in.

Is it cheaper to pay rego every three or six months?

No, although it can smooth cash flow. The TAC schedule sets a six-month charge at exactly half the annual amount and a three-month charge at exactly a quarter, so the insurance costs the same either way.

VicRoads then adds a $2.70 service fee for each short-term registration period. Paying quarterly adds $10.80 a year per ute, or $43.20 across four. A business account can nominate individual vehicles for short-term registration, so you can mix terms across the fleet.

Can an apprentice’s ute skip the TAC charge?

Yes, if the apprentice meets VicRoads’ conditions. The 2026 schedule sets the TAC charge at nil for a vehicle under the eligible apprentice’s concession, across the passenger and goods vehicle classes, and VicRoads describes the result as free rego.

To qualify, VicRoads says the apprentice must:

• be the registered operator of a car, ute or van that does not exceed 4.5 tonnes GVM
• use it for the apprenticeship — carrying the tools the apprenticeship needs to and from work or between worksites — or regularly drive to or from work between 8.30pm and 5.30am
• be registered in an approved training scheme with the VRQA, Training Services NSW or the South Australian Skills Commission
• live in Victoria, hold a current Victorian driver licence and have received a renewal notice

The catch for an electrical business is ownership. A vehicle registered in someone else’s name is excluded, so a company ute your apprentice drives does not qualify. The apprentice’s own ute does.

The employer’s part is small but real. VicRoads checks with the employer that the vehicle is used for work, and if the employer cannot confirm that after approval, the apprentice pays the difference. The application needs to go in at least five days before the rego expires.

How do you keep rego and TAC costs visible across a fleet?

For a handful of vehicles garaged at one depot, a myVicRoads business account and a calendar reminder can be enough. It already handles bulk renewals and the due-date report.

It gets harder once the fleet spreads out: utes garaged at technicians’ homes, services and insurance running on their own dates, a vehicle nobody has checked since it was bought. Axlerun keeps each vehicle’s rego, insurance, service and odometer records in one profile, free for your first three vehicles, with no hardware. Alerts before a rego or service falls due are on the Cruise plan. Here is how that looks for an electrical contractor’s fleet.

Before the next renewal notices land, pull up the garage address and class on every vehicle — outside the concessions, those two fields decide the TAC charge. While you are in there, Melbourne tolls are the other per-vehicle cost worth checking.