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Exemptions and concessions for motor vehicle duty

Check if your transfer or vehicle type qualifies.

Key information

You may be eligible for a concession or an exemption from motor vehicle duty when you register or transfer a vehicle in Victoria.

Concessions reduce how much duty you pay. VicRoads applies them automatically if you are eligible. 

Exemptions apply to certain transfers, people and vehicle types. Use this form to:

  • apply for an exemption from duty
  • claim a refund if you’ve already paid duty.

Concessions for passenger cars

A concession applies automatically to green cars and primary producer passenger cars. The same concessional duty rate applies, regardless of the car’s value.

Green cars

A green car is a passenger car that releases 120 grams or less of carbon dioxide per kilometre.

You can find information about the combined tailpipe CO2 emissions from:

  • the Green Vehicle Guide by the Australian Government
  • the fuel or energy consumption label on the windscreen of a new vehicle
  • the carmaker’s website.

Primary producer passenger cars

A primary producer passenger car is a passenger car used primarily for driving on primary production land or between farms.

The car qualifies if it is:

  • registered, or to be registered, in the name of a primary producer, and
  • used, or to be used, primarily in the person’s primary producer business.

For this concession, a primary producer is a person who works primarily for these purposes, you must be engaged solely or substantially in agriculture or similar activities. This also includes people who hold a licence under the Fisheries Act 1995 to take fish for sale.

The concession does not apply if you use the car for private, personal or non-primary production business purposes.

People with a physical disability

If you have a physical disability, you may need to modify a vehicle to allow you to drive it. Duty will be reduced by the reasonable cost of the modification.

If the reasonable cost of the modification is more than the duty payable, you can make a claim to pay no duty at all. Please contact us on 13 21 61 for more information.

Corporate reconstruction concession

Eligible corporate reconstruction transactions arrangements or agreements pay duty at 10% of the usual amount. 

Exemptions for transfers between people

Death of owner

An exemption may apply when you:

  • transfer the registration of a motor vehicle to a beneficiary following the death of the registered owner
  • register or transfer the registration of a motor vehicle to a surviving spouse/domestic partner who is a beneficiary
  • register or transfer the vehicle to an executor or administrators to transfer it to a beneficiary, or to sell when winding up an estate. 

Marriage and domestic relationships or their breakdown

An exemption may apply when you register or transfer the registration of a motor vehicle:

  • between spouses or domestic partners
  • as a result of the breakdown of a marriage or a domestic relationship.

Transfers involving trustees or nominees

An exemption may apply when you transfer the registration of a motor vehicle:

  • from a nominee or trustee to the person the vehicle was bought for once they cease to be a minor/solely to trustees because of the appointment, retirement or other change in trustees.

Exemptions for business or administrative transfers

Licensed motor car traders

An exemption applies when a licensed motor car trader registers or transfers the registration of a motor vehicle that is:

Interstate

An exemption applies when a person registers a motor vehicle in Victoria in the same name as its previous interstate registration. The Commissioner must be satisfied that the interstate registration was not made for the purpose of avoiding Victorian duty.

Consular vehicles

An exemption may apply to registering or transferring the registration of certain consular vehicles. This depends on the post held by the person whose name the vehicle is being registered in.

Amalgamations, restructures and repossessions

An exemption applies when registration of a motor vehicle is transferred:

  • following an amalgamation of industrial organisations where the transfer is made in accordance with the rules of the transferring organisation
  • because the vehicle becomes an asset of a receiving body under Part 3 of the Financial Sector (Business Transfer and Group Restructure) Act 1999
  • after the vehicle is repossessed under a security interest used to secure a debt or other obligation.

Exemption for vehicles used by eligible people or organisations

Transport of people with a disability, incapacitated or injured person(s) and/or wheelchairs

This exemption applies where an eligible organisation or person owns a vehicle and it is used to transport people with a disability. An exemption may apply when you register or transfer the registration of a motor vehicle in the following situations:

  • Vehicles owned by corporate or unincorporated bodies that operate for a public purpose and not for private gain. The vehicle must be marked with the body’s name and only used for carrying people with a disability to training, education or employment.
  • Vehicles registered in the name of an incapacitated person and designed solely to carry that person. The vehicle must not be used to carry any other person.
  • Non-commercial passenger vehicles (within the meaning of the Commercial Passenger Vehicle Industry Act 2017) modified to carry a wheelchair and used to carry an incapacitated person. The vehicle can be registered to the incapacitated person, their parent or guardian if they are a minor, or a relative of or carer for them. This exemption also applies to vehicles that will be converted for wheelchair access within 12 months. You must provide documentary evidence to us once the conversion is complete.
  • Vehicles (but not a taxi) owned by government or charitable, benevolent or religious institution that are modified to carry a wheelchair and used to carry an incapacitated person. The vehicle must display the name of the registered operator, relevant government department or agency.
  • Vehicles registered to people with qualifying service-related impairments who do not drive another vehicle without paying a fee. This includes:
  • Vehicles registered to St John Ambulance Australia (Victoria) Inc and used to transport of people with a disability or injury.

Primary production, emergency and special purpose use

An exemption may apply if an eligible person or organisation registers or transfers a vehicle used for specific purposes. 

  • Vehicles in the name of a primary producer and used solely in the business of the registered operator as a primary producer. These are special work vehicles (body type SWV1 and SWV2) and special purpose vehicles (type O). They include heavy trailers, tractors, mobile cranes, fire engines, truck-mounted concrete pumps and boring plants.
  • Mobile plant and plant-based special purpose vehicles (type P):
    • They are:
      • not designed solely for carrying passengers
      • under 4.5 tonnes mass rating for charging (MRC). 
    • They may use public roads only to access worksites. Carrying a load must be incidental to the purpose(s) for which the vehicle was built, except in the case of concrete pumps and fire trucks. Mobile plant includes backhoes, excavators, bulldozers, headers, forklifts, scrapers and tractors. It does not include tow trucks.
  • Special purpose vehicles (type P) are more than 4.5 tonnes MRC and generally make little use of the road network. They are primarily built or permanently modified for off-road use. They include agricultural tractors, self-propelled agricultural harvesters, bulldozers, backhoes, graders, front-end loaders and heavy excavators.
  • Vehicles owned and registered by a State Emergency Service volunteer unit, Country Fire Authority or municipal council. The vehicle must be certified as equipped for, and exclusively used for, combating fire outbreaks or for emergency response.

Wheelchair-accessible commercial passenger vehicles

From 1 July 2022, an exemption applies to wheelchair-accessible commercial passenger vehicles that:

  • are less than 2 years old
  • meet the requirements to provide unbooked services (taxi rank and hail work).

To qualify for this exemption, the vehicle must be:

If the vehicle registration is transferred, the transfer must occur within 2 years of the vehicle’s first registration.

To be eligible, the vehicle must already be converted for wheelchair access when you apply. You must give us evidence once the vehicle is registered with Safe Transport Victoria and can lawfully provide unbooked services. 

Charitable organisations

There is no general exemption in the Duties Act 2000 for charitable organisations. Instead, one of the above exemptions may apply.

Updated: 28 April 2026