Eligible Volunteers Rebate Scheme

If you are a VICSES Service life member or Country Fire Authority life member awarded by the authority, you are eligible to apply.

A person declared a life member by a brigade or unit is not eligible under the rebate scheme, unless they are an eligible volunteer.

The rebate will be administered by the Victorian Government through the Department of Government Services.

Eligible volunteers will be able to apply for the rebate via their volunteer organisation’s member portals, or as directed in member communications, once they’ve received their local government-issued rates notice.

You will need to provide a copy of your first rates notice of the financial year as part of your application. This is the notice you will receive from your council between July and September, that details the rates and levy you are liable for. As part of your application, you may also be asked to provide additional documentation.

Only one rebate can be received per volunteer and per property per financial year.

The rebate will be equal to the ESVF liability printed on your rates notice for the eligible volunteer's principal place of residence.

Alternatively, the eligible volunteer can choose to seek a rebate for their farm. The rebate will be equal to the ESVF liability printed on your rates notice for the eligible volunteer's farm, up to the cap on the capital improved value of the land.

There is no cap on a residential property that is the eligible volunteer’s principal place of residence. In these circumstances, eligible volunteers are entitled to a rebate equal to the ESVF liability they are required to pay, as printed on their rates notice.

The cap for a rebate for farmland is set at $5 million of the capital improved value of the property. Therefore, the maximum rebate available for farmland in 2025-26 is $1,710.

The rebate is not intended to provide a full exemption from the ESVF for very large commercial farming operations.

The Victorian Government has adopted a very broad definition of ownership in relation to when the rebate can be applied to farmland (including where the volunteer has a direct or indirect ownership interest, for example as a shareholder of a company, or a trustee or beneficiary of a trust).

Under the Eligible Volunteers Rebate Scheme, a principal place of residence is considered to be the home where someone lives most of the time. For a property to count as someone’s principal place of residence, it has to have a building on it (like a house or unit) that’s designed and constructed primarily for residential purposes and legally allowed to be used as a home.

In determining whether land is a person's principal place of residence, all places of residence of the person, whether in Victoria or elsewhere, must also be taken into account. Additionally, to claim an uncapped rebate, the principal place of residence must be used exclusively for residential purposes.

No. You can claim your rebate once you receive your rates notice.

If your rates notice has a debt of more than $50 from previous financial years, you will not be eligible for the rebate unless you can provide evidence of payment of your arrears, at the time of application.

No. You can only claim on your principal place of residence or farmland.

Yes. You can claim a rebate on two or more parcels of land in a single farming enterprise in which you have a direct or indirect ownership interest, up to the rebate cap. 

Primary production properties comprising multiple parcels of land are eligible for a single farm enterprise fixed charge exemption, which means the owner only pays the ESVF liability fixed charge on one property within the enterprise.  

A single farm enterprise means two or more parcels of farmland which are occupied by the same person(s) and are farmed as a single enterprise. This can include one parcel of land that is a principal place of residence of the person(s), provided the principal place of residence is contiguous to the farmland. 

Yes, if a Single Farm Enterprise is owned by multiple owners, individual owners can apply for the individual parcels of land within the Single Farm Enterprise, provided another owner has not already been paid the rebate for the same parcel of land in the same financial year.

For example: Louise, Andrew and Trinh co-own three parcels of land within a Single Farm Enterprise. Each parcel has its own rates notice and a separate ESVF liability. Parcel 1 has a capital improved value of $5.1 million, parcel 2 has a capital improved value of $6 million and parcel 3 has a capital improved value of $7 million. If Louise applies for all three parcels together, the maximum rebate she would be entitled to is $1,710 in total (as the combined capital improved value is above the $5 million cap). After Louise has applied for all three parcels, Andrew and Trinh will not be able to receive any rebates for those parcels.

However, if each owner applies separately for one individual parcel, their rebate entitlement would be $1,710 each, as each property is valued above the $5 million cap.

This means that it may be financially advantageous for co-owners of a Single Farm Enterprise to apply separately for individual parcels of land within that Single Farm Enterprise, provided each applicant is an eligible volunteer and has a qualifying ownership interest in the parcel/s they apply for.

No. Each owner can only apply for one parcel of farmland per person, if the parcels are not within a Single Farm Enterprise. However, they can’t apply for a parcel that another co-owner has already received payment for in the same financial year.

No, you can only submit one application for one property each financial year and each property can only be claimed once. Volunteers may choose which of their properties the rebate applies to as long as it falls into one of the categories described above.

No. The rebate can only be applied once in relation to the same property.

Eligible volunteers may receive one volunteer rebate per annum and can nominate whether that rebate applies to the levy they pay on:

• their principal place of residence, if their name is on the title; or
• farmland in which they have a direct or indirect ownership interest (for example, as a shareholder of a company, or a trustee or beneficiary of a trust, that owns the land); or
• two or more parcels of land in a single farming enterprise and in which they have a direct or indirect ownership interest.

The rebate can only be claimed once against each property, as determined by the rates notice, per financial year. However, if multiple members of a family or a couple are eligible volunteers they can each claim a rebate, provided their rebates are for different properties that they own.

No. Eligible volunteers must apply for the rebate themselves in order to be eligible. Proxies can’t apply for the rebate on your behalf.

If you receive a concession discount against the ESVF liability on your rates notice, then this same amount will be deducted from your rebate entitlement. For example, if your Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund liability is $254 and you receive a $50 concession discount for the liability on your rates notice, you would receive a rebate of $204.