Pensioner rebates

You may be eligible to receive a rebate on your rates for your principal place of residence if you hold a current:

  • Pensioner Concession Card
  • Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) Gold Card - marked Totally and Permanently Incapacitated (TPI), or
  • Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) Gold Card - marked War Widow (WAR WID).

Please note that health care and seniors cards are not accepted.

Criteria

To be able to claim a concession on your rates and charges you must ensure that:

  • You have one of the eligible concession cards and your card is valid at the time of application.
  • You are the person responsible for payment of the account.
  • Your name is on the rate notice.
  • Your name and address on the account must match that on the concession card, and the address must be your principal place of residence.

Once you have applied, there is no need to reapply annually if your circumstances have not changed. The rebate will reflect on your annual rate notice as "Government Rebate" and "FSPL Rebate."

For the 2024-25 financial year, the maximum rebate amount is $259.50. Eligible pensioners will also receive a $50 rebate on their Fire Services Levy.

Apply for a pensioner rebate

Complete a Municipal Rates and Charges Concession application form available from the Department of Human Services.

Submit the form:

  • Email rates the application form with a scanned attachment of your concession card
  • Mail the form and a copy of your concession card to Merri-bek City Council, Locked Bag 10, Brunswick VIC 3056
  • Bring your concession card and form to a Customer Service Centre

We will conduct an online verification with Centrelink to confirm your eligibility. The name on your pensioner concession card must match our system exactly.

Contact the Centrelink Concessions Information Line on 132 300 for more information on concessions.

EDA & POW card holders 

Holders of Veteran's Affairs' Gold Cards given for Extreme Disablement Adjustment (EDA) or  Prisoner of War (POW) should phone the Concession information line on 1800 658 521 (toll free) for an application form or download the application from the DFFH website below.  The Victorian Government provides this concession directly to these cardholders.  The form should be completed and sent to DFFH at the address listed on the form. 

The Fire Services Property Levy Act 2012 provides a $50 concession on an eligible (EDA) and (POW) cardholder’s principal place of residence for the fire services levy. Please contact Revenue Services on 9599 4444 for further information. 

More information

Please go to Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) website