QCAT Forms Explained: Form 1 to Apply, Form 7 to Respond, Form 9 for Service, and Where to Lodge

The QCAT form most applicants need is Form 1, the application for a minor civil dispute about a consumer or trader matter, and you can avoid the paper version altogether by lodging through QCAT’s QCase online portal. If you are the one being taken to QCAT, the only minor civil dispute response form is Form 7, and it is for minor debt claims: in consumer and trader, tenancy and dividing fence disputes, QCAT says you are not required to file a response at all.

That split catches people out in both directions. Claim Done drafts the documents that sit behind these forms: the Tribunal Application (A$97) if you are bringing the claim, and the Tribunal Response (A$129) if you are answering one. You review the drafts, and you lodge them yourself. Every form number and rule below comes from QCAT’s own pages, with the date each page shows.

QCAT forms at a glance: what you want to do, which form, where to get it

Two things are left out of that table on purpose. A counter-application is optional in consumer and trader, tenancy and fence disputes and carries a fee; QCAT’s responding page has the details and the form. And if your dispute is about a tenancy or a dividing fence, check QCAT’s forms page for the application that matches your case type. Form 1 is the consumer dispute form.

Form 1: starting a consumer or trader claim

Form 1 is the paper route into QCAT’s minor civil dispute stream for claims arising out of a consumer-trader or trader-trader contract. The ceiling is firm. As at QCAT’s consumer and trader disputes page (last updated 4 August 2026), QCAT “cannot decide disputes involving claims worth more than $25,000 (excluding interest)”, although you can reduce a larger claim to $25,000 to fit. Disputes with a licensed motor dealer over a defect or consumer guarantee can go up to $100,000. You have 6 years from the incident to start.

You do not have to use paper. QCAT’s application page (last updated 18 July 2024) offers the QCase online portal as the first option. If you file Form 1 on paper, you lodge it with three copies at a Magistrates Court or at QCAT in Brisbane, and you pay the fee at the same time.

The fee depends on how much you claim, and it rose on 1 July 2026. Rather than repeat the fee bands here, our QCAT fees 2026 guide sets them out with the waiver rules.

One practical point before you write a word: get the other party’s exact legal name. A trading name on a quote is not always the entity that took your money, and an order against the wrong name is an order you may not be able to collect on.

Form 3 or Form 1? The choice changes what the other side has to do

Minor debt is a separate minor civil dispute type with its own application, Form 3. QCAT’s debt disputes page (last updated 29 November 2024) describes it as a claim for “a fixed or agreed sum of money, valued up to and including $25,000.”

Here is the part most guides skip. The form you pick decides the respondent’s obligations. File a minor debt application and the respondent has 28 days from service to file Form 7, or you may ask QCAT for a decision by default. File a consumer and trader application and the respondent is not required to respond at all; under QCAT Practice Direction 1 of 2026 (dated 26 June 2026), unless the Tribunal orders otherwise, a claim up to $10,000 is referred to mediation and a claim over $10,000 is listed for a hearing.

So the question to ask is simple. Is the amount fixed and agreed, like an unpaid invoice for work both sides accept was done? That is the minor debt shape. Is the argument about whether the work was defective, or how much it was worth? That is a consumer and trader dispute, and Form 1 fits it.

After you lodge: serving the application and Form 9

QCAT does not serve your application for you, and neither does Claim Done. Once QCAT accepts the application, it gives you sealed copies. You then have 7 days to serve a sealed copy of the application and attachments on every other party, personally, by post, or through a Magistrates Court bailiff, commercial agent or process server. A minor debt claim (Form 3) is different: you have 90 days, and Form 3’s instructions say to serve it personally or through a bailiff, commercial agent or process server, not by post.

The person who served it then completes Form 9, the affidavit of service, and files it with QCAT. Our Form 9 guide goes through each part of the form and who can witness it. That affidavit is your proof the respondent was given the application. Without it, the clock that matters for a minor debt respondent is hard to prove ever started.

Write down the date and method of service on the day you do it. You will need both for Form 9, and in a minor debt claim the respondent’s 28 days run from that date.

Responding: Form 7, and when no form is needed

If you have been served, look at the top of the application first. It tells you what kind of dispute it is, and that decides everything else.

Minor debt claim. As at QCAT’s responding page (last updated 14 March 2023), “the respondent has 28 days from the date they were served with the application to file a response to the minor debt application.” You do that on Form 7 (see our Form 7 guide). Miss the 28 days and the applicant can ask QCAT for a decision by default, made without you.

Consumer and trader, tenancy or dividing fence claim. QCAT’s words: “you are not required to file a response.” You can still file a reply or evidence supporting your side, up to 7 days before the hearing, and you can lodge an optional counter-application, which has a fee. Not being required to respond is not the same as being safe to stay silent. The hearing still goes ahead, and a decision-maker who has only read one side has only one side to weigh.

Our guide on how to respond to a QCAT application walks through the respondent’s side in more detail.

Looking for Form 60, or a form number you were given?

QCAT publishes its full list of forms, by number, on its forms page. This guide names only the forms we checked against QCAT’s own minor civil dispute pages, so it does not describe Form 60.

If a search result, a letter or an older article told you to use Form 60 or any other number, open QCAT’s forms page, find that number, and read QCAT’s own description of what it is for before you fill anything in. Form numbers repeated secondhand are easy to get wrong.

Form 49 and Form 56: the two forms that change the rules

Form 49 asks QCAT to waive the fee, or reduce an appeal fee to $113.30, because of financial hardship. As at QCAT’s fees and allowances page (retrieved 27 September 2026), eligibility covers people on a full-rate pension or benefit, people under 18, protected persons under a domestic violence order, and people with legal aid. A Health Care Card is not a pension card. Businesses and corporations are not eligible: “Operating non-profit organisations, non-government organisations, businesses, and corporations are not eligible for a fee waiver or appeal fee reduction.”

Form 56 asks permission for someone else to represent you. In minor civil disputes, parties generally represent themselves. As at QCAT’s appearance and representation page (last updated 19 December 2024), “QCAT will only give permission for a party to be represented if it is in the interests of justice to do so.” For most people, the documents you file are your case.

Where to lodge, in one place

• Online: QCase, QCAT’s online portal, for applications and documents in consumer and trader matters.
• On paper: Form 1 plus three copies at a Magistrates Court or at QCAT in Brisbane, with the fee paid at lodgement.
• Response to a minor debt claim: Form 7, within 28 days of being served, following the lodgement instructions on QCAT’s responding page.
• After a win the other side ignores: a copy of the QCAT order plus an affidavit filed in the Magistrates Court. As at QCAT’s enforcement page (last updated 14 March 2023), “It is free to file the order and affidavit with the courts.”

For the full walk-through from first letter to hearing, see our step-by-step guide on how to file a QCAT application in Queensland.

Where Claim Done fits

Forms are the easy part. The hard part is the story inside them: what happened, in what order, and which document proves each point.

Bringing the claim? The Tribunal Application costs a flat A$97. You choose Queensland and your dispute type, tell us about the invoices, contracts, messages and photos you have, and Claim Done drafts your tribunal application and a first-person witness statement. You review the drafts, then lodge through QCase or on Form 1 or Form 3, pay QCAT’s fee, serve within 7 days (90 days for a Form 3 minor debt claim), and file Form 9.

Answering one? The Tribunal Response costs a flat A$129 and arrives as separate PDFs: a response summary, a defence position statement, a chronology and an evidence list. In a minor debt claim that material supports your Form 7 inside the 28 days; in a consumer and trader claim it is the reply and evidence you file up to 7 days before the hearing.

Claim Done is not a law firm. We do not lodge anything with QCAT and we do not serve documents; you do both, and you stay in control of what is filed in your name.

Your next step: if you are the applicant, start your Tribunal Application, answer the questions and review the draft before you lodge. If you have been served, start your Tribunal Response today, because in a minor debt claim the 28 days are already running. Every service and price is on the pricing page.

Form by form: QCAT Form 3, the minor debt application; QCAT Form 6, the request for a decision by default; QCAT Form 55, to set aside a default decision; and small claims in Queensland: limits, fees and steps.

Frequently asked questions

What is QCAT Form 1?

Form 1 is QCAT's Application for a minor civil dispute – consumer dispute. It starts a claim arising out of a consumer-trader or trader-trader contract, up to $25,000 excluding interest. You can lodge it on paper with three copies at a Magistrates Court or at QCAT in Brisbane, or apply online through QCase instead.

What is the QCAT response form?

For a minor debt claim, the response form is Form 7, Response to minor civil dispute – minor debt, and it must be filed within 28 days of being served. In consumer and trader, tenancy and dividing fence disputes, QCAT says you are not required to file a response, although you can file a reply or evidence up to 7 days before the hearing.

What is QCAT Form 60?

This guide does not describe Form 60 because we have not confirmed it against QCAT's minor civil dispute pages. QCAT lists every current form by number on its forms page at qcat.qld.gov.au/resources/forms. Check QCAT's own description of the form there before you use it.

Can I lodge a QCAT application online?

Yes. QCAT's QCase online portal lets you file applications and documents electronically in consumer and trader matters, as an alternative to the paper Form 1. If you use paper, you file the application with three copies at a Magistrates Court or at QCAT in Brisbane and pay the fee when you lodge.

Who serves a QCAT application on the respondent?

The applicant does. QCAT gives you sealed copies once it accepts the application, and you have 7 days to serve them personally, by post, or through a bailiff, commercial agent or process server. For a minor debt claim (Form 3) you have 90 days, and you serve it personally or through a bailiff, commercial agent or process server. The person who served it then files Form 9, the affidavit of service.