VCAT service of documents: how to serve your application and complete the declaration of service

In a VCAT goods and services case, the applicant serves the application. VCAT’s practice note says: “It is the responsibility of the applicant to serve their application on each respondent with all the supporting documents that were filed with the Tribunal.” You can serve by email (only to an address already used between you about the dispute), by hand, or by ordinary post, and you prove it with a declaration of service, signed in front of an authorised witness and sent to VCAT at least one week before the hearing.

This page covers who you serve, the ways VCAT allows, the declaration of service form and what happens if you cannot prove service. It is about goods and services (civil) disputes; other VCAT lists run differently. It is general information, not legal advice.

What “service” means at VCAT

VCAT’s guide to goods and services orders puts it simply: there are “formal requirements for ‘serving’ (sending) the application (and any documents sent with the application) on the respondents.”

Use the case number VCAT gives you on everything. The practice note says it “must be used on all documents and correspondence that relates to the case”. Keep a full copy of what you sent, and “make a record of when” you served each respondent.

How to serve a person

VCAT’s guide says you may serve a person by:

• “sending it by email to the email address which they have used to communicate with you about the subject matter of the case”;
• “handing it to the person”;
• “sending it by ordinary post to the person’s usual or last known residential or business address”;
• “leaving it at the person’s usual or last known residential or business address with someone who seems to be at least 16 years old.”

The email option has a condition. It must be an address the respondent has actually used with you about this dispute. An address they have never used with you about it does not meet that condition.

How to serve a company

For a company (“Pty Ltd” or “Ltd”), VCAT’s guide allows:

• email to the address the company has used to communicate with you about the case;
• ordinary post “to the registered address of the company as shown on the ASIC Company Extract”;
• delivering it to that registered address. VCAT adds: “If you choose this option, make a note of the date you delivered the document.”

The registered address can be different from the shop or office you dealt with. Use the address on the ASIC Current Company Extract, which VCAT requires with an application against a company in any case: “We can’t progress your application without it.”

How to serve a business name or an association

VCAT’s guide says to find the holder of the business name from the Business Names Extract, then serve the holder: as a person if the holder is a person, or as a company if the holder is a company.

An unincorporated association is served by giving the documents personally to “the president, secretary or other similar office holder”, by posting them to that person’s usual or last known address, or by email to the address used with you about the case.

If the respondent is interstate

VCAT’s guide says: “If you need to serve a VCAT application on an interstate party, you must also include a Form 4 of Schedule 1 of the Service and Execution of Process Regulations 2018 (Cth).” Attach it to what you serve.

The declaration of service

Serving is half the job. The other half is proving it. VCAT’s Declaration of Service form is used “to confirm that you have provided a copy of your VCAT application and supporting documents to the other parties in a Goods and Services case.” VCAT says it “must be sworn before an authorised witness” and is sometimes called a statement of service.

How the form works:

1. One form per respondent. The form says the person who served the documents “must complete a Declaration of Service for each respondent served.”
2. The person who served fills it in. Their full name, occupation and address. If a friend posted or delivered the documents, that friend completes the declaration.
3. The case details. Applicant, respondent and case number.
4. What was served, and when. The date, and the documents: the form lists the application filed at VCAT, VCAT’s orders, Points of Claim, and the documents referred to in them.
5. How it was served. Keep the one method you used and delete the rest. There are separate sets of options for an individual, a company and an unincorporated association.
6. The extra declaration for post or email. If you served by post, you declare that the address is the one on the application form. If you served by email, you declare that the parties “have previously communicated by email about the subject matter of the proceeding using that email address” and that it is “a current and valid email address.”
7. Sign in front of an authorised witness. The witness prints or stamps their name, address and title. The form’s examples of an authorised witness include a Justice of the Peace, pharmacist, police officer, court registrar, bank manager, medical practitioner and dentist.
8. Send it to VCAT. Scanned and emailed, or uploaded in myVCAT if you have an account.

When the declaration is due

VCAT’s “after you apply” page says: “You must email this to us at least one week before the hearing.” The practice note also says that at the hearing “the applicant must give to the Tribunal Member a signed and completed declaration of service form.” Do both: send it a week ahead and bring the signed original.

What happens if you cannot prove service

This is where cases stall. The practice note says: “If a respondent does not attend the hearing, it is essential that the applicant proves that a complete copy of the application form with all attachments was served on the respondent. If the documents have not been served, the proceeding might be struck out or the hearing adjourned. If the hearing is adjourned, a hearing fee will be payable by the applicant for any subsequent day of hearing.”

VCAT’s own estimate is a wait of about 52 weeks from applying to a mediation or hearing. An adjournment adds to that wait, and the practice note says the applicant pays the hearing fee for the next day.

Sending documents after the application is served

Service of the application is the formal step. After that, VCAT’s guide says, “once parties have been served with the application and have responded, you can send further documents to them at the email address they have supplied to VCAT and the other parties.”

• Everything you send VCAT goes to the other side too. “Whenever you email or write to VCAT you must also send a copy to all other parties involved in the case.”
• myVCAT does some of it for you. Uploading a document to the portal sends it to any party who also has a myVCAT account. Parties without an account must still be sent the document.
• Attending by phone or video: send all parties and VCAT your supporting documents by email, by the deadline in your notice or order.
• Attending in person: send copies to all parties, and bring your documents to the hearing rather than sending them to VCAT.
• Respondents attending in person must send the applicant copies of the documents they plan to use at least 14 days before the hearing.

VCAT’s timetable order covers both Points of Claim and your supporting documents.

Other VCAT lists are different

These rules are for goods and services cases. In building and construction disputes VCAT says “we also send a copy of your application to the other party”, and planning cases use a statement of service form attached to the order. Check the notice or order VCAT sent you for your own case.

Where Claim Done fits

Claim Done drafts the document you serve. The Tribunal Application is your claim set out in numbered paragraphs in date order, with the order you want and the amounts itemised: the claim text for VCAT’s online form from $49, or the full application pack for $97. You review it before anything is final. Claim Done does not lodge the application or serve it; you do that yourself and complete the declaration of service.

Already prepared your application? The VCAT Application Check ($59) reports what to fix before you file.

Start your VCAT claim

Frequently asked questions

Who serves a VCAT goods and services application?

The applicant. VCAT’s practice note says it is the applicant’s responsibility to serve the application on each respondent with all the supporting documents that were filed.

Can I serve a VCAT application by email?

Yes, but only to the email address the respondent has used to communicate with you about the subject matter of the case. The declaration of service asks you to declare that the address is current and valid.

How do I serve a VCAT application on a company?

By ordinary post or delivery to the company’s registered address as shown on the ASIC Company Extract, or by email to the address the company has used with you about the case.

What is a VCAT declaration of service?

A form confirming you gave the other parties a copy of your VCAT application and supporting documents. The person who served completes one for each respondent and signs it in front of an authorised witness.

When is the declaration of service due?

VCAT says to email it at least one week before the hearing. The practice note also requires the applicant to give the member a signed and completed declaration at the hearing.

Who can witness a VCAT declaration of service?

An authorised witness. The form’s examples include a Justice of the Peace, pharmacist, police officer, court registrar, bank manager, medical practitioner and dentist.

What happens if I did not serve the respondent properly?

If the respondent does not attend and you cannot prove service, VCAT’s practice note says the proceeding might be struck out or the hearing adjourned, and the applicant pays a hearing fee for any later hearing day.

How do I serve a VCAT application on someone in another state?

Serve it in one of the permitted ways and include a Form 4 of Schedule 1 of the Service and Execution of Process Regulations 2018 (Cth).

General information about VCAT’s goods and services process, checked against VCAT’s website, practice note PNCCL1 and the declaration of service form in November 2026. It is not legal advice.