NDIS travel claims explained: time, kilometres and tolls

MM is the Modified Monash Model area where the participant is, from MM 1 (major cities) to MM 7 (very remote). MMM areas and remote rates shows how to find it for an address.

Prices are from the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27. The travel rules are from the NDIA's pricing arrangements for 2025-26, current until it publishes 2026-27 guidance. Accurate as at 12 October 2026.

Can I charge the NDIS for travel?

Yes, if the support allows provider travel, you deliver it face to face, and the participant agreed to the travel charge in advance. There's no automatic travel allowance: it's a claim you set up first and invoice on separate lines. 197 of the 976 current NDIS codes allow provider travel, and every line item page shows whether yours does.

All of these have to be true:

• The support's line item allows provider travel.
• The support is delivered face to face. Telehealth and non-face-to-face time carry no travel.
• The travel is part of delivering that specific support to that participant.
• You told the participant what the travel charge is for and why it's worth paying from their plan.
• They agreed in advance. Put the travel terms in your service agreement: what to put in a service agreement covers them.
• You're a sole trader travelling from your usual place of work to or from the participant, or between participants. (Providers with staff can claim it only when they pay the worker for that travel time.)

Whether you charge is still your call. Travel to and from the participant's house often gets pushed back on when you both live locally. I only charge travel on longer trips outside our local area. That's my choice and depends on the relationship, not a rule.

How much travel time can I claim?

You can claim up to 30 minutes of travel time to each participant in MM 1-3 areas, and up to 60 minutes in MM 4-5, plus the same again for the trip back after your last participant. The area that counts is where the participant is when you deliver the support.

Minutes over the cap can't be claimed at all. A 35-minute drive to a participant in MM 1-3 claims 30 minutes.

The NDIA's wording for the trip back mentions providers who must pay a worker for it. As a sole trader you can claim travel from your usual place of work to or from a participant, which is usually home if you work from there, so the trip back after your last participant counts too. A plan manager may still query it. If they do, point them to the sole trader condition in the NDIA's pricing arrangements.

Claim the time at the hourly rate you agreed for the support, or a lower rate if you agreed one for travel. Enter it in hours, so 45 minutes is 0.75. Therapists claim travel at half the hourly limit, covered below.

What can I charge for kilometres, tolls and parking?

You can claim up to $0.99 a km for a vehicle owned by you or your worker, and tolls, parking and public transport fares at the full cost. The $0.99 is the NDIA's guide to a reasonable contribution, so agree your rate with the participant in advance. You can only claim these costs where you're allowed to claim the travel time.

They go on their own line, on a travel code that has no price limit and is priced at $1.00 each. That means the quantity is the dollar amount: 80 km at $0.99 is $79.20, so you enter 79.2 at $1.00.

Which 799 code do I use for kilometres?

Use the travel code with the same support category and the same four-digit registration group as the support. For 195 of the 197 codes that allow travel there's exactly one. Swapping the middle three digits for 799 works for most, but not for the 19 listed further down.

These are the codes where swapping in 799 gives the wrong travel code:

2 codes (10_002_0106_8_3 and 10_101_0106_6_3) allow provider travel but have no matching travel code in the catalogue, so ask the plan manager how they want kilometres claimed on those.

What if the participant is in the car?

Driving a participant as part of a community participation support is Activity Based Transport, not provider travel. Your time is part of the support, claimed on the support's own code, so there's no separate travel time line. The vehicle costs go on an Activity Based Transport code such as 04_590_0125_6_1: up to $0.99 a km, up to $2.76 a km for a vehicle modified for accessibility or a bus, and tolls and parking at cost. It needs the participant's agreement too.

It applies to community participation supports (category 4) and a short list of capacity building supports, such as Employment Support. If two or more participants ride together, split your time and the costs between them.

How do I split travel between two or more participants?

When one trip serves several participants, you split all the travel time, including the trip back, and the kilometres between them, and agree that split with each participant in advance. The cap applies per participant. In the NDIA's own example, a 65-minute first leg in an MM 4-5 area is claimed in full, because the 90 minutes of travel, shared between two participants, is under the 60-minute cap for each. Worked example two below shows a split.

How does therapist travel work?

Therapy travel time is capped at half the hourly limit and goes on the _PT version of the therapy code. The time caps are the same. Kilometres, tolls and parking aren't halved. The allied health guide has the codes and limits for each profession.

What does a travel claim look like on an invoice?

A travel claim adds up to two lines under the support: the travel time on the support's own code, and the kilometres, tolls and parking on its 799 code.

Example one: a 2-hour weekday daytime self-care shift in an MM 1-3 area at the price limit of $73.58 an hour (01_011_0107_1_1). It's 35 minutes to the participant, so 30 are claimable, then 30 minutes back. The drive is 40 km each way.

The 5 minutes over the cap aren't claimed, but all 80 km are, because the time for both trips is claimable. The NDIA's own worked example does the same.

Example two: you see two participants in one trip in an MM 4-5 area, 2 hours with the first and 1 hour with the second. It's 50 minutes to the first, 30 minutes between them and 40 minutes back, 120 minutes in all, over 40 + 30 + 30 = 100 km. Each participant's invoice carries half: 60 minutes (120 ÷ 2) and 50 km (100 ÷ 2).

What can't I claim?

You can't claim travel that misses any of the conditions at the top of this page, and in particular:

• Minutes over the time cap.
• Any travel the participant didn't agree to in advance.
• Travel for a telehealth or non-face-to-face session.
• Kilometres, tolls or parking on a trip where you can't claim the time.
• Travel time on a 799 code. That code is for dollars only, and travel time goes on the support's own code.
• Travel on a support whose price already has travel built in.
• Travel folded into the support's own line. Each part is claimed and shown separately.

Why NDIS invoices get rejected covers the common causes of a rejected invoice.