Federal Tort Claims Act: How an FTCA Claim Works, and Its Deadlines
When a federal employee's negligence injures you, the claim is against the United States, under the Federal Tort Claims Act. It does not begin with a lawsuit: you present a written claim to the agency first, within a deadline the statute sets, and you can sue only after the agency denies it or lets it sit. This page quotes the Act and the Justice Department's rule, and the tool below counts the deadlines from your dates.
The rule itself: “A tort claim against the United States shall be forever barred unless it is presented in writing to the appropriate Federal agency within two years after such claim accrues or unless action is begun within six months after the date of mailing, by certified or registered mail, of notice of final denial of the claim by the agency to which it was presented.” (28 U.S.C. § 2401(b))
Count the deadlines for an FTCA claim
Enter the date of the injury, and if you have them, the date the agency received your claim and the date it mailed a denial. The tool counts each deadline the statute sets, and shows the fee limit on an amount you enter.
If the harm developed over time, enter the earliest date you can name: counting from it gives the earliest deadline.
A claim is presented on the date the right agency receives it, not the date it was mailed.
The date of mailing on the denial letter, which the statute requires be sent by certified or registered mail.
A settlement offer or award you are weighing. The tool shows the fee limit on it; it is not a value of your claim.
Enter the date of the injury to count the deadline to present a claim.
What the Federal Tort Claims Act covers
The Act gives the federal district courts, in its words, “the district courts, together with the United States District Court for the District of the Canal Zone and the District Court of the Virgin Islands, shall have exclusive jurisdiction of civil actions on claims against the United States, for money damages, accruing on and after January 1, 1945, for injury or loss of property, or personal injury or death caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the Government while acting within the scope of his office or employment, under circumstances where the United States, if a private person, would be liable to the claimant in accordance with the law of the place where the act or omission occurred.” (28 U.S.C. § 1346(b)(1))
And it makes the United States answer the way a person would: “The United States shall be liable, respecting the provisions of this title relating to tort claims, in the same manner and to the same extent as a private individual under like circumstances, but shall not be liable for interest prior to judgment or for punitive damages.” (28 U.S.C. § 2674)
The agency is the government's, not a business it hires: the Act's definition of a federal agency “includes the executive departments, the judicial and legislative branches, the military departments, independent establishments of the United States, and corporations primarily acting as instrumentalities or agencies of the United States, but does not include any contractor with the United States.” (28 U.S.C. § 2671) So a claim against a company working under a federal contract is not a claim under this Act, and this page does not address it.
The law that decides whether the employee was negligent is the law of the place where it happened, in the words quoted above, so a lawyer will look to that state's law as well as to the Act.
How to file an FTCA claim
You cannot start with a lawsuit. “An action shall not be instituted upon a claim against the United States for money damages for injury or loss of property or personal injury or death caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the Government while acting within the scope of his office or employment, unless the claimant shall have first presented the claim to the appropriate Federal agency and his claim shall have been finally denied by the agency in writing and sent by certified or registered mail.” (28 U.S.C. § 2675(a))
The Justice Department's rule says what counts as presenting it: “a claim shall be deemed to have been presented when a Federal agency receives from a claimant, his duly authorized agent or legal representative, an executed Standard Form 95 or other written notification of an incident, accompanied by a claim for money damages in a sum certain for injury to or loss of property, personal injury, or death alleged to have occurred by reason of the incident;” (28 C.F.R. § 14.2(a)) That is, a signed Standard Form 95 or another written notice, with a claim for a specific dollar amount.
It goes to the right agency: “A claim shall be presented to the Federal agency whose activities gave rise to the claim.” (28 C.F.R. § 14.2(b)(1)) And the date that counts is the date it arrives: “A claim shall be presented as required by 28 U.S.C. 2401(b) as of the date it is received by the appropriate agency.” (28 C.F.R. § 14.2(b)(1))
So send it in a way that proves the date the agency received it, keep a copy, and name an amount you can support with records.
FTCA claim deadlines
The two deadlines are in one sentence: “A tort claim against the United States shall be forever barred unless it is presented in writing to the appropriate Federal agency within two years after such claim accrues or unless action is begun within six months after the date of mailing, by certified or registered mail, of notice of final denial of the claim by the agency to which it was presented.” (28 U.S.C. § 2401(b))
And an agency that does not decide cannot hold a claim forever: “The failure of an agency to make final disposition of a claim within six months after it is filed shall, at the option of the claimant any time thereafter, be deemed a final denial of the claim for purposes of this section.” (28 U.S.C. § 2675(a))
Say the injury happened on March 14, 2025. The claim must reach the agency by March 14, 2027, 2 years later, unless it accrued later. If the agency received it on February 2, 2026, you may treat silence as a denial after August 2, 2026. If it mailed a final denial on August 10, 2026, the lawsuit must begin by February 10, 2027.
The statute counts the first deadline from when the claim accrues, which can be later than the injury and is not earlier. No document read for this page says when a claim accrues, so the tool counts from the injury: the earliest the deadline can fall.
The amount in the claim limits the lawsuit
The dollar amount you put in the claim matters later: “Action under this section shall not be instituted for any sum in excess of the amount of the claim presented to the federal agency, except where the increased amount is based upon newly discovered evidence not reasonably discoverable at the time of presenting the claim to the federal agency, or upon allegation and proof of intervening facts, relating to the amount of the claim.” (28 U.S.C. § 2675(b))
So a claim that names too little can cap what a court may award, apart from the exceptions the section names. Count every cost you can document before you name the amount, including treatment still to come.
Settling with the agency
The agency can settle: “The head of each Federal agency or his designee, in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Attorney General, may consider, ascertain, adjust, determine, compromise, and settle any claim for money damages against the United States for injury or loss of property or personal injury or death caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the agency while acting within the scope of his office or employment, under circumstances where the United States, if a private person, would be liable to the claimant in accordance with the law of the place where the act or omission occurred:” (28 U.S.C. § 2672)
Accepting is final: “The acceptance by the claimant of any such award, compromise, or settlement shall be final and conclusive on the claimant, and shall constitute a complete release of any claim against the United States and against the employee of the government whose act or omission gave rise to the claim, by reason of the same subject matter.” (28 U.S.C. § 2672)
And what the agency decides is not proof against you or for you: “Disposition of any claim by the Attorney General or other head of a federal agency shall not be competent evidence of liability or amount of damages.” (28 U.S.C. § 2675(c))
What a lawyer may charge on an FTCA claim
The Act limits the fee: “No attorney shall charge, demand, receive, or collect for services rendered, fees in excess of 25 per centum of any judgment rendered pursuant to section 1346(b) of this title or any settlement made pursuant to section 2677 of this title, or in excess of 20 per centum of any award, compromise, or settlement made pursuant to section 2672 of this title.” (28 U.S.C. § 2678)
So on a settlement of $100,000.00 with the agency, a lawyer may take no more than $20,000.00; on a judgment or a settlement of the same amount after a suit is filed, no more than $25,000.00. The tool above applies the same limits to any amount you enter.
Those are the statute's limits, not what a lawyer will charge, and the amount you enter is yours, not a value of any claim.
Claims the Federal Tort Claims Act excludes
The Act does not apply to some claims at all. Among them: “Any claim based upon an act or omission of an employee of the Government, exercising due care, in the execution of a statute or regulation, whether or not such statute or regulation be valid, or based upon the exercise or performance or the failure to exercise or perform a discretionary function or duty on the part of a federal agency or an employee of the Government, whether or not the discretion involved be abused.” (28 U.S.C. § 2680(a))
And “Any claim arising out of assault, battery, false imprisonment, false arrest, malicious prosecution, abuse of process, libel, slander, misrepresentation, deceit, or interference with contract rights:” (28 U.S.C. § 2680(h)) with one carve-back for federal officers: “with regard to acts or omissions of investigative or law enforcement officers of the United States Government, the provisions of this chapter and section 1346(b) of this title shall apply to any claim arising, on or after the date of the enactment of this proviso, out of assault, battery, false imprisonment, false arrest, abuse of process, or malicious prosecution.” (28 U.S.C. § 2680(h))
Two more: “Any claim arising out of the combatant activities of the military or naval forces, or the Coast Guard, during time of war.” (28 U.S.C. § 2680(j)) And: “Any claim arising in a foreign country.” (28 U.S.C. § 2680(k))
Whether an exception reaches your claim turns on the facts and on court decisions this page did not read. A lawyer can say.
Suing the federal government after a denial
The lawsuit comes after the claim. The same sentence that sets the claim deadline sets the suit deadline, counted from the date the agency mails its final denial: “A tort claim against the United States shall be forever barred unless it is presented in writing to the appropriate Federal agency within two years after such claim accrues or unless action is begun within six months after the date of mailing, by certified or registered mail, of notice of final denial of the claim by the agency to which it was presented.” (28 U.S.C. § 2401(b))
And the damages differ from a suit against a person: “The United States shall be liable, respecting the provisions of this title relating to tort claims, in the same manner and to the same extent as a private individual under like circumstances, but shall not be liable for interest prior to judgment or for punitive damages.” (28 U.S.C. § 2674)
A court can award no interest before judgment and no punitive damages, in the words quoted. Within the amount you claimed, the court decides the damages under the law of the place where the act occurred.
What this page does not do
It does not decide when your claim accrued, whether a deadline was paused, whether an exception applies, or whether the person who injured you was a federal employee acting within the scope of employment. It does not read any agency's own claim rules or the law of any state.
It applies the Act as the 2024 edition of the United States Code prints it and the Justice Department's rule as the eCFR printed it on October 1, 2026.