When must an FTCA administrative claim reach the appropriate agency?

Section 2401(b) requires written presentment to the appropriate federal agency within two years after the tort claim accrues. Under 28 CFR 14.2, the appropriate agency must receive the qualifying written claim, including a sum certain. Mailing a form or delivering it to a different agency alone does not establish timely presentment.

Responsible actor. The injured claimant or duly authorized representative presenting the tort claim.

Establish accrual under the applicable FTCA law.

Identify the agency whose activities gave rise to the claim.

Prepare the executed claim, sum certain and any required representative-authority evidence.

This guide addresses administrative presentment before an FTCA lawsuit. The calculator does not establish accrual, the proper agency, sufficient contents or effective receipt.

1. Legally established accrual of the FTCA claim
2. Establish the two-year accrual component and the appropriate agency’s actual receipt under 28 CFR 14.2. The court’s FRCP 6 method is not an agency-presentment review. This guide computes no presentment date.
3. Preserve the actual appropriate-agency receipt, signed claim, stated damages and representative-authority evidence.

Retained 2024 annual U.S. Code, laws in effect January 6, 2025. The subsequent-law review covers the retained 119th Congress corpus through Public Law 119-118, approved September 30, 2026. Its scoped candidate findings do not establish every claim-specific exception or later judicial application. This page requires the stated covered cause and legally established event. Court computation uses the retained December 1, 2025 FRCP compilation; identified agency regulations use their separately stated 2026 API editions.

Agency receipt, claim sufficiency, accrual and any applicable agency counting or tolling issue must be established. This preset does not perform that presentment review, so no computed or paid deadline is supplied.

Fictitious claimants mail identical forms on the same day. One qualifying claim reaches the appropriate agency that day. Another reaches a different agency and is transferred later. Their mailing dates alone do not establish the same presentment event.

Agency receipt, claim sufficiency, accrual and any applicable agency counting or tolling issue must be established. This preset does not perform that presentment review, so no computed or paid deadline is supplied.

Receipt by appropriate agency

A transfer from another agency does not itself establish timely receipt by the correct agency.

Claim contents

An executed Standard Form 95 or sufficient written incident notification must include money damages in a sum certain and the required signing capacity and authority.

Separate lawsuit

Exhaustion and the six-month final-denial suit period are separate from the two-year presentment requirement.

• This guide addresses administrative presentment before an FTCA lawsuit. The calculator does not establish accrual, the proper agency, sufficient contents or effective receipt.
• Agency receipt, claim sufficiency, accrual and any applicable agency counting or tolling issue must be established. This preset does not perform that presentment review, so no computed or paid deadline is supplied.

• Establish accrual under the applicable FTCA law.
• Identify the agency whose activities gave rise to the claim.
• Prepare the executed claim, sum certain and any required representative-authority evidence.
• A transfer from another agency does not itself establish timely receipt by the correct agency.
• An executed Standard Form 95 or sufficient written incident notification must include money damages in a sum certain and the required signing capacity and authority.
• Exhaustion and the six-month final-denial suit period are separate from the two-year presentment requirement.