28 USC 2415: Statute of Limitations for U.S. Contract and Tort Claims

Under the federal statute of limitations at 28 U.S.C. 2415, the United States generally has six years to sue on a contract claim and three years to sue on a tort claim, measured from the date the government’s right to sue first arises. Miss those deadlines, and a defendant can move to dismiss. The rules come with real exceptions, though: some tort categories get six years, partial payments restart the clock, wartime and other conditions pause it, and several kinds of federal debt (including student loans and taxes) run on entirely different timelines or no timeline at all.

The Six-Year Rule for Contract Claims

The government has six years from accrual to file a money-damages lawsuit on any contract claim, whether written, oral, express, or implied. Unpaid federal loans, procurement disputes, and any other contractual obligation to the United States all fall under this window.¹

One timing wrinkle applies when a contract or statute requires the agency to complete administrative proceedings before suing. In that situation, the deadline is whichever is later: six years from accrual, or one year after the final administrative decision.¹

The Three-Year Rule for Tort Claims

Tort claims brought by the United States for money damages must be filed within three years of accrual. If a contractor’s negligence damages federal equipment, the agency has three years to sue.¹

Four categories of tort claims get six years instead of three:

Trespass on federal land.
Fire damage to federal land.
Diversion of grant money.
Conversion of federal property.

These are situations where the government often doesn’t spot the harm quickly, particularly on remote land.¹

Recovering Overpayments From Federal Employees

Payroll errors, miscalculated benefits, and misreported status can lead an agency to overpay a civilian employee or service member. Subsection (d) gives the government six years from accrual to sue for recovery of the overpayment. As with contract claims, partial payments and written acknowledgments restart that clock.¹

If you’re a current or former federal employee facing a demand letter years after the alleged overpayment, the six-year rule matters. The agency generally cannot sue in court once that window closes, absent tolling or a restart.

How a Partial Payment Restarts the Clock

This provision catches people off guard. Under Section 2415, a partial payment on the debt or a written acknowledgment of it resets the deadline entirely. Each qualifying payment or acknowledgment counts as a new accrual date, giving the government a fresh six years from that point.¹

Before you make a small “good faith” payment on an old federal debt, or sign anything acknowledging the balance, work out whether the original deadline may already have expired. Otherwise, you may hand the agency another six years of collection runway.

When the Clock Is Paused

Section 2416 lists four situations that don’t count toward the limitations period:

The defendant is outside the United States.
The defendant is legally exempt from process, including minors, people with mental incapacity, and those with diplomatic immunity.
Facts material to the claim were not known and could not reasonably have been known by the government official responsible for acting on it.
The United States is in a state of war declared under the Constitution.

The third category produces the most litigation. Agencies frequently argue they didn’t discover the wrongdoing until well after it happened, so the discovery tolling kept the claim alive. Courts examine whether the responsible official could reasonably have found the facts earlier; simple inattention isn’t enough.²

Claims the Statute Does Not Restrict

Some government lawsuits fall outside Section 2415 entirely. The biggest one: the United States can sue at any time to establish title to or possession of real or personal property. No deadline bars that kind of action.¹

Federal criminal cases run on their own timelines under Title 18, not Title 28. Capital offenses have no time limit at all,³ and most non-capital federal crimes carry a five-year limitation unrelated to Section 2415.

Several regulatory enforcement regimes also have their own deadlines that displace the general rule. CERCLA cost-recovery actions must be brought within three years of completing a removal action or six years of starting remedial construction.⁴ Private damage actions under the Clayton Act follow a four-year deadline with tolling during pending government proceedings.⁵

Federal Student Loans

Anyone worried about an old federal student loan should know that 28 U.S.C. 2415 offers no protection. Under 20 U.S.C. 1091a, no statute of limitations applies to the collection of federal student loans. The government can sue, garnish wages, or offset tax refunds regardless of how old the debt is.⁶ The exemption reaches loans under the Federal Family Education Loan Program, the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program, and the Perkins Loan Program, along with grant overpayments.

IRS Tax Debts

Federal tax collection runs on its own schedule. The IRS generally has three years after a return is filed to assess additional tax, extended to six years when a return understates gross income by more than 25%, with no assessment deadline for fraudulent returns or unfiled returns.⁷ After assessment, the agency has 10 years to collect by levy or court action, subject to extensions from installment agreements or absence from the country.⁸

False Claims Act Lawsuits

Fraud against the government has its own more generous timetable. Civil actions under the False Claims Act must be filed within six years of the violation, or within three years of when a responsible government official knew or should have known the material facts, whichever is later. The absolute outer limit is 10 years from the violation.⁹

Claims on Behalf of Native American Tribes

Section 2415 gives extra time for suits brought on behalf of recognized tribes, bands, or groups: six years and 90 days for contract claims, and the same six-years-and-90-days deadline for the tort categories that otherwise get six years. Claims tied to the Indian Claims Limitation Act of 1982 have their own triggers: one year after the Secretary of the Interior publishes a notice rejecting the claim, or three years after the Secretary submits resolving legislation to Congress.¹

The Offset Gap After the Lawsuit Deadline Passes

Missing the deadline to sue does not necessarily end the government’s collection options. Under 31 U.S.C. 3716, agencies can intercept tax refunds, federal benefits, and other payments owed to a debtor through administrative offset, and the statute itself sets no time limit on when offset can start.¹⁰

Regulation adds a limit. Under 31 C.F.R. 901.3, administrative offsets generally may not begin more than 10 years after the government’s right to collect first accrued, unless the facts were hidden or could not reasonably have been discovered. Debts reduced to a court judgment are exempt from that 10-year cap.¹¹ So an agency that ran out its six-year litigation window can still tap a tax refund for up to four more years. When you’re sizing up exposure on an old federal debt, both timelines matter.

Raising the Deadline as a Defense

The statute of limitations under Section 2415 is an affirmative defense. Courts won’t dismiss a stale case on their own; the defendant has to raise it, or the protection is lost.

The usual fight is over when the claim accrued. The government may argue for a later start date under Section 2416’s discovery rule, or point to a partial payment or written acknowledgment that reset the clock. A defendant who can establish that accrual happened more than six years ago (or three, for a covered tort) and that no tolling applies has solid ground to seek dismissal.

Two more mechanics worth knowing. If a timely case is dismissed without prejudice, the government has one year from dismissal to refile, even if the original deadline has passed. Defenses available in the first action carry over, but refiling doesn’t create new defenses. And when the government sues you and you counterclaim, Section 2415 lets the government assert a claim arising from the same transaction regardless of its own deadline. A time-barred government claim from a different transaction can only be used as an offset, capped at the amount you recover.¹

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 2415 – Time for Commencing Actions Brought by the United States
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 2416 – Time for Commencing Actions Brought by the United States – Exclusions
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3281 – Capital Offenses
4
Environmental Protection Agency. Cost Recovery Actions/Statute of Limitations
5
GovInfo. Clayton Act
6
GovInfo. 20 USC 1091a – Statute of Limitations, and State Court Judgments
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6501 – Limitations on Assessment and Collection
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6502 – Collection After Assessment
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 USC 3731 – False Claims Procedure
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 USC 3716 – Administrative Offset
11
eCFR. 31 CFR 901.3 – Collection by Administrative Offset