How to Fill Out and Submit a Damage Claim Form (SF-95)

Standard Form 95 is the federal claim form you file to demand money from the United States for property damage, personal injury, or wrongful death caused by a federal employee or agency. Learning how to fill out SF-95 correctly matters because it is not just paperwork: the Federal Tort Claims Act requires you to submit this administrative claim and give the agency a chance to resolve it before you can sue the government in court.¹ A form that is vague, unsigned, missing a dollar amount, or sent to the wrong office can be treated as if you never filed it.

The form itself is two pages. It is free to download from the General Services Administration as a fillable PDF, and free to file. What you write in each block, and what you attach to it, decides whether the agency investigates your loss or sends the claim back.

When SF-95 Applies

Use SF-95 when the responsible party is a federal agency or a federal employee acting in the scope of their job. State and local government claims use their own state tort claims act forms, and private insurance claims use the insurer’s own paperwork. If your loss involves a city bus, a state trooper, or your neighbor’s driver, SF-95 is the wrong form.

Each claimant files a separate SF-95. If two members of a household were injured in the same incident, each person submits their own form.²

The Two-Year Deadline

You have two years from the date of the injury, or from the date you reasonably should have discovered it, to file SF-95 with the responsible federal agency.³ The date the agency receives the form is what counts, not the date you drop it in the mail. Postmarking on the last day is not enough. Build in mailing time, and if you are close to the deadline, hand-deliver.

Miss the two-year window and the claim is permanently barred, regardless of how strong the underlying facts are.

Filling Out SF-95 Block by Block

The blocks are short, but each one has a specific purpose. Reviewers use the form to decide whether they can even open a file on your claim, so entries need to be complete and specific.

Block 1 — Agency address. Write the address of the specific federal agency responsible for the harm. Not a general government mailbox. Identify which agency employed the person or controlled the property involved, and send it there.
Block 2 — Claimant name and address. Your full legal name and mailing address. If a representative is filing for you, include both your name and the representative’s name and legal title.
Blocks 3–5 — Personal information. Date of birth, marital status, occupation. These fields describe the claimant, not the representative.
Blocks 6–7 — Date and location. The date and place of the incident. For most claims this is the date of the accident.
Block 8 — Basis of claim. A written description of what happened, in your own words. Walk through the sequence of events: what the federal employee or property did, and how it caused your loss. “My car was damaged” is not enough. Something like “the front bumper, hood, and radiator were crushed when a government vehicle ran a red light at the intersection of Main and 5th on March 12” gives the investigator a factual claim to look into.
Blocks 9–10 — Property damage and personal injury. Describe the specific items damaged and the specific injuries sustained. Name the parts, name the diagnoses, and quantify what you can.
Block 11 — Witnesses. Full names and addresses of anyone who saw the incident.
Block 12 — Amount of claim. Your total, broken down into property damage, personal injury, and wrongful death. This must be a specific dollar figure. Words like “uncertain” or “to be determined” are not accepted and can invalidate the filing.
Blocks 13–14 — Signature and date. Sign and date the form. If someone other than the claimant signs, they must show their legal capacity — executor, guardian, agent — and attach documentation proving they have authority to act, such as a power of attorney, guardianship order, or executor appointment.⁴
Blocks 15–19 — Insurance. Your insurance information. You are not required to file a claim with your own insurer, but you must disclose any applicable coverage.

The “sum certain” in Block 12 is the block that trips up the most filers. Government reviewers cannot process a claim without a precise number, and they will not fill one in for you.² Calculate carefully. If you undercount and later discover more damage, you can amend the claim, but you cannot recover more than the sum certain unless the additional harm was not reasonably discoverable when you first filed.

Documentation to Attach

The form is the framework. The attachments prove the numbers. Gather your documentation before you fill in Block 12, because the total you write there needs to match the sum of what you attach.

Property Damage

Get professional repair estimates that break out parts and labor. Keep itemized receipts for anything that was destroyed and had to be replaced. Take high-resolution photographs of the damage as close to the time of the incident as you can. If police or another agency responded, request a copy of the incident report.

Personal Injury

Attach medical bills, diagnostic reports, and records from emergency treatment, follow-up visits, physical therapy, and prescriptions. If you missed work, document lost earnings with pay stubs from before the incident, a letter from your employer stating the days missed and your pay rate, or timekeeping records. Self-employed claimants should include tax returns, profit-and-loss statements, and client invoices showing the income stream the injury disrupted.

Making the Package Reviewable

The total in Block 12 should equal the sum of every attached receipt, estimate, and invoice. Reviewers will do the math. A mismatch casts doubt on the whole filing. Organize the attachments by category — property damage, medical, lost wages — so the adjuster can trace each dollar you are claiming to a specific piece of evidence. A $15,000 claim backed by $8,000 in documentation invites a reduction or a denial of the unsupported portion.

How to Submit the Form

Hand delivery to the responsible agency’s claims office is the cleanest method. If distance makes that impractical, mail or fax the claim, but the agency still needs the original signed form by mail before it will process payment.²

Use certified mail with return receipt requested. The signed return receipt is your proof that the agency received the claim on a specific date, and that proof becomes critical if the agency later disputes whether you met the two-year deadline. Keep a full copy of everything you sent: the signed form, every attachment, and the mailing receipt.

Mistakes That Get SF-95 Claims Denied

Most denials come down to a handful of avoidable errors:

Filing late. One day past the two-year mark is a permanent bar, outside narrow tolling rules for minors or incapacitated individuals in some circumstances.
No sum certain. A blank or vague Block 12 invalidates the filing.²
Wrong agency. Filing with the wrong federal entity does not count. Identify the specific agency that employed the person or controlled the property.
Missing signature or authority documentation. If a representative signs, the form needs proof of their legal authority to act for the claimant.⁴
Vague descriptions. Generalities in Block 8 give investigators nothing to check. Concrete facts do.
Unsupported dollar amounts. Every dollar in the total needs a receipt, estimate, or invoice behind it.

What Happens After You File

Once the agency receives your SF-95, it assigns an investigator or claims adjuster to review the merits. The agency can accept the claim and offer payment, propose a partial settlement, or deny it.

The timeline that matters most: if the agency has not made a final decision within six months, you may treat the silence as a denial and file a lawsuit in federal court.⁵ If the agency formally denies your claim before the six months are up, you typically have six months from the date of the denial letter to sue.

Amending an SF-95

If your damages turn out worse than you first estimated, you can amend the claim. Federal amendments must be in writing and signed by the claimant or an authorized representative, and you can amend at any point before the agency pays in full, issues a written denial, or you file suit.⁵ Filing an amendment restarts the agency’s clock: it gets a fresh six months to decide on the amended claim.

If the Government Pays You

A settlement is not automatically tax-free. Payments for physical injuries or physical sickness are generally not taxable, provided you did not previously deduct the related medical expenses; if you did claim those deductions and got a tax benefit, that portion has to be reported as income. Property damage settlements below your adjusted basis in the property are not taxable, but you reduce your basis by the amount received; anything above basis is taxable income.⁶ Punitive damages are always taxable, and emotional distress not stemming from a physical injury is taxable except for amounts reimbursing actual medical expenses that were not previously deducted.⁷ Taxable amounts are reported as “Other Income” on Schedule 1 of Form 1040.

1
Indian Health Service. The Administrative Claims Process Under the FTCA
2
Fort Meade. Instructions for Completing the Standard Form 95
3
govinfo. 32 CFR 750.36 – Time Limitations
4
General Services Administration. Claim for Damage, Injury, or Death (Standard Form 95)
5
eCFR. 39 CFR 912.5 – Administrative Claim; When Presented
6
Internal Revenue Service. Settlements – Taxability
7
Internal Revenue Service. Tax Implications of Settlements and Judgments