Claim IEPF shares and dividends via Form IEPF-5 - citizen guide 2026

If a company moved your shares and unpaid dividends to the IEPF after seven years of them staying unclaimed, they are not lost. You, or your legal heir, can reclaim them by filing Form IEPF-5 on the MCA portal. This guide shows the exact steps, documents and timelines.

If you are short on time, jump to the step-by-step section below and keep your PAN, Aadhaar, demat client master list and the old share or dividend details ready before you start.

The Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) is a government fund run by the IEPF Authority under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA). When dividends stay unpaid and shares stay unclaimed for 7 straight years, companies must transfer them here. You, or your legal heir, can later claim them back.

This is governed by the Companies Act 2013, not banking rules. Three sections matter:

• Section 124(5): Any money in a company's Unpaid Dividend Account that stays unclaimed for 7 consecutive years must be transferred to the IEPF, along with any interest.
• Section 124(6): The underlying shares on which dividend was unpaid or unclaimed for 7 consecutive years must also be transferred to the IEPF. Voting rights on those shares stay frozen until the rightful owner reclaims them.
• Section 125: Establishes the IEPF and the IEPF Authority, and gives any entitled person the right to apply for a refund of the money or shares.

The claim mechanism sits in Rule 7 of the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (Accounting, Audit, Transfer and Refund) Rules, 2016. Rule 7 says a claimant applies in Form IEPF-5, the company verifies and files an e-verification report, and the Authority disposes of the claim within 60 days of receiving that report.

This is different from unclaimed bank deposits. If your money is stuck in a dormant bank account or fixed deposit, that follows RBI rules, not the IEPF - see Unclaimed bank deposits via UDGAM.

1. Confirm your shares or dividend went to the IEPF. Check the company's annual report, the registrar (RTA), or the IEPF list of transferred shares. Note the company name, CIN, folio or DP-ID and the dividend years.
2. Log in to the MCA portal. Form IEPF-5 is a web form. As of 2026 it is filed through the MCA website under MCA Services, Company e-Filing, IEPF Services. PAN verification is mandatory, so the form will not submit without a valid PAN.
3. Fill the claimant and company details. Enter your details, the company CIN, the amount and number of shares, your Aadhaar, and your demat and bank account where the refund must land.
4. Submit and note the SRN. On submission you get an acknowledgement with a Service Request Number (SRN). Save it. You will track the whole claim using this SRN.
5. Print and post the documents. Take a printout of the filled IEPF-5 and acknowledgement, attach the indemnity bond, advance stamped receipt and supporting documents, and send the envelope to the company's IEPF Nodal Officer at its registered office. Mark it “Claim for refund from IEPF Authority”.
6. Update the postal details on the portal. Enter the postal or courier receipt against the SRN so the company and Authority can match your physical documents to your online form.
7. Company verifies and reports. The company checks your documents and files an e-verification report with the IEPF Authority.
8. Authority refunds. On the basis of that report, the IEPF Authority releases the dividend by electronic transfer to your bank and credits the shares to your demat account. The Authority disposes of the claim within 60 days of receiving the verification report.

You may file only one consolidated claim per company in a financial year, so list every unclaimed dividend and share for that company in a single IEPF-5.

• Form IEPF-5 printout with the acknowledgement and SRN
• Original indemnity bond on non-judicial stamp paper, signed by the claimant
• Original advance stamped receipt, signed by the claimant and witnesses
• Original share certificates (for physical shares) or the demat transaction statement
• Self-attested PAN and Aadhaar copies
• Cancelled cheque and demat client master list (CML)
• Proof of entitlement to the shares or dividend
• For a legal heir: succession certificate, will, or legal heir certificate, plus the notarised documents the company asks for to register transmission

• Treating it like a bank claim. Shares and dividends in the IEPF move under the Companies Act 2013, Section 124, not under banking law. The portal and forms are different.
• Never posting the physical documents. The online Form IEPF-5 alone does not complete the claim. The company cannot verify until it receives the signed indemnity bond and originals by post.
• Forgetting to update the postal receipt against the SRN, which leaves the claim stuck with no link between your form and your papers.
• Filing separate claims for the same company in one financial year. Rule 7 allows only one consolidated claim per company per year.
• PAN or bank name mismatch. The refund is an electronic transfer, so the name on PAN, the demat account and the bank account should match.

The IEPF Authority and the MCA are public authorities under the Right to Information Act 2005, so you can file an RTI to track a claim that has gone quiet. This is the safe route. Ask the IEPF Authority for the status of your SRN, whether the company's verification report has been received, and the reason for any delay.

Note: a purely private company is generally not a public authority under the RTI Act, so an RTI to its Nodal Officer may not be maintainable unless it is a government or public-sector company. Direct your RTI to the IEPF Authority or MCA instead.

You can draft this in minutes with the AI RTI Drafter, and track the reply deadline with the RTI Timeline Tracker. If the reply is missing or evasive, escalate using the RTI First and Second Appeal guide.

To, The Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, New Delhi.

Subject: Information under the RTI Act 2005, Section 6(1), regarding IEPF-5 claim SRN [your SRN].

Under Section 6(1) of the RTI Act 2005, please provide:

1. The current status of my IEPF-5 claim bearing SRN [your SRN] filed on [date].
2. Whether the e-verification report from [company name] has been received by the Authority, and on what date.
3. The expected date of disposal of my claim and the reason for any delay beyond 60 days from receipt of the verification report.
4. A copy of the file notings on my claim, under Section 2(j).

I am enclosing the application fee. If any part of this is held by another public authority, please transfer it under Section 6(3). The information is sought within 30 days under Section 7(1).

Yours faithfully, [Name, address, signature]

Before you send it, you can sanity-check the PIO reply when it arrives using the PIO Reply Checker.

The registered shareholder or investor whose dividend or shares were transferred to the IEPF can file. If that person has died, the legal heir, successor, nominee or administrator can file, after adding succession or transmission documents that the company asks for.

No. There is no fee currently charged to claimants for filing Form IEPF-5 (as of 2026). Be wary of agents who demand a large cut to file what is a free government process. The only real costs are stamp paper for the indemnity bond and postage.

The IEPF Authority disposes of the claim within 60 days of receiving the company's verification report. In practice the full cycle can take a few months, because the company first has to verify your posted documents before it files that report.

Every company appoints an IEPF Nodal Officer. You post your signed IEPF-5, indemnity bond and originals to this officer at the registered office. The Nodal Officer verifies your documents and files the e-verification report with the IEPF Authority, which triggers the refund.

No. Transfer to the IEPF is not a loss of ownership. Under Section 124(6), voting rights are frozen, but you keep the right to reclaim the shares and any later dividends through Form IEPF-5.

On the MCA portal. The IEPF web forms migrated to the MCA V3 system, so as of 2026 you log in to the MCA website and file under MCA Services, IEPF Services, rather than on a separate page.

Yes, to the IEPF Authority or MCA, which are public authorities under the RTI Act 2005. Ask for your SRN status, whether the verification report was received, and the reason for delay. An RTI to a purely private company usually is not maintainable.

Disputes with a listed company, RTA or intermediary over your demat holding or mutual fund are handled through SEBI's grievance system - see Demat/mutual fund grievance via SEBI SCORES. A death-related financial claim may also overlap with Claim PF death benefit as nominee.

• Companies Act 2013, Sections 124(5), 124(6) and 125 (indiacode.nic.in)
• Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (Accounting, Audit, Transfer and Refund) Rules, 2016, Rule 7
• IEPF Authority, refund procedure and Form IEPF-5 FAQs (iepf.gov.in)
• MCA notification migrating IEPF forms to the V3 portal, effective 15 July 2024 (mca.gov.in)

For the full citizen toolkit on drafting and escalating RTIs, see The RTI Playbook.