Transfer of seven-year unpaid dividend to the IEPF
The duty to move money that has sat in the Unpaid Dividend Account, unpaid or unclaimed for seven years, to the Investor Education and Protection Fund with the interest accrued on it.
Seven years in the Unpaid Dividend Account
Counted from completion of seven years from the date of the section 124(1) transfer into the Unpaid Dividend Account, where the money remains unpaid or unclaimed
- MCA
- MCA event filings
- Not specified
- 2026-09-01
The transfer falls due when money in the Unpaid Dividend Account has remained unpaid or unclaimed for seven years. The seven years run from the date of the section 124(1) transfer into that account, not from the date the dividend was declared. The company sends the Authority a statement of the transfer in Form IEPF-1, remitted online within 30 days of the amount becoming due to the Fund.
Deadlines counted from an event
On completion of seven years from the section 124(1) transfer, the company transfers the amount, with any interest accrued on it, to the Fund established under section 125(1). Section 124(5) sets no grace period after the seven years complete.
Within 30 days of the amount becoming due to be credited to the Fund, remit online with a statement in Form IEPF-1 under rule 5(1) of the IEPF (AATR) Rules.
The rule
On completion of seven years from the section 124(1) transfer, the company transfers the amount, with any interest accrued on it, to the Fund established under section 125(1). Section 124(5) sets no grace period after the seven years complete.
Within 30 days of the amount becoming due to be credited to the Fund, remit online with a statement in Form IEPF-1 under rule 5(1) of the IEPF (AATR) Rules.
Who must comply
- Every company holding money in its Unpaid Dividend Account that has remained unpaid or unclaimed for seven years from the date of transfer into that account
Statutory basis
Before you file
- Identify the amounts in the Unpaid Dividend Account that complete seven years from their date of transfer.
- Work out the interest accrued on those amounts.
- Prepare the investor-wise detail in the validated excel template that Form IEPF-1 requires.
- Record the date the amount becomes due to the Fund. This date starts the 30-day window for IEPF-1.
How to file
- Total the amounts that have completed seven years in the Unpaid Dividend Account, with the interest accrued.
- Log in to the MCA21 V3 portal as a business user.
- Open Form IEPF-1.
- Remit the amount online through the portal under the Miscellaneous fee service. Do not pay directly to Bharat Kosh.
- Attach the validated excel template of investor-wise detail.
- Sign the form with the digital signature of an authorised signatory.
- Submit the form within 30 days of the amount becoming due to the Fund.
- Keep the Authority's receipt as evidence of the transfer.
If you miss it
Section 124(7) sets one penalty for any failure under section 124: ₹1 lakh on the company plus ₹500 for each day the failure continues, capped at ₹10 lakh, and ₹25,000 on every officer in default plus ₹100 a day, capped at ₹2 lakh.
- The shares on which that dividend was unpaid are on their own seven-year clock under section 124(6), so the money transfer and the share transfer usually fall due together
- Section 124(5) requires the Authority to issue a receipt as evidence of the transfer, so an incomplete transfer leaves the company without proof of discharge
Recent changes affecting this
Common questions
Do the seven years run from the dividend declaration?
No. Section 124(5) counts seven years from the date of the section 124(1) transfer into the Unpaid Dividend Account, which is itself day 37 from declaration.
Does the interest go to the Fund too?
Yes. Section 124(5) transfers the amount 'along with interest accrued, if any, thereon'.