---
kind: "section"
citation: "31 U.S.C. § 3808"
title: "31"
title_heading: "Money and Finance"
number: "3808"
heading: "Limitations"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/31/3808"
units:
  - "Subtitle III — Financial Management"
  - "Chapter 38 — Administrative Remedies for False Claims and Statements"
---

# §3808. Limitations

- (a) A notice to the [person](/usc/31/3701.md?p=c) alleged to be liable with respect to a [claim](/usc/31/3701.md?p=b-1) or [statement](/usc/31/3801.md?p=a-9) shall be mailed or delivered in accordance with [section 3803(d)(1)](/usc/31/3803.md?p=d-1) not later than the later of—
  - (1) 6 years after the date on which the violation of [section 3802](/usc/31/3802.md) is committed; or
  - (2) 3 years after the date on which facts [material](/usc/31/3801.md?p=a-10) to the action are known or reasonably should have been known by the [authority head](/usc/31/3801.md?p=a-2), but in no event more than 10 years after the date on which the violation is committed.
- (b) A civil action to recover a penalty or assessment under [section 3806 of this title](/usc/31/3806.md) shall be commenced within 3 years after the date on which the determination of liability for such penalty or assessment becomes final.
- (c) If at any time during the course of proceedings brought pursuant to this chapter the [authority head](/usc/31/3801.md?p=a-2) receives or discovers any specific information regarding bribery, gratuities, conflict of interest, or other corruption or similar activity in relation to a false [claim](/usc/31/3701.md?p=b-1) or [statement](/usc/31/3801.md?p=a-9), the [authority head](/usc/31/3801.md?p=a-2) shall immediately report such information to the Attorney General, and in the case of an [authority](/usc/31/3801.md?p=a-1) in which an Office of Inspector General is established by [chapter 4](/usc/5/chptI/ch4.md) of title 5 or by any other Federal law, to the Inspector General of that [authority](/usc/31/3801.md?p=a-1).

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 99–509, title VI, § 6103(a), Oct. 21, 1986, 100 Stat. 1947; amended Pub. L. 117–286, § 4(b)(57), Dec. 27, 2022, 136 Stat. 4349; Pub. L. 118–159, div. E, title LII, § 5203(h), Dec. 23, 2024, 138 Stat. 2443.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2024—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 118–159 added subsec. (a) and struck out former subsec. (a) which read as follows: “A hearing under section 3803(d)(2) of this title with respect to a claim or statement shall be commenced within 6 years after the date on which such claim or statement is made, presented, or submitted.”

2022—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 117–286 substituted “chapter 4 of title 5” for “the Inspector General Act of 1978”.