NPS Death Claim Form

NPS Death Claim Quick Facts

NPS Death Claim Form and Amount Payable to Nominee

If a non-government subscriber, meaning anyone under the All Citizens Model or Corporate NPS, passes away, the nominee or legal heir is entitled to the entire accumulated corpus as a single lump sum. There is no requirement to purchase an annuity, regardless of how large the corpus is, though the nominee can choose to put part of it into an annuity voluntarily if a regular income stream is preferred.

But if a Central or State Government employee dies in service, current guidelines usually require a significant portion of the corpus, commonly cited at 80%, to be used for an annuity once the corpus crosses a defined threshold, with the remainder paid as a tax-free lump sum. Government employees may also be eligible for a separate family pension alongside this NPS payout, depending on the state or department's own rules.&

Who Can File an NPS Death Claim

Before initiating the payout process, identify the eligible claimant authorised to file the NPS death claim using the criteria below.

Documents Required for the NPS Death Claim Form

Missing or mismatched documents are the most common reason a death claim gets delayed, so it helps to gather everything before starting. Some CRAs also call this the NPS declaration form, since the claimant declares their relationship to the subscriber and the accuracy of the submitted details as part of the process.

• Death certificate of the subscriber, issued by the local municipal authority
• Completed death claim form, officially titled the Form for Withdrawal by Claimant due to Death of Subscriber
• PRAN card or PRAN details of the deceased subscriber
• Claimant's KYC documents, including identity and address proof
• Cancelled cheque or bank passbook copy for the claimant's account
• Legal heir or succession certificate, only if no nominee is on record

Step-by-Step NPS Death Claim Process

Filing an NPS claim form after death follows a consistent sequence regardless of which CRA manages the account and most CRAs now start this process online before any physical paperwork changes hands.

1. Generate a claim ID online. The nominee or legal heir raises a request through the relevant CRA's website, either Protean, KFintech, or CAMS, using the subscriber's PRAN. This step produces a claim ID that tracks the request from here onward.
2. Download and complete the death claim form. The form asks for the subscriber's details, the claimant's details and the settlement option chosen, lump sum, annuity or a combination where applicable.
3. Attach the required documents. Every document listed above should be attached with names and PRAN details crosschecked against the form before submission.
4. Submit through the POP, Nodal Office, or CRA office. Physical or scanned submission happens through whichever intermediary handled the subscriber's account, referencing the claim ID generated in step one.
5. Verification and settlement. The CRA checks the nominee details, KYC, and bank information against its records. Once verification clears then the corpus is credited to the claimant's bank account according to the applicable payout rule.

Taxation on the NPS Death Claim Amount

The lump sum a nominee gets is fully exempt from tax under Section 10(12A) of the Income-tax Act, regardless of how large the corpus is. If any portion goes into an annuity, whether mandatorily for a government-sector claim or voluntarily for a non-government one, the monthly pension paid out later is taxed as regular income in the nominee's hands, at their applicable slab rate. The lump sum itself carries no such liability.

A note on the new Income-tax Act, 2025: the exemption currently under Section 10(12A) of the 1961 Act is being relocated into Section 11 of the new Act from 1 April 2026, alongside other exemptions previously grouped under Section 10. The underlying benefit is expected to continue unchanged, only the section reference shifts, and claims relating to income up to 31 March 2026 still follow the older numbering.

Common Reasons NPS Death Claims Get Delayed

A few recurring issues account for most delays in processing NPS closure forms.

• PRAN details on the form not matching CRA records
• Outdated or missing nominee information on the subscriber's account
• An incomplete death certificate or one missing required seals
• Bank account details that do not match the claimant's KYC
• No nominee on record, requiring a legal heir certificate that takes longer to arrange

Why Nominee Details Matter

None of the steps above matter if the nominee record itself is wrong or outdated. Subscribers should review their nominee details after major life events, such as marriage, the birth of a child, or a divorce, since an outdated nomination is one of the most common causes of a stalled claim. Nominee details can be updated at any time through the CRA portal or a registered POP, well before a claim ever needs to be filed. Reviewing this now, while it is a routine update rather than an urgent one, is the simplest way to protect a family from delays later.

Speak with a PensionBazaar retirement planning expert to review your NPS nomination and account details today.

Conclusion

Getting an NPS death claim through quickly is mostly about knowing who is eligible to file and gathering the right documents the first time. The bigger surprise for most families is that non-government nominees are entitled to the full corpus without a forced annuity. Government-sector claims follow a stricter structure, so confirming the current threshold with the Nodal Office avoids a bad surprise. Keeping nominee details current is still the single most effective way to keep this process fast when a family needs it most.