ACH Standard Entry Class code

DNE SEC code: Death Notification Entry

Zero-dollar notice from a Federal Government agency that a benefit recipient has died.

What DNE is for

A zero-dollar notice that a recipient of federal benefit payments has died.

Sent by a Federal Government agency to the financial institution of a benefit recipient.

Authorization

Sent by the agency under federal payment rules; no Receiver authorization.

A summary in general terms: the Nacha Operating Rules set the exact requirements, and Regulation E adds its own for consumer accounts.

Debits, credits and addenda

Zero-dollar entries only.

Addenda on a forward entry: type 05, exactly 1 per entry. Returns (addenda type 99) and Notifications of Change (type 98) follow their own layouts whatever the SEC code.

Returns

The general return timeframes apply: 2 banking days after settlement for most codes, with the account-type rules of the entry’s Receiver.

Common mix-ups

DNE tells the bank about a death; R14 and R15 are the returns a bank sends when it learns of one.

Where DNE sits in a NACHA file

The SEC code is a batch-level field: positions 51–53 of the Company/Batch Header record (type 5), so every entry in the batch shares it, and a file that mixes SEC codes puts them in separate batches. The batch header also carries the Company Name, Company Identification and Company Entry Description that Receivers see on their statements.

To read a DNE batch record by record, open the file in NACHA Navigator, a free sister site that parses NACHA files in your browser without uploading them.

Look up DNE from code or an AI agent

REST · GET · no key

curl -s 'https://payopskit.com/api/v1/codes/DNE?set=ach-sec'

MCP · tools/call · lookup_payment_code

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "lookup_payment_code",
    "arguments": {
      "code": "DNE",
      "set": "ach-sec"
    }
  }
}

Response (JSON)

{
  "code": "DNE",
  "set": "ach-sec",
  "found": true,
  "matches": [
    {
      "set": "ach-sec",
      "code": "DNE",
      "name": "Death Notification Entry",
      "description": "Zero-dollar notice from a Federal Government agency that a benefit recipient has died.",
      "details": {
        "direction": "zero",
        "addendaTypes": "05",
        "minAddenda": 1,
        "maxAddenda": 1
      }
    }
  ]
}

The MCP server is at /mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key); the API and MCP docs show how to connect Claude, Cursor or VS Code.

Source: Nacha Operating Rules, Appendix Three (Standard Entry Class codes). The code’s name is the Rules’ own; the rest is this site’s plain-language summary, informational and not a substitute for the Rules or your ODFI agreement.