Step one
The VA.gov program pages
One page per benefit, in VA's own words.
★ Read VA's page before you read anybody's opinion.
The real authority
What actually governs your decision
Three layers, in order of weight.
- The law — 38 U.S.C., "Veterans' Benefits." Read it at
uscode.house.gov.
- The regulations — 38 CFR. The current text lives on the electronic Code of Federal
Regulations: ecfr.gov/current/title-38.
Two parts matter most. Part 3 is adjudication — secondary service connection at
3.310, presumptive service connection at 3.307 and 3.309.
Part 4 is the rating schedule.
- VA's internal manual — M21-1, the Adjudication Procedures Manual. It is now published in
VA's KnowVA knowledge base at
knowva.ebenefits.va.gov.
The old WARMS address is gone — do not use it.
M21-1 is not law. It is VA's instruction to its own adjudicators. By regulation — 38 CFR 20.105
— the Board of Veterans' Appeals "is bound by applicable statutes, regulations of the Department of
Veterans Affairs, and precedent opinions of the General Counsel" and "is not bound by Department
manuals, circulars, or similar administrative issues." So lead with the statute or the regulation, and
use M21-1 to show how VA is supposed to apply it.
Check the date on anything you rely on. Superseded VA guidance still circulates online and is
often stricter than the rule in force today. Confirm a manual provision or letter is current before
you build an argument on it.
★ Statute, then regulation, then manual.
Ratings — money
Part 4 is where your percentage comes from
Sending you to "38 CFR" without naming Part 4 is sending you into a book with no map.
- 38 CFR Part 4 — Schedule for Rating Disabilities. Your diagnostic code and the criteria
for each percentage are in here:
ecfr.gov/current/title-38/chapter-I/part-4.
- 38 CFR 4.25 — the Combined Ratings Table. VA does not add your ratings together. Two 50
percent ratings do not make 100. Read the table before you assume a number.
38 CFR 4.16 — Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU). If your
service-connected disabilities keep you from substantially gainful employment, you can be
paid at the 100 percent rate without a 100 percent schedular rating. The schedular route needs
one disability ratable at 60 percent or more, or one ratable at 40 percent or more with a combined
rating of 70 percent or more.
Below those numbers, do not assume you are out. Under 4.16(b) the
rating board is required to submit your case to the Director, Compensation Service, for extraschedular
consideration. Read it at
ecfr.gov — 38 CFR 4.16.
★ TDIU is the benefit most people never hear about.
Your records
Get your own file — it costs nothing
"Review your records" is useless advice without the how.
- DD Form 214 and your Official Military Personnel File — free from the National Archives.
Request online through eVetRecs or on paper with Standard Form 180:
archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records.
- DD-214 and DEERS enrollment — milConnect, the Defense Department's self-service
site: milconnect.dmdc.osd.mil.
- Your VA medical records — through My HealtheVet or the VA Health and Benefits mobile app.
- Retired and annuitant pay — Defense Finance and Accounting Service,
dfas.mil.
★ Nobody reads your file as carefully as you will.
Before you research
File an Intent to File first
This is pure money, and self-researching veterans lose it every day.
VA Form 21-0966, Intent to File a Claim for Compensation and/or Pension, or Survivors Pension
and/or DIC, preserves the date VA receives it as your effective date — the date your money can
start from. So file it on day one, then take the time you need to gather evidence.
It dies after one year. You must file the complete claim — VA Form 21-526EZ for disability —
within one year of the intent to file. Miss that year and the intent to file expires, VA takes
no further action unless you file a new claim or a new intent to file, and you lose the earlier date.
★ Start the clock, then do the homework.
Deadlines
After a decision: three lanes, three forms
A page that tells you to appeal without giving you the deadline costs you the appeal.
- Supplemental Claim — VA Form 20-0995. No filing deadline. You submit new and relevant
evidence. va.gov/decision-reviews/supplemental-claim
- Higher-Level Review — VA Form 20-0996. Within 1 year of the decision on your initial
claim or Supplemental Claim. A senior reviewer takes a new look at the same evidence.
va.gov/decision-reviews/higher-level-review
- Board Appeal — VA Form 10182. Within 1 year of the decision. Goes to the Board of
Veterans' Appeals. va.gov/decision-reviews/board-appeal
- Contested claim — 60 days, and Board Appeal only. If more than one party is claiming the
same benefit, you get 60 days from the mailing date and the Board is the only lane. Higher-Level
Review and Supplemental Claim are not available.
There is no deadline on a Supplemental Claim, but do not read that as no hurry. Your effective date
can turn on when you file. Before a year passes from the date on your decision letter, sit down with
an accredited representative and ask what filing date protects your money.
The form numbers, in one place. Disability claim
21-526EZ · Intent to file
21-0966 · Health care
10-10EZ · VR&E
28-1900 ·
Supplemental Claim
20-0995 · Higher-Level Review
20-0996 · Board Appeal
10182 · Records request
Standard Form 180. All VA forms:
va.gov/find-forms.
★ The date on the letter starts the clock.
Help and fees
Free help exists. Verify anybody before you pay
The biggest money mistake on a research page is not knowing this part.
- Under 38 CFR 14.636, recognized organizations and their accredited representatives acting
as such are not permitted to receive fees. The one exception is a person separately
accredited as an agent or attorney and designated in that individual capacity.
- An accredited attorney or claims agent may charge only for representation provided
after VA issues notice of its initial decision on the claim.
- A fee of 20 percent or less of past-due benefits is presumed reasonable; a fee over
33 1/3 percent is presumed unreasonable. Both are presumptions that can be rebutted,
so 20 percent is not a hard cap — read the agreement.
Only a VA-accredited representative, attorney or claims agent may help you prepare, present or
prosecute a claim. Check anyone before you sign or pay, using VA's accreditation search at
va.gov/ogc/apps/accreditation, or use
the representative finder linked from
va.gov/get-help-from-accredited-representative.
If somebody who is not accredited charges you for claims help, you can file a complaint with VA.
★ Never pay up front for a claim.
Other official pages
Where else to look
- VA Public Health — exposures and the health research behind presumptive conditions:
publichealth.va.gov
- PACT Act — toxic-exposure presumptive conditions and the free toxic exposure screening.
Search "PACT Act" from the front page of va.gov, or ask at your
VA facility about the toxic exposure screening.
- Veterans Benefits Administration — the benefit-program hub:
benefits.va.gov/benefits
- Board of Veterans' Appeals —
department.va.gov/board-of-veterans-appeals
- VA Publications — VA directives, handbooks and notices at
va.gov/vapubs; VHA directives and handbooks at
va.gov/vhapublications. This is internal policy,
not a benefits portal — useful for research, not for applying.
- Defense Technical Information Center —
discover.dtic.mil holds Department of Defense technical and
scientific reports. It holds no personnel, medical or claim records and administers no VA
benefit. When I checked, full access required a Defense Department-issued CAC, PIV, ECA or CIV
credential and the public reports search was offline. For your own records use the National Archives
or milConnect; for exposure rules use VA Public Health and the PACT Act page.
★ Official sources only. Check the date.