Day 1
Have you filed your claim yet?
If not, start here.
- You can file online yourself. You do not need a lawyer.
- You can save your application and come back to it.
- Free VSO help is available if you want a set of eyes on it.
- Go to VA.gov/disability
- Create an account or sign in
- Select "Start your application for disability compensation now" — this opens VA Form 21-526EZ, Application for Disability Compensation and Related Compensation Benefits
Still in uniform? Do not wait for your DD214. You can file up to 180 days before you leave
the service. With 180 to 90 days left you may be able to use Benefits Delivery at Discharge (BDD).
★ Don't wait. File today.
Day 1 — the money
Your effective date decides your back pay
Read this one twice. It is the difference between one check and twelve.
- General rule. Except where a specific rule says otherwise, the effective date is the date VA receives your claim, or the date entitlement arose — whichever is later (38 CFR 3.400).
- Filed within one year of separation. For a directly service-connected disability that already existed at discharge, the effective date is the day after you separated, not the day you filed (38 CFR 3.400(b)(2)(i)).
- Presumptive conditions are different. For a presumptive service connection filed within that year, the effective date is the date entitlement arose — not the day after separation (38 CFR 3.400(b)(2)(ii)).
- This rule is for disability compensation only. It does not apply to pension, DIC, or a claim for increase.
Intent to File holds your date for one year. File an Intent to File and your effective date is
locked while you gather evidence. It only has to name the general benefit — compensation or pension —
not a specific condition or diagnosis. Starting certain applications online does this
automatically: disability compensation, a disability Supplemental Claim, and Veterans Pension with a
verified account. It does not happen automatically for DIC or a non-disability Supplemental
Claim — for those, file VA Form 21-0966.
One year is a hard cliff. Miss it and the earlier date is gone. Not reduced — gone.
★ Lock the date first. Build the claim after.
Day 2
Have you gathered strong evidence?
Evidence wins claims.
- Medical records — VA and private
- Service records — DD214 and service treatment records
- Lay or witness statement — VA Form 21-10210. VA calls this a buddy statement
- Statement in Support of Claim — VA Form 21-4138, your own words
Pro tip: the job of your evidence is to connect the condition to your service. A diagnosis, plus
what happened in service, plus a link between the two. Missing any one of the three is where claims fail.
★ Strong evidence. Strong claim.
Day 3
Did you attend your claim exam?
VA calls it a claim exam (C&P exam). It is critical.
- It shows VA how severe your condition actually is
- Be honest. Be thorough. Describe your worst days, not your best ones
- Write your symptoms down before you go so you don't forget them in the room
Missing it without good cause — the consequence depends on the claim (38 CFR 3.655).
- First-time compensation claim: VA rates it on the evidence of record.
- Any other original claim — pension or DIC — a Supplemental Claim for a benefit previously disallowed, or a claim for increase: the claim shall be denied.
- Already getting paid and you miss a reexamination: VA must send a pretermination notice and give you 60 days before reducing or stopping payment.
VA names good cause examples: a death in your immediate Family, homelessness, hospitalization, or a
terminal illness. Call and reschedule rather than no-show.
About DBQs: a Disability Benefits Questionnaire is a blank form your own doctor can fill
out — not a report VA hands you afterward. VA states it does not pay or reimburse any expense of
completing one. Eleven are not released to the public: Initial PTSD, Hearing Loss and Tinnitus,
Initial TBI, Review TBI, Cold Injury Residuals, Former POW Protocol, General Medical (Compensation),
General Medical (Pension), Gulf War General Medical, Medical Opinion, and Separation Health Assessment
Part B. Note the PTSD Review DBQ is public — only the Initial PTSD one is restricted.
★ Be prepared. Be honest. Be heard.
Day 4
Have you checked your claim status?
Don't wonder. Check.
- Claims take time — VA publishes its current average on its how-to-file page
- The tool shows any additional evidence VA has requested from you
- Answer a request for evidence right away — that clock is the one that stalls claims
- Go to VA.gov
- Sign in to your account
- Select "Check your claim, decision review, or appeal status"
★ Check often. Stay ahead.
Day 5
Was your claim denied?
A denial is not the end. You have three options.
- Higher-Level Review — VA Form 20-0996. A more senior reviewer takes a second look. You cannot submit new evidence. Not available after a previous HLR or Board Appeal on the same issue.
- Supplemental Claim — VA Form 20-0995. You submit evidence that is new and relevant. New means VA has not considered it before; relevant means it proves or disproves something in your claim.
- Board Appeal — VA Form 10182, to the Board of Veterans' Appeals. Three options: Direct Review, Evidence Submission, or Hearing. If you pick Evidence Submission, your new evidence must be in within 90 days of filing.
The deadlines are not the same for all three.
- HLR and Board Appeal: one year from the date on your decision letter.
- Supplemental Claim: no deadline — you can file one any time. But file inside that same year to keep the earlier effective date. After a year, the effective date is no earlier than the date VA receives it (38 CFR 3.2500).
- Contested claim: Board Appeal only, within 60 days. HLR is not available at all.
Pick one at a time. While one review is pending, you cannot file under a different option.
In fiscal year 2024 the Board decided 71,262 AMA appeals: 38.4% allowed, 28.4% remanded for more
development, 17.0% denied. A remand is not a win — it means the work was not finished.
Board of Veterans' Appeals Annual Report, FY2024 — the most recent published.
★ Appeal. Persist. Prevail.
Day 6
Are you receiving everything you qualify for?
It is more than just your rating.
- Special Monthly Compensation (SMC) — paid above the normal rates for specific losses or combinations, including a need for aid and attendance
- Individual Unemployability (TDIU) — see the next panel. Do not rule yourself out on the percentages alone
- Dependents — at a combined rating of 30% or more you can claim more for a spouse or child (VA Form 21-686c; add VA Form 21-674 for a child 18 to 23 in school). A dependent parent is a different form — VA Form 21P-509, submitted by mail
- CHAMPVA — health coverage for your spouse and dependent children, or survivors, when you are rated permanently and totally disabled from a service-connected disability. It does not cover you. If the Family member is eligible for or enrolled in TRICARE, they cannot get CHAMPVA
- Aid and Attendance / Housebound — as VA's named program these are added to a monthly VA pension, for qualified veterans and survivors. On the compensation side the closest equivalent is SMC
- VR&E (Chapter 31) — Veteran Readiness and Employment: training, education and employment help
Property tax exemptions, hunting and fishing licenses, state park passes, license plates: real,
and run by your state, not VA. Rules and amounts change at the state line. Start with your state
veterans office.
★ More benefits. More support.
Day 6 — read closely
Individual Unemployability (TDIU)
Paid at the 100% rate without a 100% rating. Most people who miss it rule themselves out on the math.
- The standard: unable to secure or follow a substantially gainful occupation because of service-connected disability. Getting a job counts, not just keeping one
- The percentages: one disability ratable at 60% or more, or two or more with at least one at 40% or more and a combined 70% or more
- Marginal employment does not disqualify you. Earned income at or below the Census poverty threshold for one person is marginal, not substantially gainful
- Forms: VA Form 21-8940, plus 21-4192 for your employer
The part almost nobody reads. For the 60% or the 40% requirement, 38 CFR 4.16(a) counts certain
groups as one disability: disabilities of one or both upper extremities, or one or both lower
extremities (including the bilateral factor) · disabilities from a common cause or a single
accident · disabilities affecting a single body system — orthopedic, digestive, respiratory,
cardiovascular-renal, neuropsychiatric · multiple injuries incurred in action · multiple
disabilities incurred as a prisoner of war. Three 20% orthopedic conditions may count as one disability.
Do the math that way before you decide you don't qualify.
And if you are unemployable but still miss the percentages, VA can refer the case for extra-schedular
consideration (38 CFR 4.16(b)). VA's own words: in certain cases — for example if you need to be in the
hospital often — you may qualify at a lower disability rating.
★ Don't rule yourself out.
Day 7
Have you reviewed your rating?
Ratings can change. Yours is not permanent unless it is protected.
- Pull your decision letter and read what each condition is actually rated at
- If a condition has gotten worse, file for an increase
- Life changes — marriage, a child, a dependent parent — update VA
An increase can go back up to one year. If VA receives your claim or Intent to File within a year
of the date it became factually clear your condition worsened, the increase can be paid from that
earlier date (38 CFR 3.400(o)(2)). Otherwise it runs from the date VA receives the claim. This is why
you do not sit on a worsening condition.
★ Review. Update. Improve.
Day 7 — both sides
Can filing cost me my rating?
Honest answer: a reexamination can go down as well as up. Here is what protects you.
- 20 years. A disability continuously rated at or above a level for 20 years or more cannot be reduced below it, except for fraud (38 CFR 3.951(b))
- 5 years. Ratings stable five years or more get the stabilization rules — no reduction on an exam less thorough than the one that set the rating, and if doubt remains the rating continues (38 CFR 3.344)
- Total ratings. A total rating will not be reduced, absent clear error, without an exam showing material improvement (38 CFR 3.343(a))
- TDIU and going back to work. A TDIU rating cannot be reduced just because you got a substantially gainful job unless you hold it 12 consecutive months (38 CFR 3.343(c)(2))
- No routine reexams where the disability is static, findings have persisted without material improvement 5+ years, the condition is permanent with no likelihood of improvement, you are over 55 absent unusual circumstances, or the rating is a prescribed minimum (38 CFR 3.327(b)(2))
- Notice first. Before reducing a running award, VA must propose it and give you a response period (38 CFR 3.105(e))
★ Know the floor you're standing on.
Bonus
You served. You earned it.
Three things to do with this page.
- Ask questions. Nobody was ever taught to do this. There is no dumb question about your claim.
- Share it. The Soldier, veteran, spouse or Family member next to you may not know any of this.
- Save it. Print it, or save it as a PDF, and keep it with your claim paperwork.
If you get stuck, an accredited VSO representative will take it from here at no cost — and you can
verify that anyone offering to help you is actually accredited, using VA's own search.
★ Knowledge is power. Use it.
Remember
Five numbers that matter
★ Write them down.