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Signs it is time to file
- Your condition has worsened since VA last rated it
- You have new evidence that it has gotten worse
- The symptoms affect your work or your daily life more than they used to
- Your doctor has documented the change
You do not need a doctor to file. VA asks for at least one of these: medical records or a
medical opinion, or lay evidence — a statement from somebody who has seen the change in you,
on VA Form 21-10210. VA's own words: "We require only one of these types of documents." If
you have not been to an appointment in years, that does not shut the door. A buddy statement, a
spouse's statement, a supervisor's statement — any of those can carry a claim.
Where to go: va.gov/disability/how-to-file-claim/evidence-needed
★ One kind of evidence is enough.
Do not miss this
The exam. Go to it.
This is the part almost nobody tells you, and it is the expensive one.
Filing for an increase will usually mean VA schedules you for a claim exam. The regulation that
requires it, 38 CFR 3.326(a), names claims for increase specifically.
If you fail to report without good cause, a claim for increase is DENIED. That is
38 CFR 3.655(b).
It is not the same rule as an original claim, which still gets rated on the evidence already in your
file. On an increase, missing the exam ends it.
If you cannot make the appointment: contact VA before the date and ask to reschedule.
VA reschedules for good cause — hospitalization, a death in the Family, homelessness are the kinds
of reasons that count. And if a claim was already denied for a missed exam, that is not the end of
the road: a Supplemental Claim reopens it. Call 800-827-1000.
Straight talk: VA's own exam page says only that missing it "will delay your claim"
and that VA "may also decide your claim based on the existing evidence." The regulation is harsher
than the webpage. Follow the regulation.
va.gov/disability/va-claim-exam
★ Show up, or call and move it.
Money
The one-year window on your back pay
Filing late does not just delay the money. It can erase months of it.
38 CFR 3.400(o)(2)
sets the effective date for an increase at the earliest date it can be shown your disability got
worse — but only if VA receives a complete claim or an intent to file within 1 year of that
date. Miss the year, and the effective date becomes the date VA receives your claim. Everything
before that is gone.
The cheapest thing you can do today: file an intent to file. That is VA Form 21-0966.
It locks in a potential effective date and gives you 1 year to finish the claim while you gather
evidence. Starting a disability compensation application online at va.gov also creates an intent to
file automatically.
VA's own words: va.gov/disability/effective-date
· va.gov/resources/your-intent-to-file-a-va-claim
★ Protect the date first. Build the claim after.
Straight talk
The risk: it can go down
Anybody telling you an increase claim is all upside is not telling you everything.
The claim exam happens no matter your age or how long you have held the rating, and what that exam
finds can support a reduction.
- Under 5 years at the same level: a rating that has not been held at the same level for 5
years or more does not get the stabilization protections of 38 CFR 3.344.
- 20 years: a disability continuously rated at or above a level for 20 years or more will
not be reduced below it except on a showing of fraud (38 CFR 3.951).
- 10 years: service connection in effect 10 years or more will not be severed except for
fraud or clearly shown lack of required service or character of discharge (38 CFR 3.957).
A separate thing — future periodic reexaminations. 38 CFR 3.327(b)(2) bars VA from scheduling
those where the disability is established as static; where it is permanent with no likelihood of
improvement; where symptoms have persisted without improvement for five years or more; where the
rating is a prescribed scheduled minimum; where the combined evaluation would not change either way;
and, except in unusual circumstances, for veterans over 55 years of age. Those limits do not
protect you from the claim exam on your own increase claim. Two different exams, two different rules.
★ Know your exposure before you file.
Your rights
VA cannot cut you without notice
If VA proposes to reduce a rating, you get process. Use it.
- VA must send you an advance written notice of the proposed reduction
- You get 60 days to submit additional evidence
- Request a predetermination hearing within 30 days of that notice and your payments
continue at the old level until a final decision
38 CFR 3.105(e) and (i). Do not let that 30-day hearing window pass — it is the part
that keeps the money coming while you fight.
★ 60 days for evidence. 30 days for the hearing.
Worth more
An increase may not be the biggest claim you have
If the symptoms are hitting your work, look at this before you file a plain increase.
Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU) is for veterans whose
service-connected conditions keep them from holding substantially gainful employment. VA's stated
thresholds: at least 1 service-connected disability rated 60% or more, or 2 or more
disabilities with at least 1 rated 40% or more and a combined rating of 70% or more. VA adds that "in
certain cases — for example, if you need to be in the hospital often — you may qualify at a lower
disability rating."
The forms, straight. You file VA Form 21-8940, Veteran's Application for Increased
Compensation Based on Unemployability. VA Form 21-4192 is not yours to file — VA's own form
page says your most recent employer must complete and submit it. VA may later send you VA Form
21-4140 to verify your employment status.
Two other doors worth asking about, because either can be worth more than raising an existing
rating: a claim for a secondary service-connected condition — a new condition caused or
aggravated by the one you are already rated for — and Special Monthly Compensation. Ask an
accredited representative which one fits your file.
va.gov/disability/eligibility/special-claims/unemployability
★ File the right claim, not just the obvious one.
Money
If the increase puts you at 30%, claim your Family
Most people never hear this one, and it is money sitting on the table.
If the increase brings your combined rating to at least 30%, you can receive additional
compensation for a spouse, a child, or a dependent parent.
- Spouse and children under 18 — VA Form 21-686c
- A child 18 to 23 in school full time — also VA Form 21-674
- A dependent parent — VA Form 21P-509, not 21-686c
One year again. File within 1 year of the marriage, birth, or adoption — and respond within
1 year to any VA request for more information — to get back pay to that event. After a year, the
retroactive payment may be limited or denied.
va.gov/disability/add-remove-dependent
★ Add your Family the day the rating lands.
If VA says no
Three options, and one of them has a trap
- Higher-Level Review — VA Form 20-0996. Within 1 year of the decision. No new evidence
may be submitted; a more senior reviewer looks at the same file.
- Board Appeal — within 1 year of the decision.
- Supplemental Claim — VA Form 20-0995. New and relevant evidence. There is no filing
deadline.
"No deadline" is where people lose money. Under 38 CFR 3.2500, continuously pursuing the
issue by filing a review option within 1 year of the decision preserves your original effective
date. A Supplemental Claim filed more than a year after the decision gets an effective date no
earlier than the date VA receives it. Wait 18 months and you forfeit every month of retroactive pay
in between. File it inside the year.
va.gov/decision-reviews/higher-level-review
· va.gov/decision-reviews/supplemental-claim
★ A denial is a step, not the end.
Get help
What help costs — and what it does not
- An accredited VSO representative's services on your VA benefit claims are always
free. 38 CFR 14.636(b): recognized organizations and their accredited representatives "are not
permitted to receive fees."
- An accredited attorney or claims agent may charge — but under 38 CFR 14.636(c)(1)(i),
only for representation provided after VA's regional office has issued notice of an initial
decision on the claim. Nobody can lawfully charge you a fee to file the claim in the first place.
- Under 38 CFR 14.636(f)(1), a fee not exceeding 20 percent of any past-due benefits
awarded is presumed reasonable — if the representation continued through the date of the
decision awarding benefits.
★ Free help exists. Use it first.