If you are starting from zero, start here. This guide explains what a VA disability claim actually is, whether you qualify, how to open one, what the process does to your file after you hit submit, and how much any of it should cost you. The short answer on cost is nothing, and a large industry exists to make you believe otherwise.
Everything below is sourced to VA, the U.S. Code, and the Code of Federal Regulations. Where VA's own consumer pages are softer than the regulation, this guide states the regulation, and says so.
What a VA disability claim actually is#
A claim is a formal request for a benefit. In VA's own words, at 38 CFR 3.1(p), a claim is "a written or electronic communication requesting a determination of entitlement or evidencing a belief in entitlement, to a specific benefit."
For disability compensation, you are asking VA to do two things: agree that a condition is connected to your military service, and assign it a percentage that reflects how severely it limits you. That percentage drives a monthly, tax-free payment.
One structural fact shapes everything else. Since March 24, 2015, a claim only exists on a form VA prescribes. There is no such thing as an informal claim anymore. A letter, a phone call, or a note in your medical file does not open a claim. The form is the claim, which is why the intent to file described below matters so much.
Compensation is not a handout and it is not means-tested. It does not depend on your income, your assets, or whether you are working. It is a statutory payment for a service-connected loss of earning capacity. Our VA disability compensation guide covers what the money is and how the rates work.
Do you qualify#
Qualifying comes down to service connection: proving your current condition is linked to your service. The general shape is three parts. You have a current diagnosed condition. Something happened in service, an injury, a disease, or an exposure. And there is a link between the two.
That sounds simple and it is not, because the rules change depending on how you served. Active duty, National Guard, and Reserve service are treated differently, and the difference is not cosmetic. On active duty, both diseases and injuries count. On inactive duty training, a drill weekend, only injuries count, plus three specific cardiovascular events. That single distinction decides real claims.
Our companion guide, how to qualify for a VA claim, works through direct service connection, what counts as proof that something happened on orders, and exactly how active duty, Guard, and Reserve service differ, including line of duty determinations. If you are Guard or Reserve, read that one before you file.
The types of claims, and which one you need#
Most veterans need only the first row. The others exist for specific situations.
| Claim type | When you use it | Form |
|---|---|---|
| Original claim | Your first claim for compensation | VA Form 21-526EZ |
| Increase | A condition VA already rates has gotten worse | VA Form 21-526EZ |
| Secondary | A new condition caused or worsened by a service-connected one | VA Form 21-526EZ |
| New claim | A claim decided on its own evidence, independent of an earlier one | VA Form 21-526EZ |
| Supplemental Claim | You have new and relevant evidence after a decision | VA Form 20-0995 |
| Higher-Level Review | You want a senior reviewer to re-decide on the same evidence | VA Form 20-0996 |
| Board Appeal | You want a Veterans Law Judge to review the decision | VA Form 10182 |
| Pre-discharge or BDD | You are still in; BDD is 180 to 90 days out, standard pre-discharge is 89 to 0 | 21-526EZ plus a Separation Health Assessment |
Two notes worth having. A Fully Developed Claim is not a separate form; it is a 21-526EZ filed with all your evidence up front, and the claim drops out of that faster lane if VA has to chase records or you add evidence later. And "reopened claim" no longer exists. Under 38 CFR 3.160(e), claimants "may no longer file to reopen a claim, but may file a supplemental claim." Some older VA pages still list it. They are out of date.
Our claim types guide goes deeper on choosing between them, and the decision review guide covers the three post-decision lanes.
Before you file: the intent to file#
This is the highest-value five minutes in the entire process, and most veterans do not know it exists.
An intent to file tells VA you are preparing a claim. It holds your place in line. Under 38 CFR 3.155(b), "VA will consider the complete claim filed as of the date the intent to file a claim was received." You then have one year to submit the actual claim.
Why that is worth money: VA pays back to your effective date, not to the date it finishes deciding. If you spend four months gathering records before filing, an intent to file submitted on day one means those four months are paid. Without it, they are gone.
Three ways to submit one. Start and save a disability application online at VA.gov, which creates one automatically the moment you begin. File VA Form 21-0966. Or tell a designated VA employee in person, who records it.
A few rules that trip people up. The intent to file names the general benefit, compensation or pension, not your conditions; listing conditions on it has no effect. Only one runs per benefit at a time. It lapses at one year with no extension. And by regulation it does not apply to Supplemental Claims, even though VA's website suggests otherwise, so do not rely on it to protect a supplemental claim's effective date.
One more effective-date rule matters enormously if you are separating. Under 38 U.S.C. 5110(b)(1), if you file within one year of discharge, your effective date is "the day following the date of the veteran's discharge." File late and you lose that. Our intent to file and back pay guide works the math.
How to start your claim#
The application is VA Form 21-526EZ, currently the January 2026 edition. You can file it five ways: online at VA.gov, by mail to the Claims Intake Center in Janesville, Wisconsin, in person at a VA regional office, by fax, or through an accredited representative.
Online is usually the right answer, for one reason beyond convenience. As VA puts it: "If you file for disability compensation online, then you don't need to notify us of your intent to file." Starting the application protects your date before you have finished it.
Our step-by-step filing guide walks the form itself, and the VA.gov walkthrough covers the site and the mobile app.
The evidence that decides your claim#
Claims are won and lost on evidence, not on how the form is worded.
What you bring: your DD214, service treatment records, private medical records, and statements from people who saw what happened. VA has a form for those last ones, VA Form 21-10210, and the regulation calls them competent lay evidence rather than the informal "buddy statement." A Disability Benefits Questionnaire completed by your own doctor is also accepted, though VA does not reimburse the cost and may verify it.
What VA does for you, under its duty to assist at 38 CFR 3.159(c): it obtains federal records itself, including service medical records, VA facility records, and Social Security records, making "as many requests as are necessary." For private records it will make an initial request and at least one follow-up, if you identify the provider and sign a release.
A vocabulary note that saves confusion. You will see the term "nexus letter" everywhere in veteran forums and advertising. VA does not use that word. VA asks for evidence of "a link between your current condition and the event, injury, or disease that happened during your service." It is a real and important thing; it is just not an official VA document type, and no form is required for it.
Our evidence guide covers the three-legged stool in depth, buddy statements covers lay evidence, and DBQs and nexus letters covers medical opinions.
The claim exam#
If VA needs more information about your condition, it will schedule a claim exam, commonly called a C&P exam. VA schedules it; you cannot request one. It is performed by a VA clinician or a contracted provider held to the same licensing standards, and it is free, including travel reimbursement to a VA medical center.
Take the appointment seriously. VA's website says only that missing it "will delay your claim," but the regulation is harder. Under 38 CFR 3.655(b), if you miss an exam on an original compensation claim, VA decides on the evidence already in the file. If you miss one on a claim for increase or a Supplemental Claim, the claim is denied, absent good cause such as illness, hospitalization, or a death in the family.
Our claim exam guide covers what actually happens in the room.
How long it takes#
VA reported an average of 68.6 days to complete a disability-related claim in July 2026. Treat that as an average, not a commitment.
The workload behind it, from VA's Monday Morning Workload Report as of August 1, 2026: 611,453 claims pending, of which 70,529 had been pending longer than 125 days, which is VA's definition of the backlog. VA reported issue-level accuracy of 93.88 percent over three months.
For comparison, Supplemental Claims averaged 58.8 days in July 2026 and Higher-Level Reviews run about 125 days. Board of Veterans' Appeals figures are targets rather than averages: 365 days for direct review, 550 for evidence submission, 730 with a hearing.
These numbers move every month. If you are reading this well after the verification date at the top of the page, check VA's current figures rather than trusting these.
Your decision, and the year that follows#
VA tracks eight steps, from claim received through claim decided. When it finishes, you get a decision notice stating the rating, the monthly amount, and when payment starts. A paper copy is mailed in about ten business days and it is downloadable sooner. If the decision grants at least 10 percent, VA says you will get your first payment within 15 days.
One detail that confuses nearly everyone: your effective date and your first payment date are not the same. Under 38 CFR 3.31, payment begins the first day of the calendar month after the month the award took effect.
If you disagree, you have three options, and they run for one year from the decision:
- Higher-Level Review, VA Form 20-0996. A senior reviewer looks at the same evidence. No new evidence allowed. You may request an informal conference.
- Board Appeal, VA Form 10182. A Veterans Law Judge reviews it, on one of three dockets.
- Supplemental Claim, VA Form 20-0995. Requires new and relevant evidence.
Two rules matter. You cannot run two lanes on the same issue at once. And while a Supplemental Claim can be filed at any time, filing within that one year is what protects your earlier effective date. Our decision review guide compares the three, and how to read a rating decision helps you work out what VA actually decided.
Getting help, and what it may legally cost#
Three kinds of people are allowed to help you with a VA claim, and federal law is specific about it. Under 38 U.S.C. 5901(a), "no individual may act as an agent or attorney in the preparation, presentation, or prosecution of any claim" unless VA has accredited them.
| Who | What they cost |
|---|---|
| Accredited VSO representative | Free, at every stage, always |
| Accredited claims agent | Nothing before your initial decision; may charge after |
| Accredited attorney | Nothing before your initial decision; may charge after |
The fee rule is statutory, not a courtesy. Under 38 U.S.C. 5904(c)(1), "a fee may not be charged, allowed, or paid" for services provided before the date you are given notice of VA's initial decision. Note the trigger: notice of the initial decision. The older rule requiring a Notice of Disagreement first was replaced by the Appeals Modernization Act in 2017, and some pages, including one of VA's own, still describe the old version.
After a decision, an accredited agent or attorney may lawfully charge. Fees at or under 20 percent of past-due benefits are presumed reasonable under 38 CFR 14.636(f)(1); above 33 and a third percent they are presumed unreasonable.
Before you sign anything, look the person up in VA's accreditation search at va.gov/ogc/apps/accreditation. VA is direct about what a blank result means: "If your search does not produce any results, the person or organization is not currently authorized to provide representation." One fair caveat: a blank result can also mean an application is pending, so read it as not currently authorized rather than proof of fraud.
Our free claim help guide covers all three helper types and when each fits.
The companies that charge for this, and why to avoid them#
There is a large industry of unaccredited "claim consultants" that markets to veterans, and you should understand exactly how it prices before you talk to one.
The dominant model is not a flat fee. It is five times your monthly increase, charged once. Because the bill scales with your award, a good outcome costs you more. These are figures from the record in Ford v. Veterans Guardian VA Claim Consulting, in federal court in the Middle District of North Carolina, where the court found on undisputed facts that the company "charges clients five times the increase in their monthly compensation":
| Monthly increase won | Fee charged |
|---|---|
| $338.09 | $1,690 |
| $377.92 | $1,880 |
| $599.33 | $2,990 |
| $4,272.80 (0 to 100 percent) | $21,360 |
In May 2026 that court granted the veterans partial summary judgment, deeming it established for purposes of the case that the company "acts as an unaccredited agent on behalf of the class members in preparing and presenting initial and non-initial claims to the Veterans Administration, in violation of federal law." That is a partial ruling rather than a final judgment, and the court expressly reserved the remaining issues for a later order.
An NPR investigation published December 2, 2025 documented the same structure at another large firm and reported individual bills of $877.55, $3,600, $4,500, $12,000, $17,400, and more than $20,000, with the cheapest operators in the market around $1,250. A veteran granted 100 percent, the best possible outcome, pays the most.
Every one of those veterans could have had the same help for free.
Here is the part that matters most, and almost nobody knows it. Charging you for this is unlawful, and there is currently no penalty for it. Congress criminalized unauthorized fee charging for decades, then struck that provision out of 38 U.S.C. 5905 in 2006. What remains is a prohibition with no teeth. GAO put it plainly in report GAO-25-107211: "Federal law does not provide for monetary penalties against unaccredited individuals who improperly assisted claimants."
That is why VA's enforcement looks the way it does. GAO found VA received 54 complaints in fiscal 2023 and 88 in fiscal 2024, "sent cease-and-desist letters to 35 of the 41 unaccredited individuals who were the subject of complaints filed in fiscal year 2024," and referred nine of those to state or federal enforcement agencies. Letters, mostly. Bills in Congress to restore a penalty, including the GUARD VA Benefits Act, have not passed. Some states have acted on their own: at least eight prohibit charging for this work, and California's SB 694 takes effect in January 2027.
So the protection has to be yours. What the agencies actually say:
"Do not pay ANYONE to help you file an initial claim for benefits." VA, Predatory Practices outreach toolkit
"The VA will never charge you to apply for benefits." Federal Trade Commission, July 27, 2026
"If someone pressures you to sign over a portion of your VA benefits as payment for their help applying, say no." Federal Trade Commission, February 26, 2025
Red flags, in practice: a fee quoted as a multiple of your increase or a share of back pay, pressure to sign on the first call, a promise of a specific rating, a request for your VA.gov login, and any refusal to be looked up in the accreditation search. To report one, use VSAFE.gov or call 833-38V-SAFE.
Our claim mistakes guide covers the predatory patterns in more detail.
Why VeteranHQ charges anything at all#
It would be fair to read the section above and ask what makes us different, so here is a direct answer rather than a careful one.
What we do not do. We are not accredited by VA, and we do not seek to be. We do not represent you before VA. We do not prepare, submit, or file claims. We never take a percentage of your benefits, your back pay, or your increase, and nothing we charge is ever tied to the outcome of a claim. We are not your representative, and if you want representation, the free VSO route above is the one to take.
What we do. We publish this library, we build calculators that do the rating math, and we give you tools to organize your own records and understand your own file. That is software, and it is the same price whether your claim is granted or denied.
Why it is not free. We are a small team. Serving a library like this, and running AI features on top of it, costs real money: infrastructure, storage, and model inference, which is billed per use and is not cheap. With more than 10,000 people using the platform, those costs scale with every person we add. A subscription is what lets us absorb that and keep the service running for everyone rather than capping who can use it. It pays for compute, not for access to your benefits.
The distinction we would ask you to hold onto is this: a claim consultant charging five times your monthly increase is charging you for the benefit itself, and the size of your bill depends on the size of your award. That is the model to walk away from, from us or from anyone.
And to be explicit, because it is the point of the whole section: you can use nothing from us and still file a complete, well-evidenced claim for free. Everything VA requires is available at no cost through an accredited VSO, and this guide library is free to read.
Using AI on your claim#
VA already uses it on yours.
VA's Office of Automated Benefits Delivery launched Automated Decision Support in December 2021, starting with hypertension and going nationwide on July 10, 2023. By December 2023 it had touched more than 61,000 claims for hypertension increases or PACT Act presumptive service connection, and VA measured those claims completing in 142.4 days against 167.9 days for the traditional path. In its 2024 modernization plan addendum, VA reported 166 automated diagnostic codes, with hypertension, tinnitus, and migraine headaches deployed nationally. VA's published AI inventory listed 367 use cases as of December 2025, up from 40 in 2023.
VA is clear about the limit on the deployed system. Of Automated Decision Support, VA's own inventory states: "No final benefits decisions are made by ADS and no payments are initiated by ADS." Two honest caveats belong next to that. VA has newer systems in pre-deployment that it classifies as agentic, meaning they act with minimal human intervention. And a VA Inspector General review found inaccurate or inconsistent determinations in 27 percent of a sample of reviewed claims, a finding VBA partly disputed.
For your side of the table, AI is genuinely useful for a narrow and real set of things: understanding what a rating criterion actually requires, working out combined ratings, finding the regulation that governs your condition, organizing your records, and preparing questions before an exam. It is not useful, and can be harmful, for anything that requires judgment about your specific claim. It cannot examine you, it cannot supply the medical link between your condition and your service, it cannot represent you, and a confident wrong answer about a rating criterion can cost you a claim. Verify anything consequential against the regulation or ask an accredited representative.
We build for that narrow set deliberately. VeteranHQ publishes an AI Connector, built on the open Model Context Protocol, which lets an AI assistant you already use query our rating math, regulation lookups, and benefits data directly instead of guessing from memory. Our AI Connector guide explains what it does, what it can and cannot see, and how to connect it.
Where to go next#
Read how to qualify for a VA claim next, especially if you served in the Guard or Reserve, then how to file for the mechanics. If a decision has already landed, go to how to read a rating decision and the decision review guide. For free representation, start with the free claim help guide.
Look up any unfamiliar term in the glossary, estimate a combined rating with the calculator, and browse programs on the VA benefits page.
VeteranHQ explains these programs and helps you organize your evidence. We never prepare or file claims for you, and we are not your representative before VA. Nothing here is legal or medical advice, and only VA can decide a rating, an effective date, or a payment amount.