Claims help · Back pay
Protecting Your Effective Date and Your Back Pay
Your effective date decides how far back your benefits go. Every month you lose is money you don’t get back, so make these moves early.
- File an Intent to File
- Mind the 1-year windows
- Stay continuous
- Estimate back pay
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File an Intent to File Today
An Intent to File (VA Form 21-0966, online or by phone) marks your potential effective date and gives you up to one year to complete the claim. It takes minutes and costs nothing. If you’re even considering a claim, file one.
Know the One-Year Windows
- Within a year of discharge: your effective date can go back to the day after separation.
- After a decision: filing a Higher-Level Review, Board Appeal, or Supplemental Claim within a year keeps the claim continuous and generally preserves the original date.
- Increases: if medical evidence shows your condition worsened in the year before you filed, the effective date can go back to when that increase happened, up to one year.
Understand the Math
The general rule (38 CFR 3.400) is the later of the date the VA received your claim or the date entitlement arose. Payments start the first of the month after the effective date. Back pay is the difference between what you were paid and what you should have been paid each month. See the numbers in our calculator.
Protecting Your Effective Date: Common Questions
How long does an Intent to File last?
Up to one year. You need to submit the completed claim within that year to keep the date.
I missed the one-year window after discharge. What now?
You can still file. Your effective date will generally be the date of your claim or Intent to File.
Does a denial wipe out my effective date?
Not if you file your next review within one year of the decision. That keeps the claim continuously pursued.
Can an increase be backdated?
Up to one year before your claim, if medical evidence shows the increase happened during that year.
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