What to do if you disagree with a VA decision

For most VA benefits, a decision letter starts a one-year clock. VA offers three ways to ask for another look, and filing inside the year keeps your effective date.

If you're holding a VA decision you disagree with, the first thing to find is a date. It's printed on the letter, and for most VA benefits it starts a one-year clock. Inside that year you can ask VA to look at the decision again, in any of three ways, and the effective date stays tied to your original claim. The effective date is the date VA fixes an award to.

The three options are a supplemental claim, a higher-level review and a Board appeal. They differ in who looks at your case, whether you can send new evidence, which form you use and how long VA says each takes.

Miss the year and you still have options, but fewer of them, and the effective date can move later.

What's in your decision letter

VA has to send notice of its decision on a timely basis, and the notice has to explain how to get review. By law it must name each issue decided, summarize the evidence VA considered and the laws that apply, and identify any findings in your favor. For a denial, it must say which element wasn't met. It must also explain how to get the evidence VA used.

VA's own rule adds a summary of the review options open to you. Those elements can sit in the letter, in its enclosures or across both. VA also publishes Your Right to Seek Review of Our Decision, VA Form 20-0998, which sets the three options side by side.

If your decision includes a rating decision narrative, VA's adjudication manual says it has five parts: an Introduction, the Decision for each issue, the Evidence, the Reasons for Decision for each issue, and References. The Reasons for Decision part is where VA cites and evaluates the facts behind each outcome.

An approval letter shows your disability rating, your monthly payment and the date payments start. You can review and download a decision letter in the claim status tool on VA.gov, and VA says a paper copy follows by mail within 10 business days, though it may take longer.

If your letter raises your type of discharge, Discharge type and VA benefits covers how that affects VA benefits.

Your deadline, and how to count it

For most VA benefits, you have one year from the date on your decision letter to request a higher-level review or a Board appeal. You can file a supplemental claim at any time, though VA recommends filing within the year to keep your effective date.

Count from the date printed on the letter, not the day it reaches you. VA's rules treat the letter's date as the mailing date, and they exclude the first day and include the last. A letter dated March 12, 2026 starts counting on March 13, 2026, and the last day is March 12, 2027. If the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the next workday counts.

What counts as filing in time depends on the option. A complete higher-level review request must be received by VA within the year. A Board appeal counts if it's postmarked or received by the Board within the year. A complete supplemental claim is generally filed on the date VA receives it.

One wording difference matters in a narrow case. The statute and VA's regulation say "one year." Form 10182, the Board appeal form, says "one year (365 days)." The two end on the same date unless the year includes a February 29, and the next one is February 29, 2028. Counting the days ourselves, a letter dated March 1, 2027 runs to March 1, 2028 on the statute's wording and to February 29, 2028 on a 365-day count.

You don't have to ask for review of every issue. Only the issues you list on the form are reviewed, and VA's supplemental claim instructions say the issues you leave off still have one year from the date of the decision notification letter. Both forms ask for the date of the decision notice for each issue you list.

A few decisions run on different clocks. In a contested claim, where you and someone else are claiming a benefit only one person can have, a Board appeal is the only route, and it must be filed within 60 days of the date on the decision letter. Some benefit types have shorter time limits, and VA says your decision letter will tell you the deadline. VA insurance decisions have an extra option, a complaint in a United States district court within 6 years from when the right of action first accrues, and VA says to consult the decision notice for details. Decisions dated before February 19, 2019 belong to an older legacy process, which no longer takes new appeals.

If you can't meet a time limit, VA can extend it for good cause. A late request has to be made with the required filing and show why it couldn't be made on time. For a Board appeal, the request goes to the Board in writing, and Form 10182 has a box for it. A denial of an extension can itself be appealed.

Enter your letter's date below to see both counts. For any letter dated March 1, 2027 through February 28, 2028, the second row, Form 10182's 365 days for a Board appeal, lands a day before the first, the one-year date. A filing made by the earlier date is on time under either count.

The three options

Supplemental claim. A reviewer decides whether new and relevant evidence changes the decision. You use VA Form 20-0995. You can file one if VA decided your claim in the past, it isn't a contested claim, and either you have new and relevant evidence or you're asking for review because of a change in law.

The regulation defines new evidence as evidence not previously part of the actual record before VA adjudicators, and relevant evidence as information that tends to prove or disprove a matter at issue in the claim. If you identify existing records, VA must help you get them. You can ask for a hearing at any time. Supplemental claims for disability compensation can be filed online. Other benefit types use the paper form, and each form covers one benefit type.

Higher-level review. An experienced adjudicator who took no part in the first decision looks at it again. You use VA Form 20-0996. The statute calls the review de novo, and the reviewer decides whether, in VA's words, "an error or a difference of opinion changes the decision." The record is fixed as of the date of the earlier decision, so you can't submit new evidence.

The reviewer is usually in a different office, and you can ask for the same one. You can ask for one informal conference, a call with the reviewer. It's optional, it isn't a formal hearing, new evidence can't be submitted in it, and VA says it may make the review take longer. Form 20-0996 says you can send a written statement instead.

VA lists three possible results: the earlier decision was correct, the reviewer decides in your favor, or the reviewer finds VA didn't help you get all the evidence you needed. Each ends with a new decision letter. You can't ask for a higher-level review after an earlier one, or after a Board appeal, on the same issue.

Board appeal. A Veterans Law Judge at the Board of Veterans' Appeals in Washington, D.C. decides. You use VA Form 10182 and pick one of three dockets for each issue.

• Direct Review. The judge reviews the evidence already in your case. You can't submit new evidence, and you can't have a hearing.
• Evidence Submission. The judge considers new evidence together with what was already in the case. New evidence has to come with your appeal or within 90 days after VA receives it.
• Hearing. You meet with the judge by virtual tele-hearing, by videoconference at a VA location, or in person at the Board in Washington. You can add new evidence at the hearing or within 90 days after it.

You can choose different dockets for different issues, but each docket needs its own Form 10182. You can't request two Board appeals in a row for the same claim.

Posted times, and what they measure

VA and the Board post numbers that look alike but measure different things. A goal is what VA aims for. VA.gov also posts a measured average for supplemental claims, and the Board posts its own measure, average days pending, by docket. The Board describes its average days pending as how long, on average, appeals have been waiting in line for each docket.

The Board's Hearing figure, 870 days, is above VA.gov's 730-day goal for that docket. One is a goal for deciding an appeal; the other is how long appeals have been waiting in line.

What you can't combine, and how to change course

For any one issue, you can use one option at a time. VA's rights notice says you may not request review of the same issue using more than one option at the same time, and the statute bars a second action until the first is decided or withdrawn. The options can also follow one another, as long as each is filed in time.

If you've requested a review and haven't heard back, VA asks you not to request another. Call VA instead. You don't need to do anything unless VA sends a letter asking for more information.

To switch away from a pending supplemental claim or higher-level review, send a signed letter withdrawing the original request, then file the new one. A withdrawal takes effect the day VA receives it. A switch to a higher-level review or Board appeal works while you're still within a year of the date on the decision letter. A switch to a supplemental claim works at any time, though VA recommends doing it within the year to keep your effective date.

A Board appeal can be switched to another option only if you haven't submitted new evidence or had a hearing and the Board hasn't decided your case. The time limits above still count from the date on the decision letter you appealed. After that year, a higher-level review request is late, and a supplemental claim's effective date can generally be no earlier than the day VA receives it. You send a signed letter withdrawing the Board appeal, and the withdrawal takes effect when the Board receives it.

Changing dockets inside the Board works differently. You send a new Form 10182, with no withdrawal, within one year of the date the decision was mailed or within 60 days after the Board receives your first form, whichever is later. VA calls that the waiting period. You can't change dockets after you've submitted evidence or testified.

Your effective date, and what's left after the year

Filing in time is what keeps your effective date. If you pursue an issue by filing any of the three options, alone or one after another, each within a year of VA's last decision, the effective date stays fixed to the date VA received your initial claim or the date you became entitled, whichever is later. The table shows what changes when you file later.

VA's intent-to-file page says you can notify VA of your intent to file a Supplemental Claim for disability compensation, pension or Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, which sets a potential start date if you file the claim within one year. Filing a VA disability claim after you're out covers how an intent to file works.

VA's pages describe the options after the year in two ways. The decision review FAQ on VA.gov says that once a year has passed, your only option is a supplemental claim. VA's rights notice lists two: a supplemental claim, or a request to revise the decision based on clear and unmistakable error. That request is separate from the three decision review options.

A request based on clear and unmistakable error has no filing deadline. The regulation lets you ask "at any time after a decision is final," and defines the error as one that, "when called to the attention of later reviewers compels the conclusion, to which reasonable minds could not differ, that the result would have been manifestly different but for the error."

A condition that has gotten worse isn't a review of the old decision. VA says to file a claim for increased disability compensation instead. Filing claims, including before you separate, is covered in Filing a VA disability claim after you're out and the BDD claim checklist.

After a Board decision

A Board decision isn't the end of the road. VA.gov names two next steps: file a supplemental claim with new and relevant evidence, or appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. A supplemental claim filed within a year of the Board's decision is protected the same way, with the year counted from the Board's decision. A remanded issue can't go to the Court, because a remand isn't a final decision.

VA's notice of Board decision rights also lists three motions you can file with the Board, to reconsider, to vacate or to revise for clear and unmistakable error, and says the Board sets no time limit on them. If you also plan to appeal to the Court, the notice says to file a motion for reconsideration or to vacate within 120 days of the date the decision was mailed. You then have another 120 days from the date the Board decides the motion to appeal to the Court.

For the Court, your notice of appeal must be received within 120 days of the date stamped on the front of the Board's decision, which is the date the Board mailed it. A legible U.S. Postal Service postmark counts as the date of receipt. Since October 1, 2026, a represented appellant starting an appeal files through the Court's new electronic system, ACMS, while self-represented appellants may still file by mail, fax or email. The Court's order dated September 24, 2026, effective October 1, 2026, revised its Rule 1 and the preface to its e-filing rules for the new system.

Getting your claims file

Your claims file, called the C-file, is a Privacy Act record. VA's form for requesting it is VA Form 20-10206. The request must include your full name, date of birth, place of birth and current mailing address, plus your handwritten signature.

On paper, mail the request to the Department of Veterans Affairs Evidence Intake Center, PO Box 4444, Janesville, WI 53547-4444, or fax it to (844) 531-7818. The toll-free number on the form is 1-800-827-1000. VA also offers the request online, and its FOIA handbook links claims file requests for the Veterans Benefits Administration to AccessVA and its Quick Submit tab.

The claim status tool isn't a copy of the file. Documents sent by mail, fax or in person don't appear there, and neither do papers restricted to protect someone's privacy.

Getting help with a review

VA says an accredited attorney, claims agent or Veterans Service Organization (VSO) representative can help you request a decision review, and that the services an accredited VSO representative provides on your VA benefit claims are always free. VA's Accreditation Search lists VA-recognized representatives. Who can charge for VA claim help covers how to check accreditation and what a representative may charge.

One example, start to finish

Example (fictional) Dana Whitfield is a fictional Army sergeant who separated in July 2026. VA's decision on her first disability claim is dated Friday, September 18, 2026. It grants two conditions and denies a third, and she disagrees with the denial only.

She counts from the date on the letter, not the day the paper copy arrives. Her anniversary falls on a Saturday, so the next workday, Monday, September 20, 2027, is her last day.

She requests her claims file on VA Form 20-10206 and reads the Evidence and Reasons for Decision parts for the denied issue. She files VA Form 20-0996, the higher-level review request, and lists only the denied issue. VA receives it on Monday, October 19, 2026. Her two granted conditions aren't on the form. Because one issue can't go through two options at once, she waits for that decision before filing anything else on it.

When the decision arrives, its date starts a new year. In that year she could file a supplemental claim or a Board appeal and keep her effective date. If she had waited until Monday, October 4, 2027, two weeks after her last day, her higher-level review request would have arrived after the one-year limit, which VA can extend only for good cause. A supplemental claim would still be allowed, but its effective date could generally be no earlier than the day VA received it.

This is general information, not advice on your claim. VA says an accredited attorney, claims agent or Veterans Service Organization representative can help you request a decision review, and that an accredited VSO representative's services on VA benefit claims are always free. VA's Accreditation Search lists VA-recognized representatives, and who can charge for VA claim help explains how to check one.