Once the VA has your Intent to File, you have one year to finish and file the actual claim. If the claim is later granted, the VA can use the date of your Intent to File as your effective date, which is the date your payments are measured from.
How to submit one
The VA gives you three ways, all free:
- Online at VA.gov, by starting a disability claim. Saving the application counts as your intent to file.
- By phone, calling the VA at 800-827-1000.
- By mail, with VA Form 21-0966, Intent to File a Claim for Compensation and/or Pension.
You do not need any evidence to submit it. You only need to identify yourself.
Three things veterans get wrong
- Waiting to file it until the claim is "ready." The whole point is to file it first, while you are still gathering records. Every month you wait without one is a month of back pay you cannot get back.
- Letting it expire. It lasts one year. If your claim is not in by then, the date is lost and you start over.
- Thinking it covers every future claim. Once you file the claim, that Intent to File is used up. A later, separate claim needs its own.
Recently separated?
If the VA gets your claim within one year of the day you left active service, your effective date can be as early as the day after separation. If there is any chance the claim will not be in by that one-year mark, submit an Intent to File first. The VA can then still date the claim back to the day after separation if the full claim comes in within a year of the Intent to File.
How we help
When we open a file together, the first thing we do is make sure an Intent to File is on record with the VA, so your date is protected while we read your records and build the claim. We track the one-year window so it never expires on you.
Have questions about your own situation?
Request a free consultation call. We'll text you to set up your free 15-minute call, where we talk through where you are and tell you plainly whether we can help. No cost, no obligation.