The VA's own words: if you can't work because of a disability related to your service, you may qualify for Individual Unemployability. Your rating stays what it is. Your monthly payment changes to the 100% amount. It is one of the most valuable and least understood benefits in the system.
Two requirements
- You cannot keep substantially gainful employment because of your service-connected conditions. Odd jobs and marginal employment do not count against you. Work in a protected setting (a family business, a sheltered job with heavy accommodations) may not count either.
- Your ratings meet the threshold: one service-connected condition rated 60% or higher, or two or more conditions with a combined rating of 70% or higher and at least one of them at 40% or higher.
If you do not meet the percentage threshold but genuinely cannot work because of service-connected conditions, the VA can still grant TDIU on what it calls an extra-schedular basis. It is harder and slower, but it exists.
The forms
- VA Form 21-8940, your application, covering your work history, education, and why you cannot work.
- VA Form 21-4192, sent to each employer from the last five years, asking why you left and what accommodations you had.
What wins it
- A clear work history. Dates, jobs, why each ended. Terminations, cut hours, accommodations, and missed time all matter.
- Medical evidence tying the inability to work to the service-connected conditions, not to age or to conditions that are not connected. A treating doctor's statement or a vocational opinion on how your conditions limit work carries weight.
- Consistency. What the records say, what you say at the exam, and what employers say should line up.
- Age is not a factor. The VA is not allowed to deny TDIU because you are of retirement age. What matters is whether the conditions would keep you from working.
What TDIU unlocks
Beyond the 100% rate, TDIU can carry the same extras as a 100% rating: dependents' educational assistance and CHAMPVA for family members if the VA rates it permanent, and state benefits that key off a 100% or permanent-and-total status. See permanent and total.
How we help
We check whether your ratings meet the threshold, and if they are close, whether an increase or a secondary condition gets you there. Then we help you put together the work history, the medical support, and the forms so the claim answers the VA's questions before they are asked.
Have questions about your own situation?
Request a free consultation call. Someone from our team will call you within one business day, talk through where you are, and tell you plainly whether we can help. No cost, no obligation.