To get a VA disability rating, you file a claim on VA Form 21-526EZ showing three things: you have a current medical diagnosis, something happened during your military service, and there’s a medical link between the two. The VA then schedules a Compensation and Pension exam, applies its Schedule for Rating Disabilities, and issues a decision assigning a percentage from 0% to 100% in 10-point increments. Each step has its own evidence requirements, and weak proof at any one of them is the most common reason otherwise valid claims get denied.
Who Qualifies
Two gates come before the VA looks at any medical evidence: qualifying service and an acceptable discharge.
You must have served on active duty, active duty for training, or inactive duty training.1Veterans Affairs. Eligibility for VA Disability Benefits That covers full-time members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, and Space Force, plus National Guard and Reserve members activated for federal service. There’s no minimum time-in-service requirement for disability compensation.
Your discharge must be under conditions other than dishonorable. Honorable and general discharges qualify. Other-than-honorable discharges trigger a character-of-discharge review to decide whether your circumstances still allow benefits.2eCFR. 38 CFR 3.12 – Benefit Eligibility Based on Character of Discharge A dishonorable discharge from a general court-martial is a hard bar, with a narrow exception for veterans found to have been suffering from insanity at the time of the underlying offense. If your discharge status is borderline, you can apply for a discharge upgrade through your branch’s Board for Correction of Military Records before filing.
Your DD Form 214 proves both your service and your discharge characterization. Get a copy before anything else. Every step that follows depends on it.
The Three Things You Have to Prove
Every disability claim rises or falls on three elements, sometimes called the Caluza elements after the federal court case that named them. Miss one and the claim fails.
A Current Medical Diagnosis
You need a diagnosis from a healthcare provider showing you have a disability right now. A condition that existed during service but fully resolved doesn’t qualify. The diagnosis has to be in your medical records. A verbal acknowledgment from a doctor is not enough. The VA needs clinical evidence it can review.
An In-Service Event, Injury, or Disease
Your service records must show that something happened while you were in uniform. It can be a combat injury, an accident during training, exposure to hazardous substances, or the onset of a chronic illness. Service treatment records are the strongest evidence, but the event doesn’t have to appear in medical records specifically. Personnel records, deployment orders, and unit histories can also establish what happened.
A Medical Nexus
The nexus is where most claims fall apart. A doctor must provide a written opinion connecting your current diagnosis to the in-service event, stating it’s “at least as likely as not” that the connection exists.3eCFR. 38 CFR 3.303 – Principles Relating to Service Connection That phrase is the legal threshold and means a 50% or greater probability. An opinion that says the condition “could possibly” be related, or that the connection is “speculative,” doesn’t meet the bar. The opinion must be based on a review of your records, not just your verbal account.
When You Don’t Have to Prove All Three
For some conditions and service periods, the VA presumes the connection exists, and you can skip the nexus letter entirely.
Presumptive Conditions Under the PACT Act
The PACT Act, signed in 2022, expanded the list of conditions presumed to be service-connected for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances. If you served in a qualifying location and later develop a listed condition, the VA assumes the connection.
For veterans who served in Vietnam, Thailand, or other locations where herbicide agents were used between 1962 and 1975, the presumptive list includes diabetes, ischemic heart disease, several cancers, Parkinson’s disease, and hypertension, among others.4Veterans Affairs. Agent Orange Exposure and Disability Compensation For Gulf War and post-9/11 veterans with burn pit exposure, the VA now presumes service connection for a wide range of cancers affecting the brain, gastrointestinal system, kidneys, lungs, blood, and reproductive organs.5Veterans Affairs. Presumptive Cancers Related to Burn Pit Exposure Gulf War veterans may also qualify for presumptive connection for chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and functional gastrointestinal disorders, provided the condition manifested to at least 10% disabling by December 31, 2026.6eCFR. 38 CFR 3.317 – Compensation for Certain Disabilities Occurring in Persian Gulf Veterans
Secondary Service Connection
A secondary connection applies when an already service-connected condition causes or worsens a separate problem. A veteran rated for a knee injury who develops chronic back pain because the knee changed their gait can claim the back condition as secondary. The rule also covers aggravation. If your service-connected condition makes a pre-existing civilian condition measurably worse, you can receive a rating for the degree of worsening.7eCFR. 38 CFR 3.310 – Disabilities That Are Proximately Due To, or Aggravated by, Service-Connected Disease or Injury
For aggravation claims, the VA needs medical evidence of a baseline severity before the aggravation began. Without that baseline, the VA won’t concede the worsening was caused by the service-connected disability. A doctor who has treated you over time and can document the progression is valuable here.
Evidence to Gather Before You File
The strength of your evidence decides whether your claim gets approved on the first pass or kicked back for development.
VA Form 21-526EZ. The main application for disability compensation.8Veterans Affairs. File for Disability Compensation With VA Form 21-526EZ Be precise about your conditions. Vague entries create confusion for the rating specialist. List each condition separately rather than grouping them.
Service treatment records. These document injuries, illnesses, and medical visits during your service. If you don’t already have copies, the VA can request them from the National Personnel Records Center, but that adds weeks or months to the process. Getting them yourself first speeds things up.
Private medical records. Treatment records from civilian doctors after discharge fill the gap between service and the present. Consistent treatment showing ongoing symptoms makes the nexus argument easier for a medical professional to support. Gaps in treatment don’t kill a claim, but they give the VA room to question whether the condition is truly continuous.
Lay and witness statements. VA Form 21-10210 lets fellow service members, family, friends, or coworkers describe what they observed about your disability, when symptoms started, and how they affect your daily life.9Veterans Benefits Administration. Lay/Witness Statement These carry real weight with raters, especially for conditions like chronic pain or PTSD where symptoms aren’t always visible in clinical notes. A buddy who witnessed the in-service event can be particularly persuasive.
Nexus letter. A written medical opinion linking your current condition to service using the “at least as likely as not” standard. The doctor must review your full medical history and explain the reasoning. Your treating physician may write one at no charge, but many veterans hire independent medical experts who specialize in VA opinions. These typically cost between $500 and $1,500, though complex cases can run higher.
Disability Benefits Questionnaires. The VA publishes DBQs that any licensed healthcare provider can complete to document severity and functional impact.10Veterans Affairs. Public Disability Benefits Questionnaires (DBQs) They mirror what VA examiners use, so submitting a completed DBQ gives the rater the evidence in the format they expect. Not every DBQ is publicly available. Conditions like PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and hearing loss require VA-specific examiners. The VA does not reimburse costs for private DBQ completion.
Filing and the C&P Exam
Submit the claim through the VA.gov online portal, by mail to the Evidence Intake Center, or in person at a regional office.11Veterans Affairs. How to File a VA Disability Claim The online portal gives immediate confirmation and lets you track progress. After the VA receives your claim, expect to be scheduled for a Compensation and Pension (C&P) exam.
A VA physician or contract examiner evaluates the severity of each claimed condition and completes a DBQ based on their findings. This is not a treatment appointment. The examiner’s job is to measure and document your limitations, not to help you get better. Be straightforward about your worst days. Veterans tend to downplay symptoms out of habit or toughness, and examiners can only rate what you report and what they observe. Describe how the condition affects your ability to work, handle daily tasks, and function physically.
If the exam requires travel, you may be eligible for mileage reimbursement at $0.415 per mile round-trip.12Veterans Affairs. Reimbursed VA Travel Expenses and Mileage Rate
Your file then goes to a rating specialist who applies the Schedule for Rating Disabilities to assign a percentage for each condition. As of mid-2025, the VA’s average processing time for disability claims was about 132 days.13VA News. VA Processes More Than 2M Disability Claims in Record Time Your decision letter will list the rating for each condition, the combined overall rating, and the effective date.
What the Rating Pays
VA disability compensation is tax-free at the federal level.14IRS. Veterans Tax Information and Services For a single veteran with no dependents, the 2026 monthly rate ranges from $180.42 at 10% to $3,938.58 at 100%.15Veterans Affairs. Current Veterans Disability Compensation Rates Veterans rated 30% or higher receive additional compensation for dependents, including spouses, children, and dependent parents.
A 0% rating doesn’t pay a monthly benefit, but it does unlock VA healthcare for the service-connected condition, a 10-point preference in federal hiring, and a waiver of the VA home loan funding fee.16Veterans Benefits Administration. VA Benefit Eligibility Matrix
How Multiple Ratings Combine
If you have more than one service-connected condition, the VA doesn’t add the percentages together. A 40% rating plus a 20% rating does not equal 60%. The VA uses a “whole person” calculation that accounts for your remaining efficiency after each disability.17eCFR. 38 CFR 4.25 – Combined Ratings Table
Start with your highest-rated disability. A 40% rating means you’re considered 60% efficient. The next disability, say 20%, applies to that remaining 60%, not to the whole person. Twenty percent of 60 is 12, so the combined value is 40 + 12 = 52%. The VA then rounds to the nearest number divisible by 10, in this case 50%. Numbers ending in 5 round up, so 55% becomes 60%.
Each additional disability produces a smaller marginal increase. Veterans with several moderate ratings often find their combined percentage lower than expected. Understanding this math helps you identify whether pursuing an increase for one specific condition could push your combined rating to the next tier.
File Early to Protect Your Back Pay
The biggest financial mistake veterans make is waiting too long to file. Your effective date, the date from which the VA calculates back pay, depends on when you act.
If you file within one year of your discharge date, the VA sets your effective date as the day after discharge.18Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 38 USC 5110 – Effective Dates of Awards File after that window closes and your effective date is the day the VA receives the claim. All the months or years in between are forfeited. For a veteran with a 50% rating, that gap costs over $1,100 per month in lost benefits.
If you’re not ready to submit a complete application, filing VA Form 21-0966 (Intent to File) reserves your effective date for up to one year while you gather evidence.19Veterans Affairs. Submit an Intent to File When your claim is approved, you receive retroactive payments dating back to when the VA processed the intent. You must submit the actual claim within that one-year window or the reserved date expires.
Service members still on active duty can file 180 to 90 days before their separation date through the Benefits Delivery at Discharge (BDD) program.20Veterans Benefits Administration. Benefits Delivery at Discharge Program The VA’s goal is to deliver a rating decision within 30 days of separation, so compensation can begin almost immediately. To use BDD, you need your separation date, your service treatment records, a completed Separation Health Assessment, and availability for VA exams for 45 days after filing.
If the Decision Is Wrong
Disagreeing with your rating is common, and the VA offers three review paths. You have one year from the date on your decision letter to file a Higher-Level Review or Board Appeal.21Veterans Affairs. Choosing a Decision Review Option
A Supplemental Claim is the right option when you have new and relevant evidence the VA didn’t consider, such as a fresh medical opinion or newly obtained service records.22Veterans Affairs. Supplemental Claims It has no filing deadline, but the one-year window matters for preserving your original effective date.
A Higher-Level Review asks a more senior reviewer to look at the same record and identify errors. No new evidence is allowed. You can request an optional informal phone conference to point out what went wrong.
A Board Appeal sends your case to a Veterans Law Judge at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals.23Veterans Affairs. Board Appeals You choose direct review of the existing record, evidence submission within 90 days of filing, or a hearing (virtual, by video at a local VA facility, or in person in Washington, D.C.). Board Appeals take longer than the other paths, but they put your case in front of a judge with authority to overturn the original decision.