VA back pay and effective dates

Back pay (retroactive benefits) is the lump sum covering the time between your effective date and the day VA finishes your claim. The earlier your effective date, the larger the back pay.

How the effective date is set

• Usually the date VA received your claim.
• If you filed an Intent to File (VA Form 21-0966) first, it's the date of that intent, and you then have one year to submit the full claim. Filing online captures this automatically.
• For an increase, it can reach back up to one year before you filed if records show the condition worsened in that window.
• Some presumptive / PACT Act claims have special effective-date rules.

Protect your date

The single biggest lever is time: file an Intent to File the day you decide to claim, even if you're not ready to submit everything yet.