The Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) provides benefits to those who are experiencing mental and/or physical conditions as a result of their military service. If you are living with a life-altering condition that affects your ability to work, you may be entitled to benefits.
The VA can take months to process an application for benefits, and back pay is the money owed to a Veteran from the effective date of his or her claim to the date he or she was granted benefits. The longer the VA takes to decide your claim, the more back pay it will owe if your claim is approved.
The effective date on your Veterans disability application is the date the VA uses to begin disability back pay payments. The VA assigns effective dates as either the date the Veteran’s claim was received or the date that disability entitlement first began.
There are some common misconceptions about VA back pay. The first misconception is that VA payback begins on the day of the injury or event in service, and the second misconception is that it begins on the date of discharge. However, both are untrue, and when Veterans apply for benefits after concluding his or her service, the VA does not consider the date of the event or injury. The VA grants benefits back to the date of separation only when a service member applies for benefits within one year of their separation.
The amount of back pay that Veterans receive is determined by the effective date of the claim, as well as the disability rating set by the VA. Additionally, the disability rating is used to determine how much money is owed – and the higher the rating, the more back pay the Veteran is owed.
We offer our own Veterans disability calculator which gives an estimation of what you might be owed. Just select your disability rating percentage and answer a few questions to view your potential monthly payment.
To receive the best chance of your VA claim being approved, and to learn more about how back pay works, reach out to the experienced Veterans disability attorneys at Fight4Vets. Contact us for a free consultation and we can put your mind at ease regarding your expected benefits.
