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The fastest way to lose a claim is to miss a date. Enter your key dates and we count down to the deadline each one creates, from your Intent to File expiring to your appeal window closing. Private, on your device, free.
Sources: VA — Higher-Level Review, the 1-year window runs from the decision letter, VA — pre-discharge claims, BDD 180 to 90 days, VA — Intent to File
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Locks your date. You then have 1 year to file the full claim.
Add a key date above (Intent to File, a decision, your separation, or a C&P exam) and we will count down to the deadline it creates.
Tracked on this device only, no account. Missing a VA deadline can cost you your effective date or your appeal. If a date is close, do not wait, a free VSO can file for you fast, and Chart Your Claim walks the steps. General education, not legal advice.
Very little in the VA process is lost on the merits of the evidence. It is lost on a date nobody was counting. Four are worth tracking, and they do not behave the same way.
Intent to File, one year. Filing one locks your effective date while you gather evidence. It is not a claim, so nothing gets decided until the full submission lands, and if the year lapses the date protection lapses with it.
Appeal window, one year from the decision letter. VA states the one-year timeframe for a Higher-Level Review starts from the date on the decision letter, not the day you opened it. That same year governs keeping your effective date on a Supplemental Claim or a Board appeal.
BDD, 180 to 90 days before separation. A real window with a hard floor. Inside it, VA works the claim while you are still serving. Below 90 days you can still file, it is simply handled as a standard claim.
Your C&P exam. VA sets the date, so the only deadline you control is attendance. Missing it without rescheduling can get the claim decided on whatever is already on file.
Two veterans can win identical ratings and receive very different amounts. The rating decides the monthly figure, and the effective date decides how far back it is paid. Months of back pay turn on which date attaches to the award.
That is the entire reason an Intent to File exists, and why the one-year appeal window deserves more attention than it usually gets. If you are working a decision right now, the denial letter analyzer helps read what VA actually said, and the evidence tracker shows whether the claim is ready before you spend one of these windows on it.
One year from the date on your decision letter to file a Supplemental Claim, Higher-Level Review, or Board appeal and keep your effective date.
One year. Filing an Intent to File locks your effective date, and you then have up to a year to submit the full claim.
Between 180 and 90 days before your separation date. Filing in that window lets the VA process your claim while you are still in, so your rating is ready near your separation.
Not an absolute one, and this is the distinction that costs people money. You can file a Supplemental Claim at any time. What the one-year window protects is your effective date, which decides how far back your award is paid. File inside the year and it reaches back to the original claim. File outside it and the date generally restarts, so the decision is worth the same each month but a great deal less in arrears.
You are not out of options, only out of the BDD program. With fewer than 90 days left on active duty you can still file a pre-discharge claim, it is just handled as a standard claim rather than through BDD, which usually means the decision lands after you separate instead of near your separation date. Filing an Intent to File as soon as you know your date is the cheap insurance, because it locks the effective date while you gather everything else.
It covers the benefit you file it for. An Intent to File establishes an effective date for compensation, pension, or survivor benefits, and you then have a year to submit the complete claim. It is not a claim by itself, so nothing is decided until the full submission arrives, and letting the year lapse means the date protection lapses with it.
VA schedules the exam, so the only deadline you control is showing up. Missing a C&P exam without rescheduling can mean the claim is decided on the evidence already on file, which usually means a lower rating or a denial. If you cannot make the date, contact VA before it rather than after. For BDD specifically, you must be available for exams within 45 days of submitting the claim.
Deadlines checked against VA.gov in September 2026, sources linked above. General information, not legal advice and not a claims decision. A VA-accredited representative can help with your specific claim at no cost.