Claims help · Back pay
VA Back Pay: How Far Back Does It Go?
Back pay depends on one date, your effective date. Here are the answers Kansas veterans most often need about how it’s set and how to protect it.
- The basic rule
- Intent to File
- After discharge
- Increases & appeals
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How Is My Effective Date Set?
Generally, it’s the later of the date the VA received your claim or the date your entitlement arose (38 CFR 3.400). Payments start on the first of the month after that date. Back pay is everything owed from then until your first regular payment.
Can I Get an Earlier Date?
- Intent to File: VA Form 21-0966 (or online or by phone) holds your date for up to a year while you build the claim.
- Recently discharged: file within a year of separation and the date can go back to the day after you got out. That matters for soldiers leaving Fort Riley or Fort Leavenworth and airmen leaving McConnell.
- Increases: can reach back up to one year if medical evidence shows when the condition got worse.
Will Appealing Cost Me Back Pay?
Not if you stay continuous. Filing a Higher-Level Review, Board Appeal or Supplemental Claim within one year of each decision generally preserves the original effective date. Estimate what’s at stake with our calculator.
Back Pay Q&A: Common Questions
What’s the fastest way to protect my date?
File an Intent to File today, online, by phone, or on VA Form 21-0966.
I’ve been out for years. Can I get back pay to discharge?
Generally only if you filed within a year of discharge. Otherwise it’s usually the date of your claim or Intent to File.
How far back can an increase go?
Up to one year before your claim, if medical evidence shows the increase happened in that year.
When does payment start?
Generally on the first day of the month after your effective date.
Kansas Veterans: Get the Rating You Earned
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