Forms and information to get started.
The intake form starts the review. The Intent to File is a separate, one-page VA form, and filing it today is what protects your back pay.
An Intent to File is a placeholder for your money.
It is one page. It does not start your claim and it does not commit you to anything. What it does is tell the VA you intend to file, and that date becomes your effective date.
Claims take months. When yours is finally granted, the VA pays back to the effective date, not to the day the decision was signed. File the Intent to File today and today is the date that counts, even if the full claim goes in weeks later. It holds for one year.
If you file nothing now and send the claim in three months from now, those three months are simply gone. That is what the numbers below are showing you.
What an Intent to File covers, and the four ways to file one.
VA Form 21-0966, the Intent to File. It opens as a PDF on the VA's own website. Not sure whether it applies to you? Start the intake or call 706-383-1717 and ask before you file anything.
Information that may be needed
DD214
Discharge or separation documentation.
VA Disabilities
Current rating and known service-connected conditions.
Service Treatment Records
Relevant in-service medical or treatment records.
Medical Evidence
Current medical records, evaluations, or ongoing care details.
Start with a private intake.
MVAC reviews each submission and follows up directly, within 2 business days, Monday thru Thursday. Sensitive details are stored encrypted and viewed only through the protected admin.