Filing a Supplemental Claim for VA Disability Benefits

If you are a veteran whose VA disability benefits claim was denied, you may still be able to receive compensation for your service-connected disability by filing an appeal. Appealing a VA decision with a supplemental claim can give you the opportunity to present new evidence that wasn’t available for the VA to consider when it made its previous decision.  

Navigating the process to obtain VA disability benefits can be frustrating and difficult to understand. This article will explain how filing a supplemental claim could help you get the VA disability benefits you are owed.  

What to do when a VA disability claim is denied

The VA denies claims for a variety of reasons. One common reason is due to lack of evidence. This may mean that didn’t provide enough medical documentation of your disability or sufficient evidence that it is service connected.

Regardless of the reason for a denial, an appeal could lead the VA to make a new rating decision. There are three ways you can appeal a VA decision. You can submit a supplemental claim, request a higher-level review (HLR), or file a Notice of Disagreement with the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA).

What is a supplemental claim?

A supplemental claim decision will be made at a VA regional office.

“The difference between a supplemental claim and an initial claim is that a supplemental claim has to be supported by new and relevant evidence,” said VA-certified disability benefits lawyer Lori Underwood.

This means if you choose the supplemental claim lane you cannot just resubmit the same evidence you did the first time you submitted the claim. New and relevant evidence is information that supports your claim that has not been presented in a previous claim. 

If you want to appeal because you disagree with a VA decision but don’t have new and relevant evidence to present, you can request an HLR at the regional office or you can appeal to the BVA through the direct review docket or the hearing docket.

“You can use a supplemental claim as a tool to appeal within the one-year timeframe of an unfavorable decision in the AMA and keep your effective date rolling,” Underwood said.

Supplemental claims can not be used to appeal a decision the VA made years ago, but they can be used as a way to reopen a prior claim using new and relevant evidence.

For example, if you were denied a service connection for PTSD in 1981 and you did not appeal the decision, that decision became final. But if you have new evidence from a doctor who says you have PTSD related to service, you could use a supplemental claim to request the new evidence be considered along with the previous evidence of your initial claim.

“What this would do would reopen that prior final decision that denied service connection for PTSD so that you can continue to adjudicate service connection for that condition,” Underwood said. “It would not, though, open your prior effective date.”

Evidence for a supplemental claim

If you file a supplemental claim, what kind of evidence can help your case?

First, you should know that the VA is required to help veterans gather the evidence necessary for disability benefits claims. If you don’t have the necessary records, the VA can request them from a VA medical center, federal facility, or from your private doctor.

Medical evidence

Private medical records, in-service records, records from the VA may be submitted to support asupplemental claim.

New medical evidence can include:

• Enlistment and separation examinations
• Reports from doctors
• X-rays and MRIs
• Laboratory test results
• Psychologist reports
• Documentation from your C-file

Lay evidence

You can also provide the VA with lay statements from family, friends, other service members, and employers.

These statements from people who know how your service-connected conditions affect your life are submitted using a Statement in Support of a Claim. Be aware, the VA also has a form with a similar name called a Statement in Support of a Claim for Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome which is to provide documentation of stressful incidents that occurred during service.  

Supplemental claims and individual unemployability (TDIU)

Often, veterans facing a service-connected disability cannot work due to the physical limitations caused by their injury. If your disability causes you to be unemployed, you may have submitted a claim for total disability based on individual unemployability (TDIU), also known as individual unemployability or IU. You also may have submitted employment records to prove your unemployability.

If you previously provided the VA with employment information and your claim was denied, the evidence may not have been presented adequately. Your medical records or other documentation you provided may not have been sufficient.

The VA may also deny your TDIU claim if you can work, even if that work is limited. Being marginally employed doesn’t mean you are capable of substantially gainful employment. In these cases, you may still be entitled to disability benefits.  

If your claim was denied for any of these reasons, you may choose to submit a supplemental claim for TDIU to ensure you are compensated fairly for your disability.   

How Woods and Woods can help

The process of filing a supplemental claim and providing new and relevant evidence can be complex and overwhelming. If you’re a veteran who was denied VA disability benefits for your service-connected condition, the VA disability lawyers at Woods and Woods can help you file a supplemental claim. 

A family-owned business since 1985, our lawyers have helped veterans across the country get the maximum disability benefits they deserve for their injuries and illnesses. Our focus is on helping veterans who are unable to work. We also assist the surviving spouses of deceased service members to obtain the benefits to which they’re entitled. 

Woods and Woods never charges an upfront fee to help you apply for disability benefits or file a supplemental claim — you only pay if we win your VA disability benefits case.