Free tool · VA-accredited attorneys and claims agents
VA appeal deadline calculator
The date on the decision letter starts every clock. Enter it once and get the Higher-Level Review, Supplemental Claim and Board windows, the 60-day contested deadline, and the intent-to-file year, each with the VA.gov rule it comes from. Then put them on your calendar.
How the dates are calculated
One year from the date on the decision letter for all three review lanes under the Appeals Modernization Act. A Higher-Level Review must be requested within that year; a Board appeal must be filed within a year of the decision on the claim, a Supplemental Claim or a Higher-Level Review; and a Supplemental Claim can be filed any time, but VA must receive it within the year to keep the effective date and the back pay attached to it (VA.gov, Choosing a decision review option; VA.gov, Board Appeals).
Sixty days on a contested claim. When more than one party claims the same benefit, the Board deadline is 60 days from the decision letter, not a year (VA.gov, Board Appeals).
One year from the intent to file to get the complete claim to VA, which is what lets an approved claim pay back to the intent-to-file date (VA.gov, Your intent to file a VA claim).
The check-ins are ours, not VA’s. Ninety, sixty and thirty days before the first hard date (thirty and fourteen on a contested claim), so a matter that has gone quiet gets opened before the window does.
A year is counted on the calendar, so a letter dated October 22 gives October 22 of the next year; a February 29 letter lands on February 28. The clock restarts with every new decision, so run this again from each letter. This is a safeguard against forgetting, not legal advice, and no tool replaces a firm’s own docketing.
Questions
- How long do you have to appeal a VA disability decision?
- One year from the date on the decision letter, for any of the three review options: a Higher-Level Review, a Supplemental Claim, or a Board appeal. The exception is a contested claim, where a Board appeal must be filed within 60 days of the decision letter.
- Does the appeal deadline reset after each VA decision?
- Yes. An unfavorable Higher-Level Review or Supplemental Claim decision opens a fresh one-year window to choose another lane, and a Board appeal can be filed within one year of the decision on the initial claim, a Supplemental Claim, or a Higher-Level Review. Run the calculator again from each new letter.
- What is the intent-to-file deadline?
- After VA receives an intent to file, the complete claim must be filed within one year. File inside that year and an approved claim can be paid back to the intent-to-file date; let it lapse and the effective date resets to when the full claim is received.
- Is the date counted from when the letter arrived?
- No. VA counts from the date on the decision notice, not the day it reached the veteran or the firm. Enter the date printed on the letter.
Where this came from
In Funal, the letter does this on its own.
Record a decision letter on the matter and each contention gets its outcome, the appeal window is derived per issue, and the paralegal speaks up as a window closes. The fee the VA owes follows from the same letter. Built inside a working VA appeals practice; you pay nothing until your first fee comes in.
Read next: how to read a VA decision letter, section by section, every VA claim and appeal deadline a firm must track, and the best CRM for VA disability firms.