I recently received a letter in the mail awarding me with a 50% rating. The very next day, I received another letter saying the VA would recoup all of the award money to pay the $30,000 severance pay I received upon separation from the service. There seems to be no way around this. Now , this is my question. I received $30,000 and was taxed probably around $6000, so I only received $24,000. The VA wants $30,000 and my DAV rep says it is unchangeable due to the timeframe. Is there a way I can file with the IRS to have the $6000 returned to me?