Do NOT submit 2nd form for TDIU on appeal

[mandyp]

Sorry I wasn't sure where to post this so I will post here and in the TDIU section as well because I want to help my fellow veterans who may have come across this same issue and had gotten confused just as I did. My TDIU is currently on appeal at the BVA and shortly after a CP I received a letter from the VA stating my appeal had been remanded for further development and that they needed additional information from me. The letter stated I may be entitled to TDIU and to fill out forms 21-8940 and 21-4192. Ok great! Except I ALREADY filled these forms out and that is what is currently on appeal. So I called the 800 and asked "do I REALLY need to fill another form out" to which the gentleman replied NO!! It is on appeal do NOT fill out 2nd paperwork, because the VA is working on my case and as it is progressing the system recognizes that I now qualify for certain benefits and it automatically generates the letters to be sent. So I guess it is a good thing because it shows progress on my appeal and that I do qualify for TDIU which hopefully the BVA will award. So as I have learned to do I came to hadit to see if anyone else had this similar experience and to share my experience with you so that maybe I can save you sometime and confusion as well. Because if I had filled those forms out the system would recognize it as NEW and not on appeal, and that my friends would have led to another battle.

[Kelly Severance]

Hello MandyP.  This is exactly what happened to us.  My husband's remand (TDIU) was being worked (finally) and we were getting requests for any further medical records, etc.  That started in May 2019.  I usually correspond with the BVA through email concerning the status of the appeal.  In October, we were told it was "ready for decision", but by November, still no change.  So I emailed them again.  The correspondence said that the VARO had found a letter from our Primary care doctor stating that that my husband was unemployable due to his SC disabilities, so his case had been assigned to an administrative team in Atlanta for further development.  Around that same time we received another letter stating that they were working on the remand and needed him to fill out an 21-8940 (which we had already done in May 2017, which was denied and then added to his appeal).  So we did complete the form.  I asked around and researched, but could not find any info as to whether or not we should do it,  because my worry was that this would change his EED from May 2017 to November 2019.  So we did fill it out and send it in.  Once they received it, a new claim opened in VA.gov and ebenefits for increase (TDIU and his other 3 Service connected disabilities).  After a few weeks that claim closed and said a decision packet had been sent by mail.  THEN THE CLAIM DISAPPEARED FROM EBENEFITS AND VA.GOV......JUST GONE!  We have not received the decision packet yet.  However, the APPEAL still remains open in VA.gov.  So we have no idea what is going on.