retroactive pay

[Larry Hunt]

I filed a claim in February of 2017 and was denied I filed an appeal in may of the same year went before an appeal judge October 2021 the judge remanded back to BVA I received 30% with a retroactive pay from February 2017 to March of 2017 they awarded me 30% in October of 2022  a DAV representative told me that from the effective date to March is all I was entitle to since my overall rating of 80% was in March True or False

[broncovet]

"If" I understand your question correctly (maybe not), then no, your DAV is not correct.   The VA has not gone one of my effective dates right yet, so they probably did not get yours right either.  

I had to appeal them all, and eventually won earlier effective dates on them all.  

Your effective date is the later of the facts found, or date of claim.  (with multiple exceptions). The "facts found" is the date the doctor said you were disabled.   

See this regulation on effective dates, and exceptions, and see if any apply to you.  

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/38/5110

A few exceptions are:

1.  If you applied within a year of discharge, your effective date should go back to the day after discharge.  (source: 38  USC 5110 b 1) 

2.  If you submitted "new" evidence, this can give you an earlier date.  (38 CFR 3.156) 

3.  If this was a claim for increase, it should get you up to another year.  (38 USC 5110 b3) 

All of this said, what your DAV "may be saying" is related to "VA math".  For example, according to VA math, if you are 90 percent, and get another 30 percent, you are still 90 percent.  Forget what your teacher told you that 90 plus 30 is 120.  VA has figured out still another way to hornswaggle Veterans by "combining" your ratings, not adding them.  

My advice:  Appeal the effective date if "you" think its wrong.  With my claims none of my VSO's wanted to appeal the effective date, I did it anyway, and eventually won.  

Effective dates are rather complex, and are often "above the pay grade" for VSO's.  

Thats why most of the Veterans who get large retro's from effective dates, do so with an attorney representing them.  

Remember, your attorney "has his own skin in the game", while your VSO does not.  

Therefore, my advice is to contact one or more of these attorney's, and ask them if they think you deserve an earlier effective date.  You will likely need to send them a copy of the recent decision.  

They will advise you whether they think you deserve an eed, and, you can decide if you want to hire them, represent yourself, or stay with your DAV. 

Most Vets turn to attorneys "only after" they have tried VSO's and they failed.  

https://www.vetadvocates.org/cpages/sustaining-members-directory

 

 

 

[broncovet]

One other thing.  At least once, AFTER appealing the effective date and winning, VA STILL got it wrong, off by 5 figures, not in my favor.  

In this instance, they had the effective date correct, but did the math wrong.  I contacted the VARO and asked for an "audit" of my retro, the audit revealed the VA miscalculated the retro and I was sent another retro check (big one, too).