VA Changes Forms

Those of us who are involved with helping families, either directly with claims as accredited individuals or indirectly in simply obtaining blank forms, need to be aware that the VA oftentimes revises its forms. Typically when these changes are made, the VA will no longer accept prior versions of forms.

Recently, the VA has made significant changes to:

•         Primary application Form 21-526EZ for veterans disability compensation

•         Form 21-0966 (Notice of Intent to File a Claim)

•         Form 21-0845 (Authorization to Disclose Personal Information to a Third Party)

•         Form 21-0958 (Official Notice of Disagreement)

All of these forms now require that certain fields be broken down to individual letters and digits; e.g. the veteran’s/claimant’s name must now be spelled out with a separate field per letter.

In addition, the primary application Form 21-526EZ is much longer than its prior version and may now be signed by certain individuals other than the veteran when the veteran lacks mentally capacity to understand the content of the form. Signers may now include a Veterans Service Organization representative and a VA accredited attorney or agent, provided that this signer has a VA Power of Attorney in place (e.g. Form 21-22 or Form 21-22a).