These two filings are treated separately for effective-date purposes, and it matters what each one is actually claiming.
An Intent to File (submitted on VA Form 21-0966, or informally through eBenefits/VA.gov) locks in a potential effective date for up to one year under 38 CFR 3.155. If a complete claim is received within that one-year window, VA can assign the effective date of the ITF (rather than the later filing date) for any benefit that is ultimately granted, as long as entitlement existed as of that earlier date. So for the newly claimed conditions filed on the Supplemental Claim, the ITF date should apply as the effective date, since the claim was submitted within the one-year window.
Official 2026 VA monthly compensation, including the 2.8% COLA increase.
Dependent add-ons start at a 30% rating. Child-only and dependent-parent rates: see the full 2026 pay chart.
| Rating | Monthly (2026, incl. 2.8% COLA) |
|---|---|
| 10% | $180.42 |
| 20% | $356.66 |
| 30% | $552.47 |
| 40% | $795.84 |
| 50% | $1,132.90 |
| 60% | $1,435.02 |
| 70% | $1,808.45 |
| 80% | $2,102.15 |
| 90% | $2,362.30 |
| 100% | $3,938.58 |
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Analyze my claim free →The Supplemental Claim reopening the 2020 denial is a different situation. Under the Appeals Modernization Act, a Supplemental Claim (VA Form 20-0995) requires new and relevant evidence, and if it's filed within one year of the prior decision, continuous pursuit rules under 38 CFR 3.2500 can preserve the original effective date going back to that earlier claim. But because the prior denial was in July 2020 and this Supplemental Claim wasn't filed until 2026, that one-year continuous-pursuit window has long closed. That means if this claim is granted, the effective date will generally be the date VA received the new claim with new and relevant evidence (here, July 26, 2026), not the 2020 filing date and not the ITF date, since an ITF only protects effective dates for claims not yet filed, not for reopening an already-denied claim. Limited exceptions exist, such as clear and unmistakable error (CUE) motions or effective dates tied to a liberalizing law or regulation, but those require specific legal grounds beyond simply submitting new evidence.
In the appealed VA decisions in VetAid's library, effective-date disputes and reopened-claim disputes both show meaningful rates of remand or reversal, but these figures come only from cases that were already appealed to the Board or higher, so they describe appellate outcomes, not the odds that an initial claim or reopening will be granted, and appealed cases are not a representative sample of all claims.
As a next step, review the decision letter for the effective date VA actually assigns on both the new conditions and the reopened 2020 issue; if the reopened claim's effective date is later than expected and there's a legal basis to dispute it (such as CUE or evidence VA overlooked), that issue can be raised through a Higher-Level Review, another Supplemental Claim, or a Board appeal using VA Form 10182.
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