Withdrawing a Appeal/Claim
So you want to remove your Appeal, whole Claim, or just one claimed condition?
Before you do CONSIDER the following:
If this was a new claim you WILL LOSE your Effective date, which is how your back pay is calculated;
If this an appeal, if you do NOT refile your appeal within the one year appeal window you WILL lose your effective date;
Any intent to file associated with your claim/appeal will remain tied to the removed claim/appeal. Meaning it will NOT be freed to be assigned to something else!
If your appeal was a Higher Level Review OR an appeal to the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA) and it has been over a year since the original claim decision. You will be UNABLE to file either of those appeal types on that claimed issue (without first filing a supplemental claim);
Your condition may entitle you to Special Monthly Compensation;
Even if you are currently rated 100% P&T you can still benefit from having other conditions service-connected. This is particularly true if one of the claims are for a condition that is likely to result in your death in the next few years AND/OR you plan on living overseas.
See Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) and the Foreign Medical Program for more information.
If your primary fear is the VA reducing an evaluation or removing service-connection on something granted in a prior decision; UNLESS the grant was SUPER GENEROUS for seemingly no reason you should genuinely not be all too concerned. MOST raters are NOT going to go out of their way making more work for themselves tearing apart every prior decision looking for errors. And even then, for a rater to do anything those errors MUST be Clear and Unmistakeable Errrors (CUEs) which have a fairly high bar to meet.
Taking Action
Time to get these conditions removed!
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Requests to remove an appeal/claim MUST be processed by the VA/BVA BEFORE a decision has been made. If the VA/VBA processes your request after this, well... then it is too late!
New claims/increases
You have two primary methods to withdraw; phone and online.
Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA)
You do not have the luxury of an online option. You may submit:
Via your VSO
Fax
844-678-8979
Snail Mail
Board of Veterans' Appeals P.O. Box 27063 Washington, DC 20038
Another option you have is to make the request before the judge. But... please do NOT waste the Court's time and your fellow Veteran's by taking up a slot before a judge!
Higher Level Reviews and Supplemental Claims
The VA does not provide a specific form to remove a claim. However, it is recommended you use a Personal statement form as it contains all the administrative data the VA needs.
On the form you MUST state specifically which claimed condition(s) you are wanting to pull!
Click HERE to submit your statement online.
Phone:
Contact the VA at 1-800-827-1000.
You MUST state specifically which claimed condition(s) you are wanting to pull!
Online:
The VA does not provide a specific form to remove a claim. However, it is recommended you use a Personal statement form as it contains all the administrative data the VA needs.
On the form you MUST state specifically which claimed condition(s) you are wanting to pull!
Click HERE to submit your statement online.
I Was only KIDDING VA!
So you decided that you actually do not want to drop your claim?
New claims/increases
You have 30 days from when the VA processed your removal request to contact the VA to restore your claim.
You may contact the VA at 1-800-827-1000.
Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA)
There are two factors and time-frames that determine if you can reopen your BVA appeal:
You have NOT received a Statement of the Case (SOC).
You have have 12 months from the decision you were appealing to submit a VA Form 10182.
You HAVE received a Statement of the Case (SOC).
You have 12 months from the date of the SOC to submit a VA Form 9.
Higher Level Reviews and Supplemental Claims
If you removed any Higher Level Reviews or Supplemental Claims then there is NO takesie-backies!