VA Form 10182 Example: Choosing a Board Docket (2026 Form)

The current VA Form 10182, dated June 2026, asks a Veterans Law Judge at the Board of Veterans' Appeals to review issues VA decided. Its key choice is in Part II, Item 10: Direct Review uses only the record VA already had, Evidence Submission gives you 90 days to add evidence, and Hearing adds a hearing with a judge plus 90 days after it for evidence. Decide what you need the Board to see before you check a box, because the docket controls what the judge may consider.

The Board announced on its contact and notices page that it revised the form on May 31, 2026. Download a fresh copy rather than following a screenshot of an older layout; the June 2026 edition includes a box asking the Board to decide as soon as possible.

Part I: Personal information (Items 1 to 9)

Items 1 to 3 are the veteran's name, VA file number and date of birth. Items 4 and 5 are for an appellant who is not the veteran. Item 6 is your preferred mailing address, with a box if you are homeless. Items 7 and 8 are your phone and email, and Item 9 is your representative's name. If you want a virtual hearing, the form tells you to give your email and representative in Part I.

Part II: Board review option (Item 10)

Check exactly one box.

If you check 10C, choose one hearing type: a Central Office hearing, which you attend in person at the Board in Washington, DC; a videoconference hearing, which you attend from a VA regional office; or a virtual telehearing, which you attend from your own internet-connected device. VA's Board Appeal page notes that you pay your own travel costs for an in-person hearing in Washington. The instructions add two rules for the hearing docket: if you miss the hearing, you have 90 days from the scheduled date to send evidence, and if you withdraw the hearing request, you have 90 days from when the Board receives the withdrawal.

VA's page lists the Board's goals as 365 days for Direct Review, 550 days for Evidence Submission and 730 days for a hearing. Those are goals, not deadlines for a particular appeal; the 2025 comparison of appeal lanes shows what timing looked like across lanes.

Part III: Issues to appeal (Item 11)

Fictional appellant Sam Taylor has a decision notice dated July 8, 2026 that denied service connection for a wrist condition and decided the rating for an already service-connected knee. Sam wants the Board to review only the wrist.

The knee issue is not appealed because Sam did not list it; the Board considers only the issues on the form. Item 11 also has two checkboxes above the issue lines:

• Decide as soon as possible. Normally the Board does not decide until the period to switch dockets has passed. Checking this box tells the Board not to wait for that period. It does not move your place in line, and once the Board decides, you cannot change your review option. Sam leaves it blank because Sam may want to add evidence.
• Good-cause extension. Check it only if you are asking for more time to file the form, and attach sheets explaining the good cause. Checking it does not grant the extension.

If different issues need different dockets, the instructions say to file a separate Form 10182 for each review option and list the matching issues on each.

Part IV: Signature (Items 12 and 13)

Sam signs Item 12 in ink and dates Item 13. An appointed representative may sign for the appellant.

You can still switch dockets for a limited time

The instructions let you change your Board review option by filing a new, complete Form 10182 with the new choice in Part II. The deadline is one year from the date VA mailed the decision you are appealing, or 60 days after the Board receives your first Form 10182, whichever is later. You cannot switch once you have submitted evidence to the Board or testified at a hearing. This is the window the "decide as soon as possible" box refers to.

Deadlines and where to send it

For most modernized appeals, the Board must receive the form, or it must be postmarked, within one year from the date VA mailed the decision. A contested claim, where two people claim the same benefit, has 60 days. If you are opting in from a Statement of the Case or Supplemental Statement of the Case in the legacy system, the deadline is 60 days from that statement or one year from the original decision, whichever is later. You cannot request two Board Appeals in a row on the same claim.

You can file online, by mail to Board of Veterans' Appeals, PO Box 27063, Washington, DC 20038, in person at a VA regional office, or by fax, as listed on VA's Board Appeal page. Keep the signed form, your chosen docket, each issue and date, your attachments and your confirmation. On the Evidence Submission docket, log the date the Board received the form as the start of your 90 days.

What the Board can do with each issue

The Board decides each issue separately and can grant it, deny it or send it back to VA for more work. In Claim Raven's analysis of 2024 to 2025 Board decisions, condition records split 29.5% granted, 40.8% denied, 26.6% remanded and 2.8% dismissed. These are appeals of already-disputed claims, so the split describes the Board's pattern, not your odds; the full breakdown is on Claim Raven's VA disability statistics page. If you want a written argument to attach to the form, Sample 3 in the appeal letter samples is written for the Evidence Submission docket.

Claim Raven sells claim-preparation tools, including the one linked on this page, and has a commercial interest in them.

Sources and scope

Checked September 23, 2026: VA Form 10182 (VA's form page lists the June 2026 revision) and its printed instructions, VA's Board Appeal page, and the Board's notice of the revised form. Board figures come from Claim Raven's analysis of 2024 to 2025 decisions and count condition records. Sam Taylor and every entry above are fictional.