VA Rating Decision Letter Example: Read Each Issue Before You Respond

A VA rating decision letter tells you, issue by issue, what VA granted, denied, or deferred, the percentage and effective date it assigned, the evidence it considered, and how to ask for review. Read the date on the notice and every issue before you decide how to respond.

The fictional excerpt below shows each of those parts, followed by a worksheet you can copy for your own letter.

What the notice must contain

Federal law, 38 U.S.C. § 5104(b), requires a VA decision notice to include:

1. the issues decided;
2. a summary of the evidence considered;
3. a summary of the laws and regulations applied;
4. the findings that are favorable to you;
5. for a denial, the elements that were not met;
6. how to get the evidence used to decide the claim;
7. where it applies, what it would take to grant service connection or the next higher rating.

Use that list as a checklist. Under the modernized review system, a condition you claimed that the decision does not mention has not been decided. In Hamill v. Collins (Fed. Cir. February 4, 2026), the Federal Circuit held that under that system a claim can no longer be implicitly denied. Claim Raven's explainer on Hamill v. Collins covers what that means for an issue VA never addressed.

What the packet may include

• Notification letter: the dated notice with the result, payment information for any award, and review instructions. The date on this notice starts your deadlines.
• Rating decision: the issue-by-issue explanation, with the evidence list, favorable findings, and reasons.
• Code sheet: a technical summary of diagnostic codes, percentages, effective dates, and the combined rating. It is not in every packet.

A benefit summary letter you download from VA.gov is a different document. It confirms current benefits but does not explain a decision.

A fictional decision excerpt

Everything below is invented for teaching. It is not a real veteran's letter and is not wording to copy.

Decision

1. Service connection for posttraumatic stress disorder is granted with an evaluation of 50 percent effective December 16, 2025. 2. Service connection for tinnitus is granted with an evaluation of 10 percent effective December 16, 2025. 3. Service connection for obstructive sleep apnea is denied.

Evidence

• Service treatment records, January 2010 to June 2014
• VA treatment records, Durham VA Medical Center, July 2014 to November 2025
• VA examination reports dated October 15, 2025 (mental disorders; hearing loss and tinnitus)
• Private sleep study dated August 12, 2025
• Statement from your spouse dated September 3, 2025

Favorable findings (sleep apnea)

The private sleep study dated August 12, 2025 confirms a current diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea.

Reasons for decision (sleep apnea)

Service connection for obstructive sleep apnea is denied. The evidence shows a current diagnosis. The service treatment records do not show sleep complaints or treatment, and the record does not contain competent evidence linking the current diagnosis to military service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303.

Code sheet

How to read each part

The grant lines. Each gives a percentage and an effective date. Check both against the notification letter, the code sheet, and your payment. A granted issue can still be reviewed if you disagree with the percentage or the date.

The denial. VA accepted the diagnosis, so the sleep study does not need to be proved again. The reasons name two unmet elements: an event or symptoms in service, and a medical link. Those are the open questions. Reading favorable findings together with the denial explains why an accepted fact binds later VA decision-makers.

The code sheet. The four-digit numbers are diagnostic codes from the rating schedule. You can look up the criteria for any code in Claim Raven's diagnostic code reference. A different code than you expected is not automatically an error; 38 C.F.R. § 4.20 lets VA rate an unlisted condition under a closely related one.

The combined rating. VA does not add percentages. It combines them with the table in 38 C.F.R. § 4.25, starting with the highest rating. In the table, 50 and 10 combine to 55, and a combined value ending in 5 rounds up, so the final rating is 60 percent. The disability calculator runs the same table.

Common codes you may see on a code sheet

These entries come from the current rating schedule, 38 C.F.R. Part 4. The code tells you which criteria VA applied; it does not show whether the percentage is right.

Build one worksheet per issue

Repeat the table for every issue, including the granted ones. A long letter is easier to check when each issue has its own row.

Check the effective date

For most compensation awards, the effective date is the date VA received the claim or the date entitlement arose, whichever is later, under 38 C.F.R. § 3.400. Common exceptions:

• If VA received a direct service-connection claim within one year after you separated, the date can be the day after separation.
• If you keep an issue moving by filing a review within one year of each decision, VA uses the original claim date (or the date entitlement arose, if later), under 38 C.F.R. § 3.2500(h).
• A Supplemental Claim filed more than one year after the decision generally cannot get an effective date earlier than the date VA receives it.

Effective dates are disputed often enough to appear as their own issue at the Board. In Claim Raven's analysis of 2024 to 2025 Board decisions, 496 decided records were effective-date issues, and 46.6% ended favorably. Those are already-disputed appeals, so the figure describes a pattern, not your odds (VA disability statistics). If the date on your letter looks wrong, build the timeline first.

Partial grants and deferred issues

A letter can grant one issue, deny another, and defer a third. You can accept a granted benefit while you seek review of a denied issue, a percentage, or an effective date. A deferred issue has not been decided yet, so there is nothing to appeal on that issue; watch for VA's requests and exam notices.

If an initial percentage seems too low, reviewing this decision and filing a new claim for an increase are different paths, and a new increase claim may not keep the effective date of this decision.

Check the evidence list against your records

• Is a record you submitted missing from the list?
• Does the reasons section describe a record inaccurately?
• Does a cited exam report rely on a wrong date or fact?
• Did VA say it requested records it never received?

A missing entry does not prove VA ignored a document, because lists sometimes group records. Treat it as a point to check against the full claims file. Evidence missing from a VA decision list walks through that check.

Deadlines to put on your worksheet

These come from VA's decision review FAQs, 38 C.F.R. § 3.2500, and 38 U.S.C. § 7266. Some benefits have shorter limits, and your notice states the deadline that applies. You generally cannot pursue two review options for the same issue at the same time. Which option fits depends on whether you need new evidence; Supplemental Claim vs. HLR vs. Board Appeal compares them.

For a chapter-length walk through every part of a decision letter, see Claim Raven's claims guide on reading a decision letter.

Raven Eye reads a decision letter or DBQ and explains each issue with the passage behind it. One starter analysis per account is free, shared between the two document types, and it does not choose a review option or file anything. Claim Raven sells Raven Eye and has a commercial interest in it.

Sources and scope

Checked September 23, 2026: 38 U.S.C. § 5104; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.400, 3.2500 and 4.25; VA decision review FAQs; 38 U.S.C. § 7266; Hamill v. Collins. The decision excerpt is fictional, and real packets vary in layout.