VA announced that veterans and survivors who apply (or submit their intent to file) for PACT Act benefits by 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, August 14th will be eligible to have their benefits backdated to August 10th, 2022.

This is an extension from the original August 9th deadline. All Veterans and their survivors can apply for PACT Act benefits by visiting VA.gov/PACT.

VA officials said the decision to extend the deadline was made after experiencing technical difficulties with VA.gov/PACT in recent days. Officials added that due to extremely high demand, some veterans who have sought to submit their intent to file for PACT Act benefits received error messages while doing so. Despite these messages, officials said they successfully logged every intent to file, and that every veteran or survivor who received an error message while applying for benefits can consider their intent to file complete.

VA is working to contact these individuals to confirm directly to them that their intent to file will be honored and their effective date protected. Officials added that nearly all of the technical issues VA.gov/PACT have been resolved, and they are working to decrease abnormally long call center wait times.

Veterans and their survivors are encouraged to immediately file their PACT Act claims or submit their intents to file.