Filing a Board Appeal Evidence Submission (VA Form 10182)

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This is general education, not legal or claims advice, and not guidance for your specific claim. It cannot promise you a rating or an outcome, and no one can. For help with your own claim, see a free accredited representative (see Get free, accredited help below). Nothing here creates a representative relationship.

Current as of October 2026. Rules, forms, and figures change. Check current details at va.gov.

The best way to use this guide

The strongest position is to be your own informed advocate and to work with a free accredited representative. An accredited Veterans Service Organization, such as the DAV, VFW, American Legion, or a county or state veterans office, helps at no charge. Accredited claims agents and attorneys can help too. They can't charge for work done before VA issues its initial decision on your claim, and after that they may charge a fee within the limits of 38 CFR 14.636. This guide is here so you understand your own situation and can work with them as a full partner instead of handing it over blind. If you'd rather handle this yourself, and you're comfortable doing that, the guide walks you through every step. Either way, you stay in control.

What you'll get done

The outcome: By the end of this guide you'll have filed a complete Board Appeal on VA Form 10182, picked the Evidence Submission docket on purpose, and gotten your new evidence to the Board inside the 90-day window.

This guide prepares you for the task. It doesn't and can't promise a rating, a percentage, or an outcome. The evidence in your file decides the result.

What you need before you start

• The VA decision you're appealing, and the date on it.
• The new evidence you want the judge to consider, or a clear plan to get it within the window.
• The specific issues from the decision you want the Board to review.
• Access to VA.gov to file online, or a paper VA Form 10182 and the Board's mailing address or fax number.
• A free accredited representative on standby to help with the evidence and the timing.

When to start: Once you have new evidence and want a judge to weigh it without a hearing. You have one year from the date on the decision letter to file.

Start here: the basics

On the Evidence Submission docket, a Veterans Law Judge looks at the evidence VA had when it made the decision you're appealing, plus new evidence you send with your VA Form 10182 or within 90 days after the Board receives it. There's no hearing. Timing is the whole game here. Evidence you sent VA after the decision but before you filed the appeal isn't part of either group, so send it again inside the window. The Board's stated goal for this docket is a decision within 550 days.

Where this is written down: 38 CFR § 20.202(b)(3); 38 CFR § 20.303.

The steps

Step 1. Confirm the Evidence Submission docket fits your case.

How. This docket is for cases where new evidence matters but you don't need to testify.

If you have new evidence and want no hearing, then choose Evidence Submission. If you have no new evidence, then look at Direct Review. If you want to testify to a judge, then choose the Hearing docket. If you change your mind after filing, then you can switch dockets with a new VA Form 10182. The Board has to get it within one year of the decision or within 60 days after it got your first form, whichever is later, and you can't switch once you've sent evidence.

Where this is written down: 38 CFR § 20.202(b) and (c)(2).

Done when you've chosen Evidence Submission on purpose.

Step 2. Note the one-year deadline from your decision.

How. Find the date on the decision you're appealing and mark one year from it. For a contested claim, where you and someone else are claiming a benefit only one of you can get, the window is 60 days instead.

Do not wait for the evidence before you file if the deadline is close. File the appeal on time; the 90-day evidence window opens when the Board receives it.

Where this is written down: 38 CFR § 20.203(b); 38 CFR § 20.402.

Done when your filing deadline is on your calendar.

Step 3. Identify and gather your new evidence.

How. Name the new records, medical opinions, or statements you want the judge to consider, and tie each one to the reason VA denied. Include anything you already sent VA after the decision date; it has to be sent again with the appeal or inside the window.

Done when your new evidence is identified and in hand or on the way.

Step 4. Fill out and file VA Form 10182 with Evidence Submission selected.

How. The form's full name is Decision Review Request: Board Appeal (Notice of Disagreement). File online at va.gov/decision-reviews/board-appeal. Or mail it to Board of Veterans' Appeals, PO Box 27063, Washington, D.C. 20038, fax it to 844-678-8979, or bring it to a VA regional office. List each issue and the date of its decision, and select Evidence Submission.

Where this is written down: 38 CFR § 20.202(a); 38 CFR § 20.203(a).

Done when the form is filed with your issues listed and Evidence Submission selected, and you've saved proof.

Step 5. Send the new evidence inside the window.

How. Send the evidence with the form, or so the Board gets it within 90 days after it received your appeal. Mail or fax it to the Board at the address and number above, and keep proof of what you sent and when.

Do not miss the 90-day window. The judge won't consider evidence that arrives outside it. The decision will say so and point you to other ways to have it reviewed, usually a Supplemental Claim.

Where this is written down: 38 CFR § 20.303(b); 38 CFR § 20.801(b)(3).

Done when your new evidence is in with the form or inside the 90-day window.

Step 6. Track the 90-day clock.

How. Use the date the Board received your appeal, shown on your confirmation or the Board's docketing letter, and count 90 days. If everything is already in, you or your representative can waive the rest of the window in writing so the judge doesn't have to wait out the 90 days.

Where this is written down: 38 CFR § 20.300(b).

Done when you've logged the received date and your last day to add evidence.

Step 7. Track the appeal.

How. Keep your confirmations and watch your status on VA.gov. You don't need to do anything else unless the Board writes to ask for something.

Done when you're tracking the appeal and your proof is filed.

Step 8. Know your options if the Board denies.

How. A Board denial still leaves two paths, on different clocks.

If you have new and relevant evidence, then you can file a Supplemental Claim; filing it within one year of the Board decision keeps your effective date. If you think the Board made a legal error, then you can appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims within 120 days of the date on the Board's decision. That appeal goes to the court, not to VA. You can't do both at once on the same issue. A free accredited representative can help you choose.

Where this is written down: 38 CFR § 3.2500(b), (c)(3) and (h)(1); 38 U.S.C. § 7266(a).

Done when you know both deadlines and the path you'd use.

Recap checklist

• Confirmed Evidence Submission fits: new evidence, no hearing.
• Marked the one-year filing deadline (60 days for a contested claim).
• Gathered the new evidence, including anything sent to VA after the decision.
• Filed VA Form 10182 with Evidence Submission selected and saved proof.
• Sent the new evidence with the form or inside the 90-day window.
• Logged the Board's received date and my last day to add evidence.
• Tracked the appeal.
• Noted my options after a denial: a Supplemental Claim, or the court within 120 days.

Reminder: rules and rates change. Check any current figure at va.gov. Help from an accredited Veterans Service Organization is free. Accredited claims agents and attorneys can't charge for work done before VA issues its initial decision on your claim. After that, they may charge a fee within the limits of 38 CFR 14.636. This guide prepared you for the task. The evidence in your file decides the result.

Go further

• The book: The Appeals Playbook, the full guide this one comes from. Coming soon as a PDF on this site and in Kindle and paperback on Amazon.
• The workbook: The Appeals Workbook, a fillable PDF. Coming soon.
• Free toolkit: the worksheets that go with The Appeals Playbook. No signup.

Get free, accredited help

For anything about your own claim, talk to an accredited representative. Help from an accredited Veterans Service Organization is free. Accredited claims agents and attorneys can't charge for work done before VA issues its initial decision on your claim. After that, they may charge a fee within the limits of 38 CFR 14.636. Free help is available through Veterans Service Organizations such as the DAV, VFW, and American Legion, and through county and state veterans offices.

To find one near you, visit va.gov/get-help-from-accredited-representative. Representation begins only when you sign VA Form 21-22 (for a Veterans Service Organization) or 21-22a (for an individual agent or attorney). With one rare exception for a single unpaid case, only accredited people can represent you before the VA, and only an accredited agent or attorney can charge you a fee. Nothing in this guide creates that relationship.

A warning about claim sharks. Anyone who offers to file your initial claim for a fee, or who guarantees you a rating or a percentage, is selling something you shouldn't buy. Accredited Veterans Service Organizations help at no charge, and accredited claims agents and attorneys may charge only after VA issues its initial decision, within the limits of 38 CFR 14.636. Report predatory companies to the VA Office of Inspector General at 1-800-488-8244.

About this guide

This guide is education, not representation. It explains how part of the VA system works so you can handle your own business with confidence. It is not legal or claims advice, and reading it does not create any representative relationship between you and the author. The author is not affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs, and nothing here is endorsed by the VA.

This guide prints no live VA dollar figures and no rating percentages on purpose, because they change. Before you make a decision based on any number, check the current figure at va.gov. No book can promise you a rating; the evidence in your file decides the result. Help from an accredited Veterans Service Officer is always free.

Details

• PDF, US Letter, 8 pages including the cover
• 13 fillable checkboxes
• Current as of October 2026

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Never a cut of your claim.

About the author: J. Erickson is a service-disabled Air Force veteran. He served as a military firefighter and as a veteran service officer, where he spent years walking veterans through the same claims process he writes about now. He holds an MBA and writes plain-language guides for veterans who want to understand the system without a translator.