VA extends deadline for PACT Act benefit applications

The Veterans Administration has extended the deadline for veterans and survivors who apply or submit their intent to file for PACT Act benefits.

Those who apply by 11:59 p.m. Monday will be eligible to have their benefits backdated to Aug. 10, 2022, the day President Biden signed the PACT Act into law. This is an extension from the original Aug. 9 deadline, VA officials said.

VA officials said they made the decision out of an abundance of caution after experiencing technical difficulties with VA.gov/PACT in recent days. Specifically, due to extremely high demand, some veterans who tried to submit their intent to file for PACT Act benefits have received error messages. Despite these messages, the VA has successfully logged every one of these intents to file, meaning every veteran or survivor who has received an error message while applying for PACT Act benefits can consider their intent to file complete. The agency is working to contact those individuals to confirm directly to them their intent to file will be honored, according to a press release.

The VA said it has resolved nearly all the technical issues with VA.gov/PACT and will continue working until the issues are fully resolved.

Officials have sent out communications from all channels to reassure veterans and survivors they would not miss out on their earned benefits due to this issue. They also put an emergency banner on the VA website to tell veterans and survivors their intents to file will be honored, and changed the intent to file error message to confirm that, despite that message, the intent to file has been saved. They also communicated directly with veterans on social media, via email, and through coordination with congressional leaders and veterans service organizations.

Information is available at VA.gov/PACT