PITTSBURGH — VA announced veterans and survivors who apply (or submit their intent to file) for PACT Act benefits 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 deadline of Aug. 9. Veterans and their survivors are encouraged to apply for PACT Act benefits by visiting VA.gov/PACT.

VA has made this 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 have sought to submit their intent to file for PACT Act benefits have received error messages while doing so. Despite these messages, VA has successfully logged every one of these intents to file – meaning that every veteran or survivor who has received an error message while applying for PACT Act benefits can consider their intent to file complete. VA staff are working to contact these individuals to confirm directly to them that their intent to file will be honored and their effective date protected. Most importantly, no veteran or survivor will miss out on benefits due to this issue.