TDIU can pay you at the 100 percent rate, even if your rating is lower. It is for veterans whose service-connected conditions keep them from working.

Here is why it matters. A combined 70 percent rating pays a veteran with no dependents $1,808.45 a month. The 100 percent rate pays $3,938.58. That gap is a little over $2,100 every month. TDIU is a way to close that gap without changing a single percentage on your decision letter.

TDIU is the most under-claimed benefit VA runs. That means it is the one veterans most often miss.

The short version

• TDIU pays you at the 100 percent rate when your service-connected conditions keep you from holding a real job.
• The usual rule: one condition at 60 percent or more, or a combined 70 percent with one condition at 40 percent or more.
• If you fall short of those numbers, there is still another, harder path.
• Your rating stays the same. Only your pay goes up.
• You use VA Form 21-8940. Your past employers get VA Form 21-4192.
• The best evidence shows what you cannot do at work, not just what you were diagnosed with.

What TDIU is

TDIU stands for Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability. The rule is at 38 CFR 4.16.

VA's rating schedule is built on averages. The rating schedule is the chart VA uses to give each condition a percentage. A 60 percent rating reflects how much that condition hurts the average veteran's ability to earn money.

But you are not an average. For example:

• A machinist might be able to work around a back condition. The same back condition might end a career for a long-haul driver.
• A hand tremor is a hassle in some jobs. In other jobs, it rules you out.

TDIU exists for exactly that gap. Your service-connected conditions are the ones VA agrees are linked to your military service. If they keep you from getting or keeping "substantially gainful employment," VA pays you at the total rate. It does this even though the rating schedule gives you a lower number.

Who qualifies: the number rules

The usual way to qualify is called the "schedular" basis. To be considered this way, you need one of these:

• One disability rated at 60 percent or more, or
• A combined rating of 70 percent or more, with at least one disability rated at 40 percent or more

Read that second rule carefully. Veterans misread it all the time. A combined 70 percent made up only of 30s and 20s does not meet it. You need the 70 combined and one single condition at 40 or higher.

Also remember that VA does not just add your ratings together. Combined ratings are figured under 38 CFR 4.25. Work out your real combined number before you decide whether you meet the rule.

If you do not meet the numbers

Falling short of those numbers does not end the conversation. VA can still grant TDIU on an "extraschedular" basis under 38 CFR 4.16(b). Extraschedular means outside the usual rating rules.

This path works differently. The regional office cannot just grant it. It has to send the case on for special review.

It is harder to win. It depends on evidence that shows your conditions, in your case, keep you out of work. The evidence has to show this in a way the rating schedule does not capture.

What "substantially gainful employment" means

This phrase is the whole case, so it helps to understand it.

Substantially gainful employment is competitive work that pays a living wage. In plain words, it is a real job that pays enough to live on.

Two kinds of work do not count against you:

• Marginal employment. This means odd jobs and low-paying work. Earning some money is not the same as being able to hold a real job.
• Sheltered or protected work. This could be a family business. It could also be a boss who puts up with absences, mistakes, and special changes that no regular employer would accept.

Also know what TDIU does not require. You do not have to be stuck in bed, helpless, or unable to do anything. The question is whether you can hold down real work. It is not whether you can get out of bed.

TDIU counts only service-connected conditions. If a condition that is not service-connected is causing the problem, it cannot carry the claim. Neither can your age.

How TDIU pays

TDIU pays at the 100 percent rate. Your rating does not change.

Say VA grants TDIU to a veteran with a combined 70 percent rating. The decision letter still shows 70 percent. But the veteran gets $3,938.58 a month with no dependents, instead of $1,808.45. Dependents add to that amount the same way they do for any other rating.

The percentage staying the same is not a put-down. It is just how the benefit is set up. Once in a while, it matters for programs that look at your rating instead of your payment.

The forms

Two forms drive a TDIU claim:

• VA Form 21-8940 is yours. It is your application for more pay because you cannot work. It covers your disabilities, your work history, your earnings, and your schooling and training.
• VA Form 21-4192 goes to your past employers. It asks them to confirm the dates you worked, what you earned, any changes they made for you, and why you stopped working.

Employers ignore the 21-4192 more often than not. VA will not keep chasing them forever.

What you can do: Reach out yourself. If you can, get a former supervisor to fill out the form. Or ask them to write a plain statement that covers the same things. Then send it in with your claim.

What makes a TDIU claim strong

The strongest TDIU files focus on what you cannot do, not just your diagnosis. The person rating your claim already knows you have PTSD, for example. What decides the claim is what happens when you try to work with it.

Evidence worth gathering:

• Statements from your doctors or other treating providers that describe your work limits. Not "the veteran is disabled," but what you cannot keep up with. That could be focusing, showing up, lifting, standing, dealing with the public, or staying on task for a full shift.
• Your full work history, including jobs you tried and could not keep.
• Work records, such as attendance records, write-ups, job reviews, requests for changes at work, and letters about being fired or quitting.
• A vocational assessment, when the case is close or your work history is complicated. This is a report from a job expert about what work you can and cannot do.
• Statements from a spouse, coworker, or supervisor that describe what a bad week looks like.

What you can do: Write your own statement in hours and days. "I cannot work" is a conclusion. Here is evidence: "I missed nine days in two months, I cannot sit longer than twenty minutes, and I lost my last job after three write-ups for absences."

Two things veterans get wrong

First, they wait. You can raise TDIU as part of a claim for increase. That is a claim asking VA to raise your rating because a condition got worse. TDIU should be on the table any time your record shows you have stopped working or are barely hanging on. You do not have to finish one fight before you start the other.

Second, they think it is always temporary. VA can find a TDIU award permanent when the evidence supports it. This matters for family benefits that depend on the disability being permanent. Ask about it when you get your grant.

The rating schedule measures averages. Your life is not an average, and TDIU is the rule that says so.

The Jacks Law Group represents veterans nationwide and worldwide from offices in Henderson and Las Vegas, Nevada. David R. Jacks, Jr. is a VA-accredited attorney. He is also a U.S. Army veteran who is 100% permanently and totally disabled. If you want help with a claim or an appeal, call to set up a consultation.

Disclaimer: This blog is general information only. It is not legal advice for your case. Reading it does not make us your lawyers. Every VA claim depends on its own facts. Rates, rating rules, and program rules change over time. For advice about your own situation, talk with a VA-accredited attorney.