VA Disability 5-Year Rule, Plus the 10- and 20-Year Rules

The VA disability 5-year rule says that once a rating has stayed at the same level for five years or more, VA treats it as stabilized. For conditions that come and go, VA can't cut it based on one good exam unless all the evidence clearly shows sustained improvement. For any stabilized rating, VA can't rely on a thinner exam than the one the rating was based on, and it has to ask whether the improvement will hold up in ordinary life. The rule lives in 38 CFR § 3.344. It raises the bar for a reduction, but VA can still cut a stabilized rating when the evidence clears it.

Two longer clocks sit behind it. At 10 years, VA can't take away service connection itself except for fraud, or when military records clearly show you lacked the required service or character of discharge. At 20 years, the rating level becomes a floor that only fraud can break. And separate from all three, routine reexams generally stop once you're over 55. Each rule protects something different, and each has a gap. If you're buying a house on that income, the last section covers how lenders treat it.

The three VA protection rules at a glance

The VA disability 5-year rule: what 38 CFR 3.344 actually says

Section 3.344 tells rating staff to handle changes in medical findings "so as to produce the greatest degree of stability of disability evaluations." Paragraph (c) is where the five years come from. Paragraphs (a) and (b) apply "to ratings which have continued for long periods at the same level (5 years or more)."

For those ratings, the regulation sets several conditions before a reduction, including these four:

1. The whole record gets reviewed, not just the latest exam. VA has to check whether the recent exam is "full and complete."
2. A thinner exam can't be used. "Examinations less full and complete than those on which payments were authorized or continued will not be used as a basis of reduction."
3. One exam isn't enough for conditions that come and go. For diseases subject to temporary or episodic improvement (the rule names epilepsy, bronchial asthma, ulcers, many skin diseases and several mental health conditions, among others), the rating "will not be reduced on any one examination" unless all the evidence clearly shows sustained improvement.
4. The improvement has to last in ordinary life. Even when material improvement is clear, VA has to consider whether it's "reasonably certain" the improvement "will be maintained under the ordinary conditions of life."

If doubt is left over after all that, paragraph (b) tells VA to keep the rating and schedule a reexam in 18, 24 or 30 months.

Where the 5-year rule doesn't help

Paragraph (c) also says what it doesn't cover: disabilities "which have not become stabilized and are likely to improve." For those, a reexam showing improvement "will warrant reduction in rating." The rule also doesn't stop VA from reducing a stabilized rating when the evidence does meet the bar. So treat it as a higher bar for VA, not a freeze on your rating.

Total ratings get their own version

A 100% rating has a parallel rule in 38 CFR § 3.343. A total rating based on the severity of the condition (not granted purely because of hospital, surgical or home treatment, or for individual unemployability) "will not be reduced, in the absence of clear error, without examination showing material improvement." VA must also weigh whether the improvement happened while you were working or actively looking for work. If symptoms are only under control because of prolonged rest or a regimen that rules out work, VA won't consider a reduction until a reexam after 3 to 6 months of employment. Unemployability (TDIU) ratings fall under separate rules in that section's paragraph (c), which require clear and convincing evidence of actual employability.

The 10-year rule protects service connection, not the percentage

38 CFR § 3.957, based on 38 U.S.C. 1159, says service connection "which has been in effect for 10 or more years will not be severed" except in two cases:

• the original grant was based on fraud, or
• military records clearly show you "did not have the requisite service or character of discharge."

The 10 years run from the effective date of VA's finding of service connection to the effective date of the rating decision that would sever it. The protection also carries over to claims for dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) and death compensation, which matters for a surviving spouse.

What it doesn't do is lock the percentage in place. A condition service connected for 12 years can still have its percentage reduced. If it has been at the same level for five years or more, the 5-year rule's tougher standard applies to that reduction. What VA can't do after year 10 is say the condition was never related to service in the first place.

The 20-year rule sets a floor under the rating

38 CFR § 3.951(b) says a disability "continuously rated at or above any evaluation of disability for 20 or more years" for compensation "will not be reduced to less than such evaluation except upon a showing that such rating was based on fraud." The statute behind it, 38 U.S.C. 110, also covers total and permanent total ratings that have been in force for 20 or more years.

Two details people miss:

• The floor is the level you've held for 20 years, not your current rating. Say one of your conditions has been rated 50% or higher for 20 years and was raised to 70% three years ago. VA could, with the right evidence, reduce that condition's 70%. It couldn't take it below 50%. The regulation is written about "a disability," so read it condition by condition.
• The clock runs to the effective date of the reduction. The regulation computes the 20 years "from the effective date of the evaluation to the effective date of reduction of evaluation."

The same section has one more protection that has no clock at all. Under 3.951(a), a change to VA's rating schedule can't by itself reduce a rating already in effect "unless medical evidence establishes that the disability to be evaluated has actually improved."

Reexams: when VA schedules them and when it stops

The rule on reexaminations is 38 CFR § 3.327. VA requests a reexam when it needs to verify "either the continued existence or the current severity of a disability," and generally when a disability has likely improved or the evidence suggests a material change. If one is in order after an exam, it's scheduled "within not less than 2 years nor more than 5 years," unless another period applies.

Paragraph (b)(2) lists the cases where no periodic reexam will be scheduled for a service-connected disability:

• the disability is established as static;
• the findings and symptoms have persisted without material improvement for 5 years or more;
• the disability is permanent in character with no likelihood of improvement;
• the veteran is over 55, except under unusual circumstances;
• the rating is a prescribed minimum under the rating schedule; or
• the combined rating wouldn't change even if a reexam lowered one or more conditions.

The catch is in paragraph (a): those guidelines "shall not be construed as limiting VA's authority to request reexaminations... at any time in order to ensure that a disability is accurately rated." The over-55 rule and the 3.327 rule for findings unchanged for 5 years or more both stop the routine schedule. The 5-year rule in 3.344 doesn't: in doubtful cases it actually schedules a reexam 18 to 30 months out. And none of them guarantees VA will never call you in. If VA does schedule an exam, go. The regulation says people with scheduled reexams are required to report.

Where permanent and total (P&T) fits

A permanent and total rating isn't one of the time-based protections. It's VA's own finding about your condition. Under 38 CFR § 3.340(b), permanence exists "when such impairment is reasonably certain to continue throughout the life of the disabled person." That lines up with the 3.327(b)(2) category for disabilities that are "permanent in character" with "no likelihood of improvement," a category in which VA doesn't schedule periodic reexams. VA keeps its general authority to reexamine, though, and the 3.343 rules still govern any reduction of a total rating.

What VA has to do before it cuts your rating

Even when a reduction is allowed, VA can't do it overnight. Under 38 CFR § 3.105(e), when a lower rating would reduce or stop compensation you're getting now:

1. VA prepares a proposed rating "setting forth all material facts and reasons" and sends it to your latest address of record.
2. You get 60 days to send evidence showing your payments should stay at the current level.
3. Under 3.105(i), you can ask for a predetermination hearing if VA receives the request within 30 days of the notice. If you ask in time, VA keeps paying at the current level until it makes a final decision.
4. If no new evidence comes in, VA takes final action. The reduction takes effect on the last day of the month in which a 60-day period from the notice of that final action ends.

That's why you shouldn't sit on a proposed-reduction letter. Asking for a hearing within 30 days guarantees your payments stay at the current level until VA decides after the hearing. Even without one, the cut can't take effect until at least 60 days after VA's notice of its final decision. A representative from an accredited veterans service organization (VSO) can help you answer it for free. Accredited attorneys and claims agents may charge fees. VA lists how to find one on its accredited representative page. We don't file claims or give legal advice.

What a reduction would cost each month

These are VA's veteran compensation rates effective December 1, 2025, for a veteran with no dependents:

That's the money the 5-, 10- and 20-year rules are guarding. It's also money a mortgage lender may be counting.

Buying with VA disability income?

Your compensation counts as income and exempts you from the VA funding fee. A 2-minute check connects you with a VA-experienced loan officer. Lenders set the actual rates.

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How the 5-year rule affects a VA home loan

Lenders only count income they expect to keep coming. VA's underwriting regulation, 38 CFR § 36.4340, says income is stable and reliable when "it can be concluded that it will continue during the foreseeable future." For many other income types, such as pensions, investment income and trusts, the VA Lenders Handbook, Chapter 4 wants documentation that it will continue "for at least 3 years from the anticipated closing date."

VA disability compensation is the exception. The same chapter says:

"VA disability income is considered a benefit and does not need to be documented for the likelihood of continuance."

So on a VA loan, the lender doesn't need you to prove your rating is protected, and a future exam date on your award letter isn't a reason to leave the income out. Conventional loans are close behind: Fannie Mae's VA benefits income guide (B3-3.4-18) requires three years of expected continuance from the application date, but says verification "is not required for VA retirement or long-term disability benefits."

What the protection rules can't do is change the amount on the file. The lender works from the compensation you actually receive, and the Handbook says it's generally listed on your Certificate of Eligibility. Once a reduction takes effect, the lower number is the one that counts. If you've received a proposed or final reduction notice, tell your loan officer before closing. On the 70%-to-50% example above, that's $675.55 a month less income. Against VA's 41% debt-to-income benchmark in 36.4340, that's about $277 a month less room for the mortgage payment and other debts, or about $346 if the lender grosses up the tax-free income by 125%, as the Handbook allows. Our guide to how VA disability income counts for a mortgage covers the gross-up for the debt-to-income ratio, and VA residual income requirements covers the other test lenders run.

Two more housing details tie back to your rating:

• The funding fee. VA says you won't pay it if you're receiving VA compensation for a service-connected disability. That depends on receiving compensation, not on how long you've had it, so the 5-, 10- and 20-year rules don't decide it. See our VA funding fee disability exemption guide.
• Property tax. Some state exemptions for disabled veterans are tied to a rating level or to P&T status. Florida's full exemption under § 196.081, for example, is for a service-connected total and permanent disability. A reduction could change what you owe on the house. The rules vary by state: see property tax exemptions for disabled veterans.

Bottom line

The VA disability 5-year rule makes a stabilized rating hard to cut: no reduction on one exam for conditions that come and go unless all the evidence shows sustained improvement, no thinner exam, and only for improvement that lasts. The 10-year rule protects service connection, the 20-year rule puts a floor under the rating, and reexams generally stop being routine once you're over 55. The 10- and 20-year rules both carve out fraud, and VA can still order an exam when it has a reason. If you're buying a home, VA doesn't make your lender document that compensation will continue. The lender counts what you receive, and VA waives the funding fee while you receive compensation. To see where you stand, start with our 2-minute eligibility check.