Guide series
TDIU and Individual Unemployability: Complete Guide Series
Plain-English guides to total disability based on individual unemployability: the rating thresholds in 38 CFR 4.16(a), extraschedular consideration under 4.16(b), VA Form 21-8940, what substantially gainful employment means, permanent and total status, and the evidence a TDIU claim rests on.
Overview
Start here: tdiu & unemployability basics.
TDIU - total disability based on individual unemployability - allows the VA to pay compensation at the 100 percent rate when service-connected disabilities prevent a veteran from holding substantially gainful employment, even though the combined schedular rating is less than 100 percent.
These guides work through each part of that question using the VA's own regulations: who meets the rating thresholds, what the VA counts as gainful work, how extraschedular consideration works, and what medical and employment evidence the decision actually turns on. Start with the overview, then read the guide that matches your situation.
TDIU: How Total Disability Based on Individual Unemployability Works
What TDIU is, who meets the rating thresholds in 38 CFR 4.16, how the VA defines substantially gainful employment, and what evidence a TDIU claim rests on.
Read the main guideIn this series
Go deeper on your situation.
9 min readTDIU Eligibility: The 60 Percent and 70 Percent Rules Explained
How the schedular TDIU thresholds in 38 CFR 4.16(a) work, when separate ratings are treated as one disability, and why age and non-service-connected conditions are excluded.
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8 min readVA Form 21-8940: What the Unemployability Application Asks
A section-by-section look at VA Form 21-8940, the employment and education history it requires, how VA Form 21-4192 fits, and the answers that most often create problems.
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8 min readSubstantially Gainful vs. Marginal Employment in TDIU Claims
How the VA separates substantially gainful employment from marginal employment under 38 CFR 4.16(a), including the poverty threshold, protected environments, and odd-job work.
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8 min readExtraschedular TDIU Under 38 CFR 4.16(b)
How veterans who do not meet the TDIU percentage thresholds can still be considered, how referral to the Director of Compensation Service works, and what that evidence has to show.
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7 min readTDIU and Permanent and Total: What P&T Actually Means
The difference between a total rating and a permanent and total rating, how 38 CFR 3.340 defines permanence, and what changes when a total rating is designated permanent.
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8 min readThe Evidence a TDIU Claim Rests On
What medical, employment, and lay evidence supports a TDIU claim, why functional descriptions matter more than diagnoses, and where an independent medical opinion fits.
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