The 5103 Notice: What It Is and Why You Don’t Need to Panic
Let me guess, you got a letter in the mail, “Important—Reply Needed Within 30 Days.” The problem? There is a 100% chance it doesn’t say exactly what the VA needs, and leaves you more confused than anything. Welcome to the VA’s version of “clear and concise!” I can’t tell you how many e-mails I have gotten over the years, “the VA sent a letter saying they need something, but it doesn’t even say what they need.” Many Veterans open this letter and immediately worry. Does this mean my claim is denied? Did they lose my evidence? Do I need to start over?
What is a 5103 Notice?
Officially, this is known as the Veterans Claims Assistance Act (VCAA) Notice. Under the law, at least supposedly (do you detect the sarcasm?), the VA has a “Duty to Assist” Veterans. This means they are legally required to help you gather evidence to support your claim. The 5103 Notice is the VA fulfilling that legal requirement. Think of the notice as a checklist. The VA is sending you a letter that says: “We received your claim. Here are the types of evidence that are typically required to grant this type of benefit. We are now going to look for this evidence. If you have any of it in your possession, that we don’t have, please send it to us.”
It is an automated, statutory notification. It does not mean a rater has looked at your file and decided you are missing information. It simply means the system has acknowledged your claim. It is often automated by a computer, and no human ever actually decided to press send.
Why You Don't Need to "Respond"
The confusing part of the 5103 Notice is that it asks for evidence we have already submitted. This leads many Veterans to frantically resend documents, creating a paperwork jam. Here is why you don’t need to scramble to respond:
You May Have Already Submitted Everything: When we file a claim on your behalf, we do all the document gathering on the “front end.” Meaning we already have all your private medical records, nexus letters, and buddy statements along with your initial application, the VA already has what they need. The 5103 letter is automated. It does not “know” that you already uploaded your MRI results last week, or that we already submitted a statement from your wife. It is simply a legal formality asking if you have them. If you do, and you sent them, you are done.
The VA Will Gather Federal Records for You: You do not need to send the VA your Service Treatment Records (STRs) or records from VA Medical Centers. The VA has a duty to pull those internal federal records themselves. The 5103 Notice is mostly asking if you have private medical records (from a civilian doctor) that the VA doesn’t know about.
No, Responding Does not Speed up the VA
Here is the truth about responding to a 5103 notice—and you probably aren’t going to like it. When the VA does something—anything—they create a “suspense date,” generally 30 days from the date they did something. For example, they marked your claim as ready for a decision after you attending all your exams. Let’s say they mark the claim as ready for decision on first day of the month. 30 days later is the first time it will be eligible to be assigned to a rater to actually make a decision. This is due to the way the VA’s claim management system, Veterans Benefits Management System, operates internally. Yes, I know, that sucks.
Same thing with the 5103 notice. Let’s say you got a notice January 1. You respond to the VA 3 days later. Even though you responded, the VA’s system physically will not even think about sending your claim for someone to look at until 30 days after January 1—even though you responded. In other words, the first day your claim will be eligible for someone to look and say “oh, okay, he responded to the notice and told us to make a decision” is 30 days from January 1, regardless of whether you respond or not.
This is really getting into the weeds of how the VA operates, as well as obvious ways it could improve, but the point is, responding to the 5103 notice does nothing to speed up your claim, nor does it slow it down.
And that’s about all I’ve got to say about such a thrilling topic!
Godspeed.
