Application for Burial Benefits

Your information as the person who paid the funeral expenses. Relationship: surviving spouse, child, parent, executor of estate, funeral home (if they paid and are claiming). If a funeral home is claiming on behalf of an estate, they should have their own VA account.

(your legal name, SSN, relationship to veteran)

Common mistakes

• ×Filing under the veteran's identity instead of your own - you are the claimant, not the veteran.

The veteran's identifying information. Include VA File Number from prior VA correspondence. Cause of death is critical - if the veteran died from a service-connected condition, the reimbursement rate is significantly higher.

(veteran's name, VA file number, date of death, cause of death)

Common mistakes

• ×Not providing cause of death - VA needs this to determine which burial rate applies (service-connected vs non-service-connected).
• ×Not including VA File Number - claim cannot be matched to veteran's existing file.

Authority

• 38 CFR 38.620 - Higher burial allowance for service-connected death.
• 38 USC 2301 - Burial allowance entitlement for eligible veterans.

List all expenses you paid: funeral home services (preparation, casket, transport to funeral home), cemetery plot or interment fee, headstone or marker (if not getting VA-furnished marker), grave opening and closing, transportation of remains. Keep itemized receipts from the funeral home. The VA burial allowance covers a portion of these costs, not necessarily all of them.

e.g., Funeral home services: $4,200; Casket: $1,800; Cemetery plot: $2,500; Grave opening: $500; Total paid: $9,000

Common mistakes

• ×Including expenses not paid by you (e.g., expenses paid by a life insurance payout) - only expenses you actually paid out-of-pocket qualify.
• ×Not keeping itemized receipts from the funeral home - a general receipt is insufficient; VA needs line-item detail.
• ×Not claiming transportation reimbursement if the veteran died in a VA facility - VA pays transportation from a VA facility to the burial site.

Authority

• 38 USC 2302 - Reimbursement rates for funeral and burial expenses.
• M21-1 VII.i.2 - Burial allowance amounts and eligibility tiers.

Name and address of the cemetery where the veteran is buried (or will be buried). If buried in a national cemetery, VA provides the headstone/marker separately. If buried in a private cemetery, you can claim the plot allowance AND separately request a government-furnished headstone (VA Form 40-1330).

e.g., Evergreen Memorial Park, 123 Cemetery Rd, Tucson AZ 85701; Section 4, Lot 22, Grave 3

Common mistakes

• ×Not noting burial in a national cemetery - national cemetery burial changes some cost calculations.
• ×Not knowing you can get a government-furnished marker for private cemetery burial - file 40-1330 separately.

Sign and date under penalty of perjury. Attach all receipts before submitting.

(your signature/date)

Common mistakes

• ×Missing the 2-year filing deadline - burial benefits are permanently forfeited after 2 years from burial date.
• ×Not attaching receipts - claim cannot be processed without proof of payment.