TDIU Hub: Total Disability Individual Unemployability
Understand TDIU eligibility, evidence requirements, and how to file for unemployability when service-connected conditions prevent substantially gainful employment.
TDIU pays at the 100% rate when service-connected conditions prevent you from holding substantially gainful employment, even if your combined rating is below 100%. You typically need one rating at 60% or two ratings combining to 70% with one at 40%.
Key takeaways
- ✓TDIU pays at the 100% compensation rate.
- ✓Schedular requirements: 60% single rating OR 70% combined with one 40%.
- ✓Marginal employment (below poverty line) is allowed.
- ✓Sheltered work doesn't count as substantially gainful employment.
- ✓Filed with VA Form 21-8940.
Overview
TDIU is one of the most underused VA benefits. Many veterans qualify but never apply because they assume they need a 100% schedular rating.
Related conditions
Related VA forms
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What does a 100% VA disability rating actually pay in 2026? Here's the base rate, how dependents change it, and the additional benefits that come with a full rating.
Worried that getting a job will cost you your VA disability compensation? Here's how employment actually interacts with a standard disability rating versus TDIU.
Stuck at a lower VA disability rating than your symptoms warrant? Here are 10 legitimate ways to increase your rating — from re-evaluations to secondary conditions to TDIU.
A walkthrough of VA Form 21-8940, the TDIU application — the specific form that unlocks the full 100% pay rate for veterans whose service-connected conditions prevent them from working, even without a 100% schedular rating.
TDIU eligibility hinges on the federal poverty threshold for marginal employment. Here's the current number, exactly what counts toward it, and how to avoid triggering an unwanted review.
TDIU can be designated Permanent and Total, which removes future review exams and unlocks Chapter 35 education benefits and CHAMPVA for your family — here's exactly how to request it and what evidence supports the designation.
TDIU prohibits substantially gainful employment, but marginal employment and sheltered work environments are still allowed. Here's exactly where the line sits, and how to stay on the right side of it.
The rules around working while receiving TDIU benefits — what 'marginal employment' actually means, how the poverty threshold works, and how to avoid an unwanted reduction.
Related tools
Frequently asked questions
Yes, in marginal employment — typically earning below the federal poverty threshold.
Both pay the same monthly amount, but 100% schedular comes from a true 100% combined rating; TDIU comes from inability to work.