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2 with the VA. §5101(a)(1)(A). “A regional office of the VA then determines whether the veteran satisfies all legal prerequisites, including the requirement that military service caused or aggravated the disability.” George v. McDonough, 596 U. S. ___, ___–___ (2022) (slip op., at 1–2). If the regional office grants the application, it assigns an “effective date” to the award, and payments begin the month after that date. §§5110(a)(1), 5111(a)(1). If the effective date precedes the date on which the VA received the claim, the veteran receives retroactive benefits.

Section 5110 dictates how this date is calculated. The default rule is that “the effective date of an award … shall be fixed in accordance with the facts found, but shall not be earlier than the date of receipt of application therefor.” §5110(a)(1). This rule applies “[u]nless specifically provided otherwise in this chapter.” Ibid. Sixteen exceptions in §5110 “provid[e] otherwise,” including one specifying that “[t]he effective date of an award of disability compensation to a veteran shall be the day following the date of the veteran’s discharge or release if application therefor is received within one year from such date of discharge or release.” §5110(b)(1). On its face, this exception allows up to one year of retroactive benefits. But if the VA can treat an application filed more than one year after discharge as if it had been filed within the statutory window, a veteran could potentially recover decades’ worth of retroactive payments.

Adolfo Arellano served in the Navy from 1977 until his honorable discharge in 1981. Approximately 30 years later, the VA received Arellano’s application for disability compensation based on his psychiatric disorders. A VA regional office found that Arellano’s disorders resulted from trauma that he suffered while serving on an aircraft carrier that collided with another ship. So the regional office granted Arellano benefits for his service-connected