VA Burial Benefits and Allowances

01Who can claim

The person who paid and won’t be reimbursed elsewhere, including a spouse, child, parent, executor, friend or funeral home¹.

02When VA pays

The veteran must not have a dishonorable discharge, and must have died from a service-connected disability, while getting VA care, while receiving or eligible for compensation or pension, or with a claim pending, among other conditions¹.

03Amounts

Up to $2,000 for a service-connected death; for a non-service-connected death on or after October 1, 2026, $1,032².

04How to apply

Apply online or mail VA Form 21P-530EZ to the Pension Intake Center, PO Box 5365, Janesville, WI 53547-5365¹.

05Step by step

1. Check who paid. Only the person or organization that paid and won't be repaid elsewhere can claim: spouse or legal-union partner, child, parent, executor or administrator, another relative or friend, or a funeral home or cemetery¹.
2. Confirm the veteran's status at death: service-connected death, VA care, pending claim, receiving compensation or pension, or eligible but receiving military retired pay instead¹.
3. Collect the death certificate and receipts.
4. Apply online or mail VA Form 21P-530EZ to the Pension Intake Center, PO Box 5365, Janesville, WI 53547-5365¹.
5. Survivors may also qualify for DIC or Survivors Pension on VA Form 21P-534EZ³.

06Common mistakes

• Missing the 2-year window for a non-service-connected burial allowance¹.
• Receipts in the wrong name. Transportation is repaid for costs you paid directly with a receipt in your name¹.
• Not mentioning a pending claim. A veteran who died with a compensation or pension claim pending may still qualify¹.

072026 amounts

Source: VA burial allowance page¹.

For a service-connected death with burial in a VA national cemetery, VA may also repay some or all of the cost of moving the remains¹.

08What the money can cover

• Burial and funeral costs (the burial allowance)¹.
• Plot or interment costs (the plot or interment allowance)¹.
• Transportation of remains to the final resting place, repaid with a receipt in your name¹.
• All legal burial types, including cremation, burial at sea and donation to a medical school¹.

09Deadlines

• Service-connected death: no time limit for the burial or transportation allowance¹.
• Non-service-connected death: file within 2 years after burial, except no limit when the veteran died under VA care or when claiming the plot, interment or transportation allowance¹.
• Discharge upgraded after death: file within 2 years of the change¹.

10Automatic payments to spouses

A surviving spouse listed on the veteran’s VA profile doesn’t need to file: when VA learns of the death, it automatically pays a set amount to eligible spouses toward the plot, interment or transportation¹. If costs were higher, other family members or the executor may still have a claim.

11When VA doesn't pay an allowance

VA doesn’t pay burial allowances for someone who died on active duty, while a member of Congress, or while serving a federal prison sentence¹. The person claiming can’t be reimbursed by another organization, such as another government agency or the veteran’s employer¹.

12Documents and example

Send the death certificate showing cause of death, an itemized receipt for any transportation, and ideally the DD214; for a service-connected death, medical records help¹. Example: a son pays a funeral home for his father, a veteran receiving VA pension who died at home in November 2026. The death wasn’t service-connected, but because his father was receiving pension he can claim up to $1,032 toward burial and $1,032 toward the plot on VA Form 21P-530EZ, within 2 years of the burial¹.

13National cemetery burial and headstones

Veterans without a dishonorable discharge, their spouses (even if they remarried after the veteran’s death) and minor children can be buried in a VA national cemetery⁴. Families can apply ahead for a pre-need eligibility decision, though VA can’t guarantee the preferred cemetery⁵. VA also provides headstones or markers for eligible veterans in unmarked graves anywhere, or in privately marked graves for deaths on or after November 1, 1990⁶.

14Getting free help