TDIU Eligibility Checker

TDIU stands for Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability. It lets the VA pay you at the 100% compensation rate — even when your combined rating is below 100% — if your service-connected conditions keep you from holding steady, gainful work.

For schedular TDIU under 38 CFR 4.16(a), you generally need either one service-connected condition rated at 60% or higher, or a combined rating of 70% or higher with at least one condition rated at 40% or higher. If you fall short of those numbers, you may still qualify on an extraschedular basis.

TDIU pays at the 100% disability rate, plus any additional amounts for dependents — the same monthly compensation as a 100% schedular rating, even though your combined rating is lower.

You can't be substantially gainfully employed. Marginal employment — earnings below the federal poverty threshold — or work in a protected or sheltered setting generally does not disqualify you.

A 100% schedular rating comes from your combined-rating math actually reaching 100%. TDIU pays that same 100% rate based on unemployability when your math falls short. The monthly pay is identical; only the path to it differs.