VA Regulations: 38 CFR and M-21-1
These are the rules the VA actually applies to your claim. Title 38 of the Code of Federal Regulations is the binding law. The M-21-1 is the internal manual telling raters how to apply it. Both are reproduced here in full, section by section, and every page links back to the official text.
Search runs across every section of both documents. Plain English works as well as a section number.
Start with the document.
One is the law, the other is the instruction manual for applying it. If you are arguing entitlement, you want 38 CFR. If you are trying to work out why a rater did what they did, you want the M-21-1.
- 38 CFRThe binding law. Title 38 of the Code of Federal Regulations is what a judge holds the VA to, and it is where service connection, effective dates and the rating criteria are actually defined.530sections
- M-21-1The rater's manual. M-21-1 is the VA's internal instructions for applying Title 38 — what evidence to request, when to order an exam, how to decide a close call. It is not law, but it is what the person deciding your claim is following.430sections
Looking for a rating percentage? Disability percentages live in the rating schedule, indexed by diagnostic code rather than by regulation section.
Browse the VA rating schedule →Which of these rules is your claim turning on?
Six reads your evidence against 38 CFR and the M-21-1 and tells you which sections apply to you and what the VA is still missing.
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