Citation Nr: 18150203
Decision Date: 11/14/18	Archive Date: 11/14/18

DOCKET NO. 16-16 828
DATE:	November 14, 2018
ORDER
Entitlement to a clothing allowance for the 2015 calendar year is denied.
FINDING OF FACT
The Veteran’s application for a clothing allowance for the 2015 calendar year was received on August 3, 2015.  
CONCLUSION OF LAW
The criteria for entitlement to a clothing allowance for the 2015 calendar year are not met.  38 U.S.C. §§ 1162, 5103, 5103A, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.810.
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
The Veteran had active duty service from February to December 1980.  This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a September 2015 letter of determination rating decision by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center.  
The application for clothing allowance must be filed within one year of the anniversary date (August 1) for which entitlement is initially established, otherwise, the application will be acceptable only to effect payment of the clothing allowance becoming due on any succeeding anniversary date for which entitlement is established, provided the application is filed within one year of such date.  38 C.F.R. § 3.810(c)(1).
In this case, the Veteran’s application for a clothing allowance for the 2015 calendar year was received by the Waco VA Regional Office on August 3, 2015; such date is after the applicable deadline noted above for filing the claim for the 2015 calendar year.  The Board acknowledges the Veteran’s statements that it was not his fault that his representative sent the paperwork to the wrong facility and that by the time it arrived at the correct VA facility that it was after the deadline.  The Board has used the date the claim was received at the Waco VA Regional Office, where the application was initially received.  Even assuming this earliest receipt date by any VA facility, the application was not filed by the applicable deadline in this case.  Although unfortunate that the Veteran missed the deadline by a few days in this case, the law is clear with respect to the deadline for filing the application for a clothing allowance.  The Veteran did not timely file his application in this case and therefore his claim must be denied at this time.  See 38 U.S.C. § 1162; 38 C.F.R. § 3.810.  
 
JAMES G. REINHART
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	M. Peters, Counsel