Citation Nr: A25088872 Decision Date: 10/15/25 Archive Date: 10/15/25 DOCKET NO. 220707-258505 DATE: October 15, 2025 REMANDED Challenges to the propriety of the creation of an overpayment, if any, associated with the Veteran's temporary disability status for the purposes of the Department of Defense (DoD), to include the amount of such an overpayment, are remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran had active duty from March 2012 to March 2016 and from November 2017 to July 2021. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on the Veteran's filing of the July 7, 2022, VA Form 10182, Notice of Disagreement (NOD), stating that the Veteran was challenging a "withheld payment" and citing a document executed on June 13, 2022, and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), agency of original jurisdiction (AOJ), decision as the decision underlying the Veteran's appeal at bar. The Board acknowledges that, on June 13, 2022, the VA Regional Office (RO), acting as the AOJ, issued the Veteran a notification letter reading, in pertinent part, as follows: VA has completed your requested audit and has discovered no discrepancies. We reviewed your military payment history and note you are receiving Temporary Disability Retirement Pay. Therefore, concur with the appropriate amount being withheld to offset the amount received from Defense Finance Center. Your award will continue at the current rate. Therefore, based on the foregoing, it appears that the Veteran's compensation was subject to an offset based on the Veteran's disability retirement pay received from the DoD, i.e., a reduction in the amount of VA benefits ensuing from the bar on duplication of benefits. However, the record is not developed in terms of whether, in the appeal at bar, the Veteran challenges the propriety of that reduction of the Veteran's VA compensation (in the sense that the Veteran is of opinion that, regardless of the bar on duplication of benefits, the Veteran should have been paid both the DoD pay and VA compensation) or the amount of the Veteran's VA pay: indeed, the above-quoted RO's letter suggests that the RO construed the Veteran's challenges as the latter (and, hence, conducted a financial audit), plus - somewhat implicitly - confirmed that the reduction in the amount of the Veteran's VA compensation was proper, and stopped the RO's inquiry at that. However, the Board's review of the Veteran's claims file has revealed that, in the April 26, 2022, Report of General Information generated by an RO officer who, seemingly, responded to the Veteran's phone call, the officer made statements suggesting that the Veteran's claim was entirely different. Indeed, while vaguely termed, the Report suggested the Veteran's attempt to assert that: (a) the DoD was not properly dispensing the Veteran the DoD pay; (b) the Veteran perceived that alleged failure on the part of the DoD to qualify as a basis to nullify the reduction in the amount of the Veteran's VA compensation based on duplication of benefits (i.e., the Veteran tried to posit, essentially, that - if the Veteran was not receiving any DoD funds that the AOJ could rely upon to reduce the amount of the Veteran's VA compensation - then the Veteran was of the opinion that VA was obligated to compensate the Veteran for the DoD's failure to dispense the DoD funds by not reducing the amount of the Veteran's VA compensation); and (c) the Veteran's ability to conduct a cross-agency financial audit of payments was nearly nonexistent, while VA - being part of the Federal government - was in a position to contact the DoD for a confirmation whether the DoD did or did not disburse the funds that the AOJ relied upon for the purposes of reducing the Veteran's VA compensation. The Board acknowledges the logical validity of the Veteran's reasoning. Indeed, while the Board is mindful that VA lacks a mandate to direct the DoD's disbursements of the Veteran's DoD pay - same as the Board lacks in personam jurisdiction over the DoD to direct any action by the DoD (since the DoD is not a party to this litigation) - nothing prevents the AOJ from contacting the DoD with a request for a verification of: (a) the DoD's disbursements of the Veteran's DoD pay; and (b) the amounts of these DoD disbursements. Correspondingly, a remand is required and - given the March 11, 2025, determination that the Veteran's temporary disability status for the DoD purposes had transitioned to permanency (i.e., the determination falling outside the temporal limitations ensuing from the Veteran's selection of the evidence-based docket for the purposes of this appeal since the determination is an adjudicatory action rather than a piece of evidence). Correspondingly, a remand is required since - given the March 11, 2025, determination that the Veteran's temporary disability status for the DoD purposes had transitioned to permanency (i.e., a determination falling outside the temporal limitations ensuing from the Veteran's selection of the evidence-based docket for the purposes of this appeal since the determination is an adjudicatory action rather than a piece of evidence) - a pointed review of the DoD's records that the AOJ could obtain in connection with this appeal is likely to facilitate a complete resolution of the Veteran's challenges. (The Board notes, however, that - in the event the DoD's records produced to the AOJ reflect the DoD's payments that the Veteran wishes to dispute in the sense that the Veteran's record of the receipts from the DoD differs from the record that the AOJ would produce to the Veteran - the Veteran's challenges based on such a discrepancy, if it exists, should be raised before the DoD since neither VA nor the Board would have the subject matter jurisdiction to address this aspect, and no statement in this Order should be construed as implicitly inviting the Veteran to challenge such a discrepancy, if it exists, before the AOJ or the Board.) The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Contact the DoD with a request to provide a complete report of the amounts of the Veteran's DoD disability payments disbursed to the Veteran per the DoD's records. 2. Upon completion of the foregoing, verify that the amounts of the DoD disability payments stated in the DoD report correspond to the amounts that the AOJ utilized to calculate the Veteran's VA compensation and issue the Veteran an Appeal Notification Letter detailing, in a narrative fashion amenable to a layperson's understanding and without resorting to boilerplate language, why - or why not - the calculations the AOJ had performed in the past (for the purposes of VA's disbursements of the Veteran's compensation benefits) were correct, amounts-wise. In conjunction with the foregoing, notify the Veteran that the Veteran's challenges at bar would not be automatically returned to the Board, and the Veteran's timely and proper actions would be required in the event the Veteran desires further review by the Board of the matters currently on appeal. Cynthia M. Bruce Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board Anna Kapellan, Counsel The Board's decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.