Supporting Statement - Part A
Application for Veterans Pension
Control #2900-0002
Summary of Changes from Previously Approved Collection
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1. Need for the Information Collection
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), through its Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), administers an integrated program of benefits and services established by law for Veterans, service personnel, and their dependents and/or beneficiaries. 38 U.S.C. 5101(a), 38 CFR 1502, 38 CFR 1503 provides that a specific claim in the form provided by the Secretary must be filed for benefits to be paid to any individual under the laws administered by the Secretary.
This control number includes one prescribed form. The VA Form 21P-527EZ, Application for Veterans Pension, is the prescribed form for veterans applying for pension benefits.
The VA Form 21P-527EZ has been updated to include:
Updated instructions.
Removed “Fully Developed Claim” (FDC) information from the instructions.
Change the wording in 4A.
Moved the italicized note in 4D to 4C.
Add note to 6A.
Made “city and state or country” in 6E its own question.
Add an additional note to Section VII.
Split 7C into two separate questions.
Split 7H into two separate questions.
Split 7N into two separate questions.
Split 7S into two separate questions.
Add an additional note to Section VIII.
Change the wording in 8F.
Change the wording in 8K.
Change the wording in 8P.
Split 8R into two separate questions.
Change the amount in 9A from $25,000 to $75,000.
Realign the check-boxes in 9A.
Change the wording in 9G.
Change the wording in 9H(1).
Change the contents in 9H(4).
Change the wording in 9I(1).
Change the contents in 9I(4).
Change the wording in 9J(1).
Change the contents in 9J(4).
Change the wording in 9K(1).
Change the contents in 9K(4).
Change the wording in Section X.
Center align “In-Home Care or Care Facility”.
Change the wording in the “important note” under “In-Home Care or Care Facility”.
Change the wording in 10B(1).
Split 10B(2) into two separate questions.
Split 10B(3) into two separate questions.
Split 10B(4) into two separate questions.
Change the contents in 10B(6).
Change the wording in 10C(1).
Split 10C(2) into two separate questions.
Split 10C(3) into two separate questions.
Split 10C(4) into two separate questions.
Change the contents in 10C(6).
Change the wording in 10D(1).
Split 10D(2) into two separate questions.
Split 10D(3) into two separate questions.
Split 10D(4) into two separate questions.
Change the contents in 10D(6).
Change the wording in 10E(1).
Split 10E(2) into two separate questions.
Split 10E(3) into two separate questions.
Split 10E(4) into two separate questions.
Change the contents in 10E(6).
Change the wording in 10F(1).
Split 10F(2) into two separate questions.
Split 10F(3) into two separate questions.
Split 10F(4) into two separate questions.
Change the contents in 10F(6).
Change the wording in 10G(1).
Split 10G(2) into two separate questions.
Split 10G(3) into two separate questions.
Split 10G(4) into two separate questions.
Change the contents in 10H(6).
Change the wording in 10H(1).
Split 10H(2) into two separate questions.re
Split 10H(3) into two separate questions.
Split 10H(4) into two separate questions.
Change the contents in 10H(6).
Change the wording in 10I(1).
Split 10I(2) into two separate questions.
Split 10I(3) into two separate questions.
Split 10I(4) into two separate questions.
Change the contents in 10I(6).
Change the wording in 10J(1).
Split 10J(2) into two separate questions.
Split 10J(3) into two separate questions.
Split 10J(4) into two separate questions.
Change the contents in 10J(6).
Removed “Fully Developed Claim” (FDC) information from Section XII.
Split 13B into two separate questions.
Split 13D into two separate questions.
Add “of the facility or” to Question 6 of the Worksheet (page 16).
Remove “please” from Question 8 of the Worksheet (page 16).
Add two columns and a checkbox of “yes” and “no” to Question 9 of the Worksheet (page 19).
Change the wording of Question 11 of the Worksheet (page 19).
Change the wording of Question 12 of the Worksheet (page 19).
Change the wording of Question 13 of the Worksheet (page 19).
Change the wording of Question 12 of the Worksheet (page 20).
The respondent burden has decreased due to the estimated average number of receivables over the past year.
2. Use of the Information
The VA Form 21P-527EZ gathers the necessary information to determine a veteran’s eligibility for pension. Without this information, the VA cannot determine a veteran’s eligibility for the benefit. A veteran may also use this form to file a new Veterans Pension claim after the VA has discontinued a previous pension award and the Veteran is requesting his or her benefits be reinstated.
3. Use of Information Technology
The VA Form 21P-527EZ is available on the VA.gov Website in a way that allows the information to be collected electronically. There currently is no utility process that will allow the data submitted on the form to be incorporated with an existing centralized legacy database. The data is directly transcribed onto the form and reviewed using the standard process.
4. Non-Duplication
The information obtained through this collection is unique and is not already available for use or adaptation from another cleared source.
5. Burden on Small Businesses
This information collection does not impose a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small businesses or entities.
6. Less Frequent Collection
This control number includes one prescribed form. The VA Form 21P-527EZ, Application for Pension, is the prescribed form for veterans applying for pension benefits.
7. Paperwork Reduction Act Guidelines
This information collection does not require collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with the guidelines delineated in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).
8. Consultation and Public Comments
Part A: PUBLIC NOTICE
A 60-Day Federal Register Notice (FRN) for the collection published on Wednesday, June 25, 2025. The 60-Day FRN citation is 90 FRN 27072.
No comments were received during the 60-Day Comment Period.
A 30-Day Federal Register Notice for the collection published on Thursday, August 28, 2025. The 30-Day FRN citation is 90 FRN 42067.
Part B: CONSULTATION (2-4 sentences)
No additional consultation apart from soliciting public comments through the Federal Register was conducted for this submission.
9. Gifts or Payment
No payments or gifts are being offered to respondents as an incentive to participate in the collection.
10. Confidentiality
The records are maintained in the appropriate Privacy Act System of Records identified as “Compensation, Pension, Education, and Veteran Readiness and Employment Records-VA (58VA21/22/28),” published at 74 FR 29275 on June 19, 2009, and last amended at 87 FR 8740 (February 16, 2022).
11. Sensitive Questions
No questions considered sensitive are being asked in this collection.
12. Respondent Burden and its Labor Costs
Number of Respondents is estimated at 38,000 per year.
Frequency of Response is one time.
Annual burden hours are 19,000 hours.
The estimated completion time for this form is 30 minutes.
VA cannot make further assumptions about the population of respondents because of the variability of factors such as the educational background and wage potential of respondents. Therefore, VBA used general wage data to estimate the respondents’ costs associated with completing the information collection.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) gathers information on full-time wage and salary workers. According to the latest available BLS data, the mean hourly wage is $32.66 based on the BLS wage code – “00-0000 All Occupations.” This information was taken from the following website: https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/industry/000000.
Legally, respondents may not pay a person or business for assistance in completing the information collection. Therefore, there are no expected overhead costs for completing the information collection. VBA estimates the total cost to all respondents to be $620,540 (19,000 burden hours x $32.66 per hour).
13. Respondent Costs Other Than Burden Hour Costs
There are no annualized costs to respondents other than the labor burden costs addressed in Section 12 of this document to complete this collection.
14. Cost to the Federal Government
Grade |
Step |
Burden Time |
Fraction of Hour |
Hourly Rate |
Cost Per Response |
Total Responses |
Total |
9 |
3 |
20 |
0.33 |
$35.74 |
11.913 |
38,000 |
$ 452,706.67 |
Overhead at 100% Salary |
$ 452,706.67 |
||||||
12 |
3 |
15 |
0.25 |
$51.83 |
12.958 |
38,000 |
$ 492,385.00 |
Overhead at 100% Salary |
$ 492,385.00 |
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|
|
||||||
Processing / Analyzing Costs |
$ 1,890,183.33 |
||||||
Printing and Production Cost |
$ 21,002.04 |
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Total Cost to Government |
$ 1,911,185.37 |
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Overhead costs are 100% of salary and are the same as the wage listed above and the amounts are included in the total.
Printing and production costs approximates the cost of printing this information collection per year. (Processing/Analyzing Cost total divided by $90).
Note: The hourly wage information above is based on the hourly 2024 General Schedule (Base) Pay (Pay & Leave : Salaries & Wages - OPM.gov). This rate does not include any locality adjustment as applicable.
The processing time estimates above are based on the actual amount of time employees of each grade level spend to process to completion a claim received on this form. The within-grade step (3) of each employee represents the average experience of employees within each grade.
15. Reasons for Change in Burden
The respondent burden has decreased due to the estimated number of receivables averaged over the past year.
16. Publication of Results
The results of this information collection will not be published.
17. Non-Display of OMB Expiration Date
We are not seeking approval to omit the display of the expiration date of the OMB approval on the collection instrument.
18. Exceptions to “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Submissions”
We are not requesting any exemptions to the provisions stated in 5 CFR 1320.9.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Kaitlin Chiarelli |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2025-09-25 |