Download the form
The scope here is Department-wide. DD Form 1285 — DD Form 1285, Request for V A Compensation or Pension Information, May 1976. — exists to Request For VA Compensation or Pension Information, and it applies across the services rather than inside one. That is what the DD prefix encodes: joint issue, single edition, every branch and defense agency working from identical paper.
Requirement traces to not stated; the form belongs to not stated. Everything about schedule sits below that in local instruction, which is where to ask if a date matters.
Edition not stated, status not stated. That comparison is the first thing worth making, because a DD form supersedes centrally and an old copy in a shared drive is out of date for every office, not just yours.
Available: PDF, across 2 pages, roughly 26 fields. That is the whole scope of the download decision.
Fillable pdf is the default choice. Its boxes hold typed entries inside the document; the printable release is a static image of the same page with no interactive layer. Since DD forms routinely cross between services and agencies before they are filed, typed entries matter more here than on a form that stays inside one office.
What the form asks for
- Gross amount of retired pay.
- Last name, first name, middle initial.
- Address: street number, city, state and zip code.
- Service number.
- Social security number. Do not include dashes.
- Date of birth.
- Date of first entry into service.
- Retirement date.
- Retired grade.
- Service department.
- To: (name and address).
- Remarks (section 1).
- Date requested.
- Name and title of requesting officer.
- Signature of requesting officer.
- Section 2 - To be completed by VA. Press space bar to mark X in first box if above individual is not receiving compensation or pension, second box if individual is receiving compensation or pension, or third box if individual has applied for compensation or pension.
- If applicable, amount of compensation or pension (per month).
- Effective date.
- Claim number.
- V A office of jurisdiction.
- Remarks, section 2.
- Date V A completed.
- Name and title of V A official.
- Signature of V A official.
Start by matching the printed date to not stated. Old blanks accumulate in shared folders for years. Because the Department reissues to all services in one action, nobody is still accepting the previous layout by local custom.
Sequence matters. Identification precedes content, content precedes certification, because the lower half of a form is generally conditioned on the upper half.
Nothing stays blank. N/A on an inapplicable item, because an empty box is indistinguishable from a skipped question and the form returns for it. Dates follow the format printed beside the field, not local habit — a joint form is read by clerks in several services with different date conventions, and ambiguity is expensive.
The Privacy Act Statement precedes the personal data fields for a reason. It gives the collection authority, the principal purpose, the routine uses and whether disclosure is voluntary or mandatory. Read it while the disclosure decision is still yours to make.
Sign last, in ink or with a credentialed digital signature. A typed name in a signature field certifies nothing. CAC-based signing is the usual electronic method where the receiving system supports it. Date the block immediately — unsigned and undated certifications account for a large share of returns.
Review for the usual: old edition, blank required fields, illegibility on reproduction, date format, signature and date. Unclear entries — read the form face, then not stated; the directive prevails.
Send it as not stated or local guidance specifies. Save a copy. Cross-service and cross-agency routing is normal for Department forms, and a lost original outside your own organization is harder to chase down.
Related forms are found by number alone. The DD sequence is one unified Department-wide series, so a cited number resolves to exactly one document with no branch qualifier needed.
Prefix before number. A DA citation and a DD citation in the same instruction point at separate systems — one Army, administered by an Army proponent, one Department-wide under not stated — and there is no correspondence between them at any number.
Three drivers of revision: directive reissue, altered collection requirements, updated statutory notice text. No notification accompanies any of them, so download fresh and confirm not stated rather than reusing an archived file.
What is here is the blank form and a description of it. What is not here is legal guidance or any assurance about a particular filing — this page is not the issuing authority and does not speak for one. Those questions go to not stated, to your servicing administrative office, or to the authority identified in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 1285?
- DD Form 1285, Request for V A Compensation or Pension Information, May 1976.
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?