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Veteran Annuity — $2,500 a Year, Paid Once Annually

An annuity for veterans compensated at 100% by the VA, and for certain survivors, who live in Massachusetts. Since August 2025 it is paid as one cheque a year of $2,500. Applications and changes must be approved by 30 June.

Verified August 22, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: $2,500 a year, in one payment

The HERO Act raised the annuity from $2,000 to $2,500 over two years. Veterans received a $1,250 payment in February 2025, and from August 2025 the department pays one cheque a year of $2,500.
The figure is the published annuity amount and is not means tested on the pages read.

Who is entitled to it

The veteran route asks about your own rating.
You are rated at 100%, which is what the annuity turns on.
Surviving spouses of a deceased servicemember are named in the eligibility.
Your discharge is of a character these benefits are written around.
You are a Massachusetts resident, which the annuity requires at application and throughout.
Your home is in Massachusetts.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

Deadline: Approved by 30 June

1Watch the deadline, because it is an approval deadline and not a postmark deadline: new applications and updates to an existing annuity must be received and approved by 30 June.
2Send three forms, not one. The application, the electronic funds transfer form and the W-9 are separate documents and the department will not process a part-packet.
3Attach the proof: a DD Form 214 Member 4 copy showing character of service, and the VA rating decision showing 100% service connection.
4A survivor sends more: a death certificate or casualty report, a marriage certificate for a widow or widower, and the VA dependency and indemnity compensation rating decision. A parent applying on a deceased veteran’s service sends that veteran’s birth certificate.
5Remarriage no longer ends it. From 1 July 2025 a surviving spouse of a deceased member of the armed forces can continue receiving the annuity even if they remarry.
6Tell them when you move or change bank. An address change needs an updated W-9; a banking change needs an updated W-9 and direct deposit form, and the same 30 June approval deadline applies to updates.
7Your local veterans’ service officer will complete and submit the forms with you at no cost.

Form: Veteran Annuity Application, with an EFT direct deposit form and an IRS Form W-9
File with: The Executive Office of Veterans Services, Annuity Department — online, by email, by post or through your local VSO
Documents you will need: dd214 · va benefit summary letter
Automatic until something changes: Granted once and carried forward. You must report a change in ownership, occupancy or status.

CorrectionThe payment schedule changed and old guidance is still circulating. It is no longer two half-payments in August and February: from August 2025 it is a single annual cheque of $2,500.

Worth knowingThe eligibility is written as a 100% service-connected disability "or compensated at 100%". A veteran paid at the 100% rate through individual unemployability is worth putting in front of the annuity department rather than ruling out on the schedular rating alone.

Known gapThe department also names parents of deceased veterans among those eligible. Our question set has no route for a parent claimant, so this record does not model that route. A bereaved parent should apply directly to the annuity department with the deceased veteran’s birth certificate.

Known gapWe read the department’s application page rather than M.G.L. c.115 §§6B–6C themselves, so the statutory conditions behind the published eligibility have not been checked against the text.

Sources

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.