(a) Evidence of entitlement. As a condition of granting or continuing pension, the Department of Veterans Affairs may require from any person who is an applicant for or a recipient of pension such information, proofs, and evidence as is necessary to determine the annual income and the value of the corpus of the estate of such person, and of any spouse or child for whom the person is receiving or is to receive increased pension (such child is hereinafter in this section referred to as a dependent child), and, in the case of a child applying for or in receipt of pension in his or her own behalf (hereinafter in this section referred to as a surviving child), of any person with whom such child is residing who is legally responsible for such child's support.

(b) Obligation to report changes in factors affecting entitlement. Any individual who has applied for or receives pension must promptly notify the Secretary of any change affecting entitlement in any of the following:

(1) Income;

(2) Net worth or corpus of estate;

(3) Marital status;

(4) Nursing home patient status;

(5) School enrollment status of a child 18 years of age or older; or

(6) Any other factor that affects entitlement to benefits under the provisions of this Part.

(c) Eligibility verification reports.

(1) For purposes of this section the term eligibility verification report means a form prescribed by the Secretary that is used to request income, net worth, dependency status, and any other information necessary to determine or verify entitlement to pension.

(2) The Secretary may require an eligibility verification report under the following circumstances:

(i) If the Social Security Administration has not verified the beneficiary's Social Security number and, if the beneficiary is married, his or her spouse's Social Security number;

(ii) If there is reason to believe that the beneficiary or his or her spouse may have received income other than Social Security during the current or previous calendar year; or

(iii) If the Secretary determines that an eligibility verification report is necessary to preserve program integrity.

(3) An individual who applies for or receives pension as defined in §3.3 of this part shall, as a condition of receipt or continued receipt of benefits, furnish the Department of Veterans Affairs an eligibility verification report upon request.

(d) If VA requests that a claimant or beneficiary submit an eligibility verification report but he or she fails to do so within 60 days of the date of the VA request, the Secretary shall suspend the award or disallow the claim.

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1506)

(The Office of Management and Budget has approved the information collection requirements in this section under control numbers 2900-0101 and 2900-0624)

[44 FR 45936, Aug. 6, 1979, as amended at 60 FR 51922, Oct. 4, 1995; 65 FR 16827, Mar. 30, 2000; 66 FR 56614, Nov. 9, 2001; 83 FR 47272, Sept. 18, 2018]