Dates, times, phone numbers, and addresses

Dates and years

• Spell out dates in body copy, using the full construction: March 31, 1989. Or January 2, 1980.
• Write out date ranges using sentence construction in body copy: This will be available from December 1, 2025, to December 31, 2025.

Note: Be intentional when picking “from/to,” “from/through,” or “between/and” for date ranges. Each option can mean different things, so pick the option that best matches your needs.

• Add a comma after the year when using the full construction, unless the date is the end of the sentence. If the date is at the end of the sentence, use the punctuation you’d normally use (period, question mark, colon, no punctuation).
• In general, also spell out days of the week and months in body copy.

Exceptions

• Use 9/11 when it’s part of a program name such as the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
• Abbreviate days and months when space is very limited, such as in callout boxes, alerts, or promo components.
  • Mon., Tue., Wed., Thu., Fri., Sat., Sun.
  • Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec. (Don’t abbreviate March, April, May, June, July.)
  • In application form fields, we often use the construction: mm/dd/yyyy
• Where space is limited, indicate date ranges with the - hyphen without spaces on either side. Don’t combine the hyphen with from/between sentence construction.

Years

When referencing decades or periods of years, don’t use an apostrophe with the “s.”

• Like this: The early 2000s
• Not this: The early 2000’s

Times and time zones

Write out times, using a.m. and p.m. with periods: 9:00 a.m.

• Spell out noon and midnight. Don’t use 12:00 p.m. or 12:00 a.m.
• Include the minutes, even when on the hour.
• When referencing office hours, always use the time zone ET, even if the office is in another location (no parentheses, periods, or daylight/standard).
• When referencing international time zones, use the time zone name for that country or the UTC (coordinated universal time) offset. (Example: Central European Time, Korea Standard Time, UTC +2)
• In body copy, write out ranges using sentence construction: We’re open Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET.
• Where space is limited, indicate ranges with the - hyphen without spaces on either side. Don’t combine the hyphen with from/between sentence construction.

Exceptions

We make exceptions to our style guide for these instances of default formatting:

• For the mobile app, when times and time zones aren’t hardcoded, the formatting differs from VA.gov due to default formatting in React Native. For example, React Native formats time as AM and PM (both letters capitalized and no punctuation) and EST (3-letter format).
• For automated timestamps from the time library used in vets-website (date-fns), the time zone uses the 3-letter format (like EDT). This is a legacy exception for existing implementations. New implementations should follow the timestamp display guidance and use the Veteran’s local time zone.

Displaying timestamps in forms

Use this guidance when displaying a date or timestamp back to a Veteran in a form, such as on a confirmation page, a review step, or a saved-work alert.

Note: This guidance applies to the display format only. Store and transmit timestamps in form submissions and API payloads in UTC ISO 8601 format (for example, 2026-05-26T14:32:07Z). Convert from UTC to the Veteran’s local time zone at the point of display.

Display format

Display timestamps to Veterans in a human-readable format, not in machine format.

Date only or date and time

• Date only. When the time isn’t meaningful to the Veteran (for example, a submission date), display the date only: May 26, 2026.
• Date and time. When the time matters (for example, a saved-work alert or a deadline for an expiring link), display both the date and time: May 26, 2026, at 2:32 p.m. PT.

Time zones

• Always include a time zone when displaying a time.
• Use the Veteran’s local time zone, detected from their browser or device, for all VA.gov form timestamps. This includes confirmation pages, review steps, saved-work alerts, and PDF timestamps. Convert from the stored UTC value to the Veteran’s local time zone at the point of display.
• If we can’t detect the Veteran’s local time zone, use Eastern Time (ET).
• Use the standard, 2-letter time zone abbreviation for the Veteran’s detected time zone (for example, PT, CT, MT, or ET). Don’t use the 3-letter abbreviation (for example, EST or EDT).
• This guidance applies to timestamps connected to a Veteran’s own action, like saving their work or signing a form. For scheduled times, like maintenance windows or downtime notices, either system wide or for a specific form or tool, use ET for the time zone.

Timestamps on generated PDFs

This formatting guidance also applies to all dates and timestamps on generated PDFs. Review Signature — generating a PDF for the full implementation details, including watermark formats and the VA DATE STAMP box.

Phone numbers

Using the Telephone component will apply the following formatting and accessibility guidance.

Formatting

• Use hyphens between numbers, and don’t use parentheses to set off the area code: 212-123-1234.
• Use +1 only when the information is specifically addressing Veterans or people who are living outside the U.S.: +1-201-123-1234.
• For phone numbers with an extension, use ext. at the end: 202-123-1234, ext. 9.
• Always include days and hours of operation when listing a phone number.
• Use “select” to indicate the menu option after dialing a phone number. Example: Call 988 and select 1.
• Use a verb ahead of the number. Use “call” or “call us at…” for phone numbers and “text” or “text us at” for text numbers.
• When a phone number has (TTY: 711) included, it should be formatted in parenthesis directly following the phone number. Example: 866-440-1238 (TTY: 711) or 866-440-1238, ext. 4 (TTY: 711)

Links

• Hyperlink all phone numbers, including (TTY: 711). Include “TTY:” in the link. Don’t link the “call” or “text” verb that precedes the number.
  Example: <a href="tel:2021231234"> 202-123-1234 </a> (<a href="tel:711">TTY: 711</a>)

Note: If for some reason you cannot use the Telephone component, you are responsible for meeting the same formatting and accessibility guidance when creating links to phone numbers.

Don’t use vanity phone numbers in body copy

We don’t use vanity phone numbers in body copy, as it adds visual noise and is not helpful to screen readers. We use and hyperlink only the numeric phone number in body copy.

• Exception: In marketing or promotional messaging, such as the right rail promo component, we discourage but make an exception for vanity phone numbers. In marketing or promotional components, use the format: 877-222-VETS (8387) and hyperlink the complete number including the parenthetical.

Fax numbers

Don’t hyperlink or add aria labels to fax numbers. Make it clear in the surrounding text when a number is a fax number to avoid people mistaking it as a phone number.

Like this: If you’re in the U.S., fax your application to 1-844-531-7818.

Addresses

Don’t use periods in PO for PO Box.

Write out street names (street, road, avenue, boulevard, highway, etc.) in both body copy and in address blocks. Don’t abbreviate.

When a street address contains a compass point (like north or south), defer to the way it’s referenced locally. For example, some cities may abbreviate compass points like north and south for some but not all streets.

In the examples, we spell out the street names and style the compass points the way they're locally referenced in Washington, DC, and New York City, which both abbreviate compass points.

Zip codes and postal codes

• When we know an address is a U.S. address, use “zip code.” If the address is outside the U.S. or if you’re unsure of the country, use “postal code.”
  Note: The Ask users for addresses pattern uses “postal code” for the field label. But the error message will say “Enter a valid 5-digit zip code” if we know the address is in the U.S.
• When Veterans fill out their address, we don’t require them to include the extra 4 digits of their zip code. They only need to provide the 5-digit zip code.
• When we provide an address to Veterans, we sometimes include the extra 4 digits of the zip code. If we include the extra 4 digits, use a hyphen (ex. 12345-6789).