- Tools
- Retired pay and VA compensation
Retired pay and VA compensation
VA compensation is paid by waiving the same amount of military retired pay. CRDP and CRSC give some or all of it back, but you can have only one. This works out what each would pay you.
Sign in to save these inputs to your household, so everyone in it sees the same numbers. Saved scenarios are part of the Command plan.
Result
| Neither | CRDP | |
|---|---|---|
| Retired pay after the waiver | $1,191.55 | $3,000.00 |
| VA compensation | $1,808.45 | $1,808.45 |
| To you | $3,000.00 | $4,808.45 |
How this is worked
Without either program, retired pay is reduced by the VA compensation you receive, down to zero (38 U.S.C. 5305).
CRDP (10 U.S.C. 1414) restores all of it at a VA rating of 50% or more. A medical retiree with fewer than 20 years cannot receive it. One with 20 or more still waives any disability retired pay above what years of service alone would pay. CRDP is retired pay, so it is taxable and can be divided with a former spouse.
CRSC (10 U.S.C. 1413a) pays what VA would pay for your combat-related disabilities alone, dependents included, but no more than the retired pay you waive. For a medical retiree, CRSC and the retired pay left after the waiver together may not exceed retired pay for years of service, at 2.5% a year, or 2.0% under the Blended Retirement System, raised by each cost-of-living increase since retirement. Special monthly compensation counts toward CRSC only when your service found it combat-related. CRSC is tax-free and is not divided with a former spouse.
The method follows the DoD Financial Management Regulation, Volume 7B, chapter 63 and chapter 64, and is tested against their worked examples. VA amounts are from the VA rate tables effective December 1, 2025.
Deductions and tax
The Survivor Benefit Plan premium is 6.5% of the base amount, or for a medical or Reserve retiree or one who entered service before March 1, 1990, the lower threshold formula: 2.5% of the first $1,096 plus 10% of the rest (10 U.S.C. 1452). It comes out of retired pay, then CRSC, and anything left you pay directly. Only a premium taken from retired pay lowers taxable income.
A former spouse is paid from disposable retired pay under 10 U.S.C. 1408: retired pay actually paid, less the SBP premium when they are its beneficiary, and never more than half. CRDP is divisible; VA compensation and CRSC are not, and a state court cannot order waived pay made up (Howell v. Howell, 2017). A medical retiree who cannot receive CRDP has nothing divisible.
Federal tax is the extra 2026 tax your taxable retired pay adds to your other income, with the standard deduction, the added deduction at 65 and the $6,000 senior deduction (Rev. Proc. 2025-32). A former spouse's share is their income, not yours.
What it leaves out
SBP child coverage, which DFAS prices from actuarial tables, state income tax, itemized deductions and credits, and the tax exclusion some medical retirees have for disability retired pay. A Reserve retiree is not paid either program before retired pay begins, usually at 60.
The Major Richard Star Act would end the CRSC limit for medical retirees with fewer than 20 years. It has not become law; this page will change if it does.
An estimate for reference, not a DFAS or VA determination. Your retiree account statement is the record of what you are paid.