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Your retired pay is cut dollar for dollar by your VA compensation. Two programs give some of it back, you can only hold one, and the bigger number on paper is not always the better deal, because one is taxed and the other is not. Enter your figures and see both. Free, on your device, no account.
Sources: 10 U.S.C. 1413a — Combat-Related Special Compensation, 10 U.S.C. 1414 — concurrent payment of retired pay and VA compensation, VA — 2026 disability compensation rates (effective 1 Dec 2025), DFAS — CRSC and CRDP
Average of your highest 36 months of basic pay.
Only the conditions your branch certifies as combat-related.
CRSC is tax-free, so this changes the answer.
After tax, at these figures
CRDP looks better
by $506.78 a month, about $6,081 a year
Automatic · taxable · needs 50%+
$4,130.15
per month after tax
Must apply · tax-free · combat-related only
$3,623.37
per month after tax
You cannot hold both. The law lets you receive CRSC or CRDP, not both (10 U.S.C. 1414(d)(1)). DFAS pays whichever is greater and runs an annual open season each December and January to switch. You do not have to choose blind.
CRSC is priced on the combat-related rating only. Not your full VA rating. Only your service branch decides which conditions are combat-related, on DD Form 2860, and that decision is an input here rather than something this tool can predict. CRSC is also capped at the retired pay you actually waived.
Tax is why the comparison is not just the bigger number. Retired pay is taxable, CRSC and VA compensation are not. A smaller CRSC payment can beat a larger CRDP restoration once tax is counted, which is what the tax-rate selector shows. This uses a flat marginal federal rate and ignores state tax, so treat it as the direction of the answer rather than a filing figure. Your state may not tax military retired pay at all.
Not modelled: SMC, CRSC back pay and the six-year limit on it, VA offsets other than the retired-pay waiver, Combat-Related Disability Pay under a separate programme, and any reduction for SBP premiums or a former-spouse court order. VA rates are 2026, effective 1 Dec 2025.
An estimate for planning, not a pay statement. DFAS computes the real figure and your branch decides CRSC eligibility. A VA-accredited representative can help with the application at no cost.
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Nobody warns you about this clearly. You retire, you win a VA rating, and your retired pay drops by almost exactly what VA started paying you. That is the VA waiver, and it comes from 38 U.S.C. 5304 and 5305: you cannot draw retired pay and VA disability compensation for the same period without giving up retired pay dollar for dollar.
Taking the waiver is still normally the right move, because VA compensation is tax-free and retired pay is not, so the same gross is worth more in your hand. But it means the two do not stack, and for years that was the end of the story. CRDP and CRSC are Congress putting some of it back.
CRDP restores the waiver. If your VA combined rating is 50% or higher and you have a regular retirement, CRDP gives back the whole amount you waived, so retired pay and VA compensation both arrive in full. It is automatic, there is nothing to apply for, and it is taxable because it is retired pay.
CRSC pays for the combat-related share. It needs only a 10% rating, but it is priced only on the conditions your branch certifies as combat-related, and it is capped at what you waived. You must apply, on DD Form 2860, and it is not taxable.
You may hold one, never both. DFAS pays whichever is greater and opens an annual switch window each December and January.
There is one rule here that changes everything and is almost never stated up front. A Chapter 61 medical retiree with fewer than 20 years of service cannot receive CRDP at all. Not a reduced amount. None. 10 U.S.C. 1414(b)(2) says concurrent receipt “does not apply” to that group.
So if that is you, there is no comparison to make. CRSC is the only mechanism that can return any of your waived retired pay, and it only exists if you apply for it. Your CRSC is also capped so that your residual retired pay plus CRSC does not exceed what you would have earned on longevity alone, which is your years of service times 2.5% (or 2% under BRS) times your High-3 base. The calculator applies that ceiling and tells you when it is the binding limit.
Most people underestimate this and never apply. Under 10 U.S.C. 1413a(b) a disability qualifies through any of four routes:
Those last two are wider than the phrase “combat-related” suggests. A knee destroyed on a night jump at home station, hearing loss from a flight line, a back injury from a vehicle rollover in training: none of that happened in a combat zone and all of it can qualify. Your branch decides, so the honest answer is to apply and let them rule.
DFAS compares the two programs on gross monthly amounts and pays the larger. That is the right default, but it is not always the right answer for you, because CRDP is taxable and CRSC is not.
Work an example. A 20-year retiree with a $5,000 High-3 and a 70% VA rating waives $1,808.45. CRDP restores all of it, for $4,308.45 a month with $2,500 of that taxable. If the combat-related rating is 100%, CRSC is capped at the same $1,808.45 waiver, so the gross totals are identical at $4,308.45. But only $691.55 of the CRSC version is taxable. In the 22% bracket that is roughly $398 a month more in hand, on the same gross. Run your own numbers above rather than trusting the bigger headline figure.
No. The law allows one or the other, not both (10 U.S.C. 1414(d)(1)). DFAS computes both and pays whichever is greater, and there is an annual open season each December and January when you can switch. So you are not locked in, but you do need to know which one is actually better for you, because DFAS compares gross amounts and CRSC is tax-free.
It depends on how much of your VA rating is combat-related. CRDP restores the full retired pay you waived. CRSC only pays at the rating for the conditions your branch certifies as combat-related, and is capped at the amount you waived. So CRDP usually wins on gross unless most of your rating is combat-related. But CRSC is tax-free and restored retired pay is taxable, so a smaller CRSC payment can beat a larger CRDP one after tax. The calculator above shows both figures side by side.
Because of the VA waiver. Under 38 U.S.C. 5304 and 5305 you cannot receive retired pay and VA disability compensation for the same period without giving up retired pay dollar for dollar. Most people come out ahead taking the waiver anyway, since VA compensation is tax-free and retired pay is not. CRSC and CRDP exist to give back some or all of what the waiver takes.
No, and this is the rule that catches people out. 10 U.S.C. 1414(b)(2) states plainly that concurrent receipt does not apply to a member retired under Chapter 61 with less than 20 years of service. That is statute, not DFAS policy, and no appeal changes it. CRSC is your only route to recovering any of the waived retired pay, which makes the DD Form 2860 application the entire decision rather than a comparison.
Four routes, under 10 U.S.C. 1413a(b). An injury for which you were awarded the Purple Heart. A disability incurred as a direct result of armed conflict. One incurred during hazardous service, such as flight, diving, parachute or demolition duty. Or one incurred through an instrumentality of war, or in conditions simulating war, which includes training accidents. That last pair is broader than most people assume, and covers a great deal that never happened in a combat zone.
Three steps. First, VA compensation is priced at the combined rating of your combat-related conditions only, with your dependents, ignoring everything not certified as combat-related. Second, that figure is capped at the amount of retired pay you waived, because CRSC replaces waived pay rather than adding to it. Third, if you retired under Chapter 61, your residual retired pay plus CRSC cannot exceed the retirement you earned on years of service alone, which for someone under 20 years is years times 2.5% (or 2% under BRS) times your High-3 base.
Yes, on DD Form 2860, to your service branch rather than to VA or DFAS. This is the single biggest difference from CRDP, which is automatic and needs no application. Your branch decides which conditions are combat-related and assigns the CRSC percentage. If you have never applied, nothing is happening in the background on your behalf.
No. CRSC is not taxable income. CRDP is, because it restores retired pay, which is taxable. That difference is why the comparison is not simply the bigger number, and why the calculator above lets you enter a marginal tax rate. For someone in the 22% bracket, a CRSC payment several hundred dollars smaller on paper can still be the better outcome.
Often yes. CRSC can be paid retroactively to the date you became eligible, generally back to 1 June 2003 when the programme began, but there is a six-year limit on how far back an arrears payment can reach from your application. That makes the application date worth locking in rather than delaying while you gather documents. This calculator estimates monthly amounts only, not retroactive totals.
Rules verified against 10 U.S.C. 1413a, 1414 and 1409(b) and the VA 2026 rate tables in September 2026, sources linked above. General information, not tax or legal advice and not a pay determination. DFAS computes your actual entitlement and your service branch decides CRSC eligibility. A VA-accredited representative can help with the application at no cost. Related reading: the full CRSC and CRDP guide.