End to end
Where the money actually goes
Nobody receives their retired pay. It passes through seven stages first, and each one is computed by a different organisation that will not look at the others.
Who this is built for
This is a beta. Every figure here is an illustration built from what you have entered, not a statement of what you are owed — only DFAS, the VA and your own finance office can tell you that.
- Not built for you — Active duty separating before 20 years
- The chain starts from gross retired pay. Without a pension there is nothing for it to trace.
- Not built for you — Already separated
- There is no retired pay to trace. If you separated with severance or a readjustment payment, that is recouped against a later VA award under rules this does not model.
- Not built for you — Spouse, former spouse or survivor
- A survivor annuity is taxed and offset differently. Nothing here is a survivor calculation.
- Partly — read this — Guard or Reserve
- The arithmetic is the same once retired pay starts. It does not know that yours starts at 60, so treat every figure as 'from the year pay begins', not as current income.
- Partly — read this — Medical or disability retirement (Chapter 61)
- CRSC and the longevity cap interact differently for a disability retirement. The stages are right; the eligibility rules behind them are not modelled.
- Built for you — Active duty heading for a 20-year retirement
- Built for you — Already retired
Every calculator here carries this list. See all of them side by side.
Why this page has no equivalent anywhere.
DFAS computes your pension and will not model your VA compensation. The VA computes your compensation and will not model your pension. Neither will touch your state tax, and no one is responsible for the total. The arithmetic is easy; being permitted to do all of it in one place is the difficulty, and a site with no agency and nothing to sell has no such constraint.
Enter your gross monthly retired pay to trace the chain.
The three stages people get wrong
The waiver is a swap, not a loss
Seeing retired pay drop by the exact amount of a new VA award reads as a penalty for being disabled. It is not: the dollars left and came back untaxed. The running total in the table does not fall at that step, which is the clearest way to show it. The genuine loss only appears when nothing restores the waiver.
CRDP restores taxable dollars, CRSC restores tax-free ones
They are mutually exclusive. DFAS uses the larger gross entitlement only for the initial joint-eligibility default; a later non-response keeps the current election. This chain therefore asks what program and amount your DFAS record actually shows. It never imports the dedicated calculator's after-tax preference.
The SBP premium costs less than it looks
It is deducted from retired pay before tax, so it also reduces the amount you are taxed on. Almost every description of SBP quotes the headline premium and stops there, which overstates the real cost of the election — and that overstatement pushes people toward declining, which is the decision that cannot be undone.
What this does not do
It does not determine CRDP/CRSC eligibility, choose an election, or look up your federal bracket. You enter the current DFAS program and amount from the Retiree Account Statement. You also supply tax rates; the page shows the accounting path, not a benefit or tax determination. State results remain subject to the source and effective-date warnings shown by the site.
Estimates and explanation only. Not tax, legal or VA advice. Today's dollars, one flat rate at each tax stage. Your figures stay in your own browser.