Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP), authorized under 38 U.S.C. § 1414, restores military retired pay that would otherwise be offset (waived) because of VA disability compensation. To qualify, a retiree generally needs 20 or more years of creditable service and a VA disability rating of 50% or higher. A retiree who moves from a lower rating to 100% Permanent and Total, with the required years of service, would typically become eligible for CRDP effective the date the higher rating takes effect.
When VA issues a retroactive rating increase, it sends the decision to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), which then recalculates retired pay for the retroactive period, applies the VA waiver amount that was withheld, and issues any resulting CRDP back pay. This audit and reconciliation process is handled independently by DFAS after VA's notification, and there is no fixed, guaranteed timeline — it depends on DFAS's current workload and the complexity of the individual pay record. It is not unusual for this reconciliation to take a few months, and there is no standard turnaround time that applies to every case, so it is reasonable to expect some delay rather than an immediate resolution.
Official 2026 VA monthly compensation, including the 2.8% COLA increase.
Dependent add-ons start at a 30% rating. Child-only and dependent-parent rates: see the full 2026 pay chart.
| Rating | Monthly (2026, incl. 2.8% COLA) |
|---|---|
| 10% | $180.42 |
| 20% | $356.66 |
| 30% | $552.47 |
| 40% | $795.84 |
| 50% | $1,132.90 |
| 60% | $1,435.02 |
| 70% | $1,808.45 |
| 80% | $2,102.15 |
| 90% | $2,362.30 |
| 100% | $3,938.58 |
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Analyze my claim free →When back pay is issued, DFAS typically sends it as a separate lump-sum payment rather than folding it into a regular monthly retired pay or VA compensation deposit. VA disability compensation itself is paid a month in arrears — meaning the payment received at the end of a given month covers the prior month's entitlement. So a rating change effective September 1 would be reflected in the payment issued in early October, consistent with VA's normal payment cycle.
Because every retiree's pay record, waiver history, and effective dates differ, the exact retroactive amount, timing, and whether any additional offsets (such as Combat-Related Special Compensation eligibility instead of CRDP) apply can only be confirmed by DFAS and VA reviewing the specific account. The concrete next step is to contact DFAS's retiree pay center directly, provide the VA rating decision, and ask them to confirm CRDP eligibility, the effective date used for the offset calculation, and the status of the retroactive audit for that specific pay account.
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