Under 38 U.S.C. § 5304(c), a veteran cannot receive both VA disability compensation and military pay for the same day of active duty, active duty for training, or inactive duty training (drill). To prevent this double payment, VA is supposed to identify drilling Reservists and National Guard members who are also rated for compensation and periodically send VA Form 21-8951-2, Notice of Waiver of VA Compensation or Pension to Receive Military Pay and Allowances, so the veteran can report drill dates and elect which pay to waive for those specific days.
If VA never sent that form, the obligation to avoid double payment does not disappear — it just means the offset hasn't been processed yet. VA and DFAS periodically cross-check drill pay records against VA compensation payments, and when they do, any days of overlap typically get identified retroactively, creating an overpayment debt for the compensation portion (since drill pay comes from a separate system and usually isn't recouped the same way). That debt would then go through VA's standard debt collection process, including notice, an opportunity to dispute or request waiver of the debt under 38 C.F.R. § 1.911 (based on factors like fault, hardship, and whether recovery would be against equity and good conscience), and a repayment or offset arrangement.
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 →As for legal trouble: administrative overpayments of this kind are civil debt matters, not criminal ones, unless there is evidence of fraud or intentional concealment. Given that the situation here involves openly reporting active-duty and drill status to VA rather than hiding it, and VA's own failure to issue the form is part of the delay, this looks like an administrative processing gap rather than fraud. That said, interest can accrue on VA debts once established, and the longer the discrepancy runs, the larger the eventual overpayment may be.
The proactive move is to not wait for VA to catch it. Contact the VA regional office or file an inquiry through VA.gov or the VA's debt/waiver channels requesting VA Form 21-8951-2, then complete and submit it listing all known drill dates since the rating began, so the offset can be calculated and any resulting debt (and possible waiver request) can be addressed on your terms rather than after an audit.
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