VA says I owe a debt for "double pay" on reserve drill days I actually waived — how do I dispute this?

Under 38 U.S.C. § 5304(c) and 38 CFR 3.654, a veteran cannot receive both VA disability compensation and military pay (including inactive or active duty points pay) for the same day. When a reservist drills, each drill day is reported to VA, and the veteran must elect — day by day — either to receive reserve/drill pay for that day or to receive VA compensation for that day, but not both. Many reservists submit a standing waiver so that VA compensation continues uninterrupted and they simply do not get paid by DFAS for drill days. Problems like the one described typically arise from a mismatch between what DFAS reports to VA (points earned or pay authorized) and what the servicemember actually received. If DFAS's system continued to show pay as "issued" for those days, even though the member never cashed it or it was recouped, VA's automated systems will flag it as a duplicate payment and generate a debt.

The fastest way to resolve this is not simply requesting a financial hardship waiver (VA Form 5655), because a waiver assumes the debt is valid and only forgives repayment based on financial need — it does not fix the underlying data error. Instead, the veteran should formally dispute the validity of the debt itself. This means obtaining a complete, certified statement from DFAS (through the Reserve pay center or myPay) showing exactly what pay was and was not disbursed for the years in question, along with Leave and Earnings Statements or point statements. That documentation should be submitted to the VA Debt Management Center (DMC) as evidence that no military pay was received for the disputed days, with a written request that the debt be recalculated or vacated as erroneous, not merely waived.

If DMC does not correct it, the veteran can request a Decision Review (Higher-Level Review or Supplemental Claim) on the debt determination itself, since debt validity determinations are appealable. Keeping copies of every LES, points statement, and prior waiver election letter is essential, since these overlap disputes often hinge on paperwork showing the original election was honored by DFAS but never properly reconciled with VA's payment system.

The concrete next step is to request complete DFAS pay and points records for the disputed years and submit them to the VA Debt Management Center with a written dispute of the debt's validity, rather than simply filing a financial hardship waiver.