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CRDP vs CRSC: getting your military retired pay back

If you retired from the military and also receive VA compensation, one of these two programs probably applies to you. They are not the same, you cannot be paid both at once, and only one of them requires you to apply.

Last reviewed October 2026 · Not legal advice, VA.gov always controls

CRDP and CRSC give back military retired pay that is reduced because you receive VA disability compensation. CRDP is automatic for retirees with a VA rating of 50% or more, except medical retirees with fewer than 20 years of service. CRSC is a tax-free payment for combat-related disabilities rated 10% or more, open to those medical retirees too, but you must apply to your service branch. You can be paid one or the other, not both (10 U.S.C. § 1414; § 1413a).

This guide is only relevant if you receive military retired pay. If you separated without retiring, none of it applies.

The offset, and why it exists

Federal law has long prohibited receiving military retired pay and VA disability compensation in full for the same period. That general rule, in 38 U.S.C. 5304 and 5305, still applies to every retiree except to the extent CRDP, below, lifts it. CRSC does not remove the waiver; it pays a separate tax-free amount on top. To receive VA compensation, a retiree waives an equal amount of retired pay, so retired pay is reduced dollar for dollar. Because the VA payment is tax free and retired pay is not, a retiree who owes income tax comes out slightly ahead by waiving, but the total is still roughly one payment rather than two.

Congress created two programs to restore the offset. They work differently, they have different eligibility, and one of them you have to ask for.

CRDP: Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay

CRDP restores the retired pay that would otherwise be offset. It is not a new benefit or a bonus; it is your own retired pay, no longer reduced.

Eligibility generally requires both of the following:

A Chapter 61 disability retiree with 20 or more years of service also qualifies, but CRDP restores only the amount the retiree would have received on a years-of-service retirement. Any disability retired pay above that stays offset.

Two things follow from that 50% threshold. First, it is a cliff rather than a slope: at 40% CRDP pays nothing, and at 50% the offset is restored. Second, a veteran granted TDIU under the usual route, 38 CFR 4.16(a), already meets it, because that route requires a schedular rating of 60% or more. DFAS describes the test as a rating of at least 50% on the VA schedule for rating disabilities, so a veteran granted TDIU on an extraschedular basis with a combined schedular rating below 50% should confirm CRDP eligibility with DFAS.

You do not apply for CRDP. If you qualify, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service should start it automatically once the VA notifies them of your rating. If your rating crossed 50% and your retired pay did not change, that is worth a call to DFAS.

The 50% cliff is worth planning around

For a retiree sitting at 40%, the value of reaching 50% is not just the difference in the VA payment. It is that difference plus restoration of the entire offset. That can make one more successfully claimed secondary condition worth several times what the rating table alone suggests. Run the numbers in the combined rating calculator before deciding a claim is not worth filing.

CRSC: Combat-Related Special Compensation

CRSC is a separate, tax-free payment for disabilities that are combat related. It replaces offset retired pay, but only to the extent your disabilities meet that definition.

Eligibility generally requires:

"Combat related" is broader than being shot at. It generally covers disabilities resulting from armed conflict, hazardous service such as flying, parachuting or demolition duty, service simulating war including training exercises, and injuries caused by an instrumentality of war such as a vehicle, a weapon, or exposure to a war-related substance. It also includes any disability from an injury for which a Purple Heart was awarded. A knee destroyed on an airborne training jump is combat related; the same knee injured playing unit sports usually is not.

You must apply for CRSC, and you apply to your branch of service, not to the VA and not to DFAS. Each branch runs its own CRSC board. Use DD Form 2860 and include the VA rating decisions plus the service records that establish how each condition was incurred. Documentation matters here more than almost anywhere else, because the board is deciding a factual question about causation that the VA never addressed. Back pay is limited to six years: to receive the full retroactive amount, file within six years of a VA rating decision or of becoming entitled to retired pay, whichever comes first.

You cannot be paid both

Being eligible for both is common; being paid both for the same period is not permitted. In the first year you qualify for both, DFAS automatically applies whichever is larger on a gross, before-tax basis and sends an election form you have 45 days to return if you want the other one. After that the choice is yours, made during an annual open season that usually takes place in January.

CRDPCRSC
Requires 20 yearsGenerally yesNo, Chapter 61 medical retirees qualify
Rating threshold50% combined10% for combat-related conditions
Application neededNo, automaticYes, to your service branch
TaxableYes, it is retired payNo
CoversAll service-connected conditionsOnly combat-related ones

As a rough rule: if most of your rating is combat related, CRSC is often better because it is tax free. If your rating comes mainly from conditions that are service connected but not combat related, CRDP usually pays more because it covers everything. A medical retiree under Chapter 61 with fewer than 20 years of service has no CRDP option at all, so CRSC is the only route.

Worked example

Suppose a veteran retired after 22 years of service, with gross retired pay of $2,400 a month and no dependents. VA rates a back condition at 30% and a knee condition at 30%. The branch's CRSC board finds the back condition combat related, because it came from a vehicle rollover during a field training exercise; the knee, injured in ordinary duty, is not.

Under 38 CFR 4.25, the first 30% leaves 70% efficiency, and 30% of that is 21, so the combined value is 51, which rounds to 50%. At the veteran-alone rate effective December 1, 2025, VA pays $1,132.90 a month, and retired pay is offset by the same amount, to $1,267.10.

  1. CRDP: the combined 50% meets the threshold, so the full $1,132.90 is restored as taxable retired pay.
  2. CRSC: only the combat-related back condition counts. Rated on its own at 30%, it is worth $552.47 a month, tax free and below the $1,132.90 offset cap.

CRDP is larger by $580.43 before tax, so in the first year of joint eligibility DFAS would apply it automatically. If the knee were rated 10% instead, the combined value would be 37, which rounds to 40%: CRDP would pay nothing, and CRSC's $552.47 would be the only restoration available.

Verify the numbers with DFAS, not with a guide

The arithmetic depends on your retired pay computation, your years of service, your disability percentage, and your tax position, and no general guide can do it for your case. DFAS holds the actual figures and can confirm your gross CRDP and CRSC amounts, but after the first year of joint eligibility the choice at open season is yours to make. Nothing here is financial advice. The rules summarised above come from 10 U.S.C. 1414 (CRDP) and 10 U.S.C. 1413a (CRSC).

Two things retirees get wrong

Filing a VA claim does not cost you your retired pay. The offset is restored by CRDP at 50% and above, and below that the VA payment is tax free where retired pay is not. Retirees sometimes avoid claiming out of a belief that it is pointless. It is not.

A CRSC denial is not final in the ordinary sense. The service boards accept requests for reconsideration after a denial, and a new or changed VA rating for a combat-related condition is also grounds to ask again, so a denial based on a thin application is not a settled answer on whether the injury was combat related. Line of duty determinations, deployment orders, and incident reports are what move these.

The checklist

  1. Confirm whether you are a longevity retiree, a Reserve retiree, or a Chapter 61 medical retiree.
  2. If your combined rating is 50% or more and you have 20 years, check that DFAS has started CRDP.
  3. List which conditions are plausibly combat related, with the records showing how each was incurred.
  4. If any are, apply for CRSC on DD Form 2860 through your branch.
  5. Get your gross CRDP and CRSC amounts from DFAS, compare them after tax, and switch at the January open season if your rating changes.
  6. If you are at 40%, look hard at whether a further claim gets you to 50%.

CRDP and CRSC questions

What is CRDP and how does it work?

Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay lets a retiree with a VA rating of 50% or more receive military retired pay and VA compensation at the same time. Without it, retired pay is reduced dollar for dollar by the VA payment; CRDP removes that reduction, so your own retired pay comes back. The phase-in ended December 31, 2013, so the restoration is now full. It is taxable, because it is retired pay, and you do not apply: DFAS should start it once VA reports a qualifying rating (10 U.S.C. § 1414; 38 U.S.C. § 5305; DFAS, CRDP).

What is the difference between CRDP and CRSC?

CRDP restores retired pay for all service-connected disabilities once the combined VA rating is 50% or more, is taxable, and starts automatically. CRSC is a separate tax-free payment that counts only combat-related disabilities, starts at a 10% rating for those conditions, and needs an application on DD Form 2860 to your branch. CRSC can never be more than the amount your retired pay is reduced. If you qualify for both, you are paid one: DFAS applies the larger gross amount in the first year, and you can switch during the annual open season (10 U.S.C. § 1413a; § 1414(d); DFAS, Comparing CRSC and CRDP).

Can you get CRDP with less than 20 years of service?

Only in some cases. A medical retiree under Chapter 61 with fewer than 20 years is excluded from CRDP by § 1414(b)(2), though CRSC is open to that retiree for combat-related conditions. A retiree under the Temporary Early Retirement Authority (TERA) retired for length of service with fewer than 20 years and can qualify, and a Reserve or Guard retiree with 20 qualifying years qualifies once retired pay begins. The Major Richard Star Act, H.R. 2102 and S. 1032, would let retirees with combat-related disabilities and fewer than 20 years receive both payments without the reduction, but as of October 2026 it has only been referred to committee and is not law (10 U.S.C. § 1414(b)(2); H.R. 2102).

Can a medical retiree get CRDP?

It depends on years of service. A Chapter 61 medical retiree with 20 or more years qualifies at a 50% VA rating, but CRDP restores only what the retiree would have received on a length-of-service retirement; any disability retired pay above that stays reduced. With fewer than 20 years, CRDP does not apply, and CRSC is the only way to restore retired pay, for combat-related disabilities rated 10% or more. For those retirees, CRSC plus the remaining retired pay cannot exceed what the years actually served would earn under the retired pay formula (10 U.S.C. § 1414(b); § 1413a(b)(3)).

Is there a CRSC pay chart?

No separate CRSC pay chart exists. By law, CRSC equals the VA compensation you would receive for your combat-related disabilities alone, ignoring any that are not combat related, capped at the amount your retired pay is reduced, with an extra cap for Chapter 61 retirees. So the closest thing to a chart is VA's own compensation rate table, which changes each December 1, read at the rating for your combat-related conditions. Your branch decides which conditions are combat related, and DFAS can confirm the amount you are paid (10 U.S.C. § 1413a(b); VA disability compensation rates).

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