Waiving VA comp for Medical Retirement

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akj99

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Registered Member
I was medically retired (PDRL) as an officer under 20 years. I currently receive VA comp offset and the remainder as retirement pay. Due to being an officer my Retirement pay is higher then VA comp would ever be at any percentage. The medical retirement was also combat related which allows my retirement pay to be untaxed just like VA comp.

My questions is, is there a point to having the VA comp side? Having Tricare I don't necessarily need any benefit the VA comp has for healthcare.

Having to deal with re-evaluations, and if ever re-evaluated if that turned into a decrease on the VA side how does that effect the military retirement side? Dealing with two direct-deposits

Just seems more complicated so is there any point to keeping that VA comp side or is there even a way to waive the VA comp completely and receive all pay as retirement pay?
 
akj99 said:
I was medically retired (PDRL) as an officer under 20 years. I currently receive VA comp offset and the remainder as retirement pay. Due to being an officer my Retirement pay is higher then VA comp would ever be at any percentage. The medical retirement was also combat related which allows my retirement pay to be untaxed just like VA comp.

My questions is, is there a point to having the VA comp side? Having Tricare I don't necessarily need any benefit the VA comp has for healthcare.

Having to deal with re-evaluations, and if ever re-evaluated if that turned into a decrease on the VA side how does that effect the military retirement side? Dealing with two direct-deposits

Just seems more complicated so is there any point to keeping that VA comp side or is there even a way to waive the VA comp completely and receive all pay as retirement pay?
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So if your total chapter 61 pay is higher the the total between your earned pension + VA compensation then there is no need for accepting VA compensation if chapter 61 pension is exempt from taxes.

My wife is in the same boat. However, she was in 17AFS and so her earned pension was a lot as an O4. Her earned longevity pension when added to her VA compensation was higher than her Chapter 61 pension even though she got money for her Chapter 61 pension after VA offset. She accepted VA compensation because that is required to get CRSC. So if you are leaving money on the table I suggest you accept VA compensation and then research CRSC to see if you have any condition that could be approved. In my wife's case even with 2k pay after VA offset she was missing out on 1.5k of income that was awarded to her via CRSC.

If you were NG/Reserves and medically retired with little points and served for a long time then there is a good chance your chapter 61 pension is higher than that total. In that case I would consider not getting VA compensation since it doesn't help mathematically.
 
Provis said:
So if your total chapter 61 pay is higher the the total between your earned pension + VA compensation then there is no need for accepting VA compensation if chapter 61 pension is exempt from taxes.

My wife is in the same boat. However, she was in 17AFS and so her earned pension was a lot as an O4. Her earned longevity pension when added to her VA compensation was higher than her Chapter 61 pension even though she got money for her Chapter 61 pension after VA offset. She accepted VA compensation because that is required to get CRSC. So if you are leaving money on the table I suggest you accept VA compensation and then research CRSC to see if you have any condition that could be approved. In my wife's case even with 2k pay after VA offset she was missing out on 1.5k of income that was awarded to her via CRSC.

If you were NG/Reserves and medically retired with little points and served for a long time then there is a good chance your chapter 61 pension is higher than that total. In that case I would consider not getting VA compensation since it doesn't help mathematically.
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Thank you for the response. So since I had a short period of active duty plus a little longer period of reserve time, My longevity pay is not much when compared to Ch61 and is lower than what my Ch 61 pension is. I submitted the paperwork for CRSC, and it was technically approved, but I do not receive anything from it. Even if my VA comp was 100% I would still receive a small amount through my Ch61 pension. So if there is really no benefit to receiving the VA comp side, is there a way to go back and turn down VA comp and just receive my full Ch61 pension from the DOD? Thank you for your advice.
 
akj99 said:
Thank you for the response. So since I had a short period of active duty plus a little longer period of reserve time, My longevity pay is not much when compared to Ch61 and is lower than what my Ch 61 pension is. I submitted the paperwork for CRSC, and it was technically approved, but I do not receive anything from it. Even if my VA comp was 100% I would still receive a small amount through my Ch61 pension. So if there is really no benefit to receiving the VA comp side, is there a way to go back and turn down VA comp and just receive my full Ch61 pension from the DOD? Thank you for your advice.
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Yeah you can resubmit it the VA application for benefits asking to waive them. Box 26 on a VA form, such as the 21-526EZ, is used to waive VA compensation benefits in favor of military retired pay
 
Waiving VA compensation (VA disability pay) in the context of medical retirement usually comes up when someone is dealing with military retirement pay vs VA disability compensation and how they interact.
 
I’m in a similar boat as you are, and I’m looking for some insight. If I don’t get anything back on this, I’ll make my own post. I’m at 80% DoD, 100% VA, with less than 20 years of service. My medical retirement pay is higher than 100% VA. My condition is currently considered non-combat related (which I believe is incorrect, but that’s another conversation). I’m being told that I cannot receive a check from VA and DFAS because it is non-combat related and I am under 20 years of service. The DFAS website doesn’t say anything about a requirement for combat related, but does reference an offset (dollar for dollar waiver). I’m trying to find out if what I’ve been told now by three people (PEBLO, Finance, and the person giving the SBP brief) is accurate…
 
If your medical retirement pay is higher than your VA compensation then you get the difference. My wife is in the same boat. She was a Major and maxed out DOD at 75% and that amount was 6k which is higher than VA pay. So she gets 4k from the VA and 2k from her medical retirement.
 
Provis said:
If your medical retirement pay is higher than your VA compensation then you get the difference. My wife is in the same boat. She was a Major and maxed out DOD at 75% and that amount was 6k which is higher than VA pay. So she gets 4k from the VA and 2k from her medical retirement.
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And that’s exactly how I understood how the pay is supposed to work after reading off DFAS. Each person I mentioned above told me otherwise though. On the plus side, my civilian neurologist thought my TBI DBQ was nonsense and plans to write me a letter (emailed me about an hour ago). That will likely make me 100% combat related so it will be of little consequence if that works out.
 
cccam said:
And that’s exactly how I understood how the pay is supposed to work after reading off DFAS. Each person I mentioned above told me otherwise though. On the plus side, my civilian neurologist thought my TBI DBQ was nonsense and plans to write me a letter (emailed me about an hour ago). That will likely make me 100% combat related so it will be of little consequence if that works out.
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Most Soldiers its the opposite. Their VA is larger than their chapter 61 pension and so most people are used to saying you won't get anything due to the VA offset. That's the main issue. For those who are high ranking (especially Officers and Warrant Officers) with a high DOD% they end up with a higher medical retirement than VA so they get what's left of their chapter 61 pension after the VA offset.
 
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