Free tool · Checked September 2026
VA disability back pay calculator
Enter your effective date, the date VA started paying, your rating and your dependents. The estimate uses the official rate table for each month and applies the 38 CFR 3.31 payment-start rule. Every month is shown, so you can check the arithmetic against your award letter.
Estimated retroactive award
$0
Month by month
| Months | Rate year | Monthly rate | Already paid | Owed per month | Subtotal |
|---|
Gross estimate from the rate tables. It does not reflect retired-pay offsets (CRDP or CRSC), separation-pay recoupment, overpayment offsets, apportionment or Special Monthly Compensation. Your award letter states the actual amount.
How the estimate works
Start month. Under 38 CFR 3.31, payment may not be made for any period before the first day of the calendar month following the month in which the award became effective. An effective date of March 14 means the first month owed is April.
End month. The retroactive award covers every month from the start month up to, but not including, the month VA began regular payments. That month is paid on the normal schedule, in arrears, at the start of the following month.
Rate for each month. VA rates change every December 1 with the cost-of-living adjustment. December belongs to the following rate year. Each month is priced from the table in force for that month, using the household row that matches your dependents and the added amounts for any beyond what the row covers. At 10% and 20%, dependents do not change the rate.
Increases. If you were already being paid at a lower rating for those months, the award is the difference. The calculator subtracts the lower rating's rate for the same household.
Loaded rate years. 2025 through 2026. Months before December 2024 are estimated at the 2025 rates and marked as such. Where a year's table is partly loaded, dependent amounts are taken from the 2026 table and marked as estimates.
Frequently asked
Back pay is the sum of the monthly compensation you were entitled to from the first day of the month after your effective date up to the month VA started regular payments, at the rate table in force for each of those months. If the award is an increase, the amount you were already being paid for those months is subtracted.
38 CFR 3.31 says payment may not be made for any period before the first day of the calendar month following the month in which the award became effective. An effective date of March 14 means entitlement starts in April.
No. It estimates the gross retroactive award from the rate tables. Retired-pay offsets, separation-pay recoupment under 38 CFR 3.700, overpayment offsets, apportionment and Special Monthly Compensation all change what is actually deposited.
Months in a rate year whose full table is loaded are computed exactly from the VA table. Months in a year that is only partly loaded, or earlier than the earliest loaded year, are marked as estimates in the breakdown.
Sources
This tool is general information, not a determination of benefits. Only VA decides what you are owed. Veteran.org is not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.