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.
 
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