VA Disability Calculator

VA combines ratings, it does not add them. Start at 100% efficiency, apply the highest rating first, then apply each next rating to the REMAINING healthy percentage, then round to the nearest 10. So 50% leaves 50% healthy; 30% of that 50% is 15%; combined is 65%, which rounds to 70%. This is why stacking smaller ratings gives diminishing returns and why a combined rating can never exceed 100%. The calculator runs the official combined-ratings table for you.

Sort ratings high to low and apply each to the remaining efficiency in turn, then round the final number to the nearest 10. The bilateral factor adds a wrinkle: when disabilities affect both arms, both legs, or paired skeletal muscles, you combine those paired ratings first, add 10% of that combined value, then combine with the rest. It can nudge you over a rounding threshold. Hand math is error-prone here, so run the calculator, which applies the table and bilateral factor automatically.

Above 90% the combined math acts on a very small remaining percentage, so each new condition barely moves the number. You generally need a high single rating, enough additional conditions to combine past about 95% (which rounds to 100%), or 100% via TDIU (Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability). Run the calculator to see how close a new rating would actually put you.

Dependent compensation begins only at a combined rating of 30% or higher. At 10% and 20% the rate is flat regardless of family size. At 30%+ you add separate amounts for a spouse, each child under 18, a school-age child 18-23, and dependent parents, and the add-on grows with your rating. File VA Form 21-686c. Run the calculator with your rating and dependents for the current-year dollar figure.

No. VA disability compensation is completely tax-free at the federal level and is not reported as income. Do not confuse it with military retirement pay, which is taxable, or with Social Security disability. The calculator shows your monthly tax-free amount by rating and dependents.

The effective date is generally the later of the date VA received your claim or the date the condition began, UNLESS you file within one year of discharge, in which case it can reach back to separation. Back pay is computed month by month at the rate in effect each month (older months at older rates), usually starting the first of the month after the effective date. A wrong effective date can cost months or years of pay, so confirm it on your decision.

TDIU pays at the 100% schedular rate but is based on being unable to maintain substantially gainful employment, not on condition severity, and it can be revoked if you return to gainful work (marginal employment below the poverty threshold is generally allowed). A 100% schedular rating has no work or income limit and is harder for VA to reduce. The monthly dollar amount is the same; the stability and work freedom differ.

SMC-K (Special Monthly Compensation) is a flat add-on for loss or loss of use of a specific organ or extremity. It is paid on top of your normal compensation at any rating from 0 to 100%, can be awarded up to three times, and stacks with most other SMC levels. SMC is a separate system from your percentage rating. The calculator can show your base rate; check the current-year SMC table for the K add-on amount.