Our VA disability back pay calculator provides an estimate of how much back pay (sometimes referred to as retroactive pay) you may receive from the VA once your claim is approved. While the results generated here are not exact and may differ slightly from your official back pay amount, they offer a helpful approximation.
You must keep at least 1 rating group.
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How to calculate your VA disability back pay
Trying to understand how to correctly fill out our VA disability back pay calculator can be confusing. That’s why we provide step-by-step instructions below to help you get the most reliable estimate possible. Keep in mind, the actual amount you receive from the VA may differ from your results.
Part 1: Prior ratings
The first box of our VA disability back pay calculator is where you will enter the details of all of the VA ratings you have gotten in the past. You will complete this section as many times as you have received VA ratings decisions by selecting the plus sign symbol.
- Enter your effective date into the first field. When you are granted a VA rating, the VA will assign you an effective date, which is the day you are first eligible to start collecting VA disability benefits. Generally, the effective date is either the date the VA receives your claim or the date entitlement arose, whichever comes later.
- Next, enter your combined rating percentage or the type of Special Monthly Compensation (SMC) benefit (other than SMC-K) you were awarded for your claim into the dropdown menu labeled “Rating/SMC.” Because SMC-K is the only type of Special Monthly Compensation that can be granted in addition to VA disability or another SMC benefit, it is excluded from this list and will be handled in step 3.
- In the third field, enter the number of SMC-K awards you’ve been granted, if any. Veterans with this benefit may receive between one to three SMC-K awards.
- Under the dropdown list labeled “Dependents,” choose the option that best describes your situation at the time this rating was awarded. It is important to note that for calculation purposes, if you have more than one dependent child, you are only asked to claim one of them in this step. This is because the VA calculates benefits for additional children differently. You will have a chance to claim any additional dependent children in step 6.
- Check the box if, at the time you were awarded this rating, you had a spouse who was receiving Aid and Attendance benefits. If a veteran’s spouse receives Aid and Attendance or is housebound, the veteran is owed extra compensation. This box is only for the spouse. If the veteran receives Aid and Attendance, that information should be added in step 2.
- In the first field on the third row, enter the number of dependent children in your care in addition to the one child accounted for in step 4. For example, if you have two dependent children, you will need to enter “1” here. If you only have one dependent child, you will leave this number as “0.”
- In the last field, enter the number of dependent children between 18 and 23 who were in a qualifying school program at the time you were receiving this VA rating. This can include a school, college, academy, seminary, technical institute, or university that the VA determines is an “approved educational institution.” A home school program may also be considered a VA-approved educational institution if it operates in compliance with state attendance laws.
If you have any additional prior ratings, click the small plus sign in the gray circle to add them. Repeat steps 1 through 7 for each additional rating.
Once you’ve completed a box for each prior rating, use the field labeled “Prior Ratings Ending Date” to indicate the date your previous ratings ended.
Part 2: Revised ratings
The next box labeled “Revised Ratings #1” is where you can enter details about your current ratings. You can use the red “Copy Prior Ratings” button to automatically copy the information from above into the Revised Ratings box, or you can input the information manually.
If you choose to copy your prior ratings, make sure to review the information and change any dates or ratings that have been updated. For example, if your prior VA rating was 40% and your revised rating is now 60% but your dependents and family situation has not changed, you would click the red button, change your rating from 40% to 60%. If applicable, you may also need to change your effective date. Everything else would stay the same.
Like you did with your prior ratings, use the gray plus sign to add any additional revised ratings and date ranges. Once you’ve provided details for all of your current and past ratings, press the red button that says “Calculate Back Pay.”
How much back pay will you get?
Once you press the “Calculate Back Pay” button, three numbers will be generated. These numbers are your amount of prior compensation, revised compensation, and the difference between them.
- Prior compensation: This is how much you’ve already been paid in the past for your VA disability. If you’ve had one or more ratings and were already receiving benefits from the VA, this is how much you should have received over time based on the information you provided.
- Revised compensation: This is the new amount of back pay you should receive from the VA for your current ratings.
- Difference: This is an estimate of the amount of compensation the VA now owes you. This number is calculated by taking your revised compensation minus your prior compensation.
To see how your back pay was calculated, click the button above your results that says “View Calculation Details.” This allows you to see a breakdown of how the amounts were calculated.
Please note that the “Difference” amount calculated does not include any applicable attorney’s fees. If you are currently working with Woods & Woods, you can refer to your fee agreement for the fee percentage we agreed upon when we began representing you.
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