CRDP and CRSC Offsets: VA Disability Compensation

CCK Law: Our Vital Role in Veterans Law

Veterans who receive retired service pay and VA disability compensation at the same time are typically subject to the government’s “double-dipping” laws, stating that benefits cannot be duplicated. To comply with this law, veterans who receive both service retired pay and VA disability compensation simultaneously are required to offset part of their service retired pay. The amount the veteran receives in VA compensation is subtracted from the amount they receive in retired pay. This subtraction is referred to as the VA waiver. This is evidenced in the first (leftmost) image.

Moving forward, under certain eligibility requirements you may qualify for concurrent receipt, or the restoration of service retired pay that has been withheld by the VA waiver. There are two forms: Concurrent Retired Disability Pay (CRDP) and Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC).

CRDP restores your service pay by eliminating the VA waiver. The figure shows what will happen once CRDP is applied. If you meet the eligibility requirements, CRDP is automatically applied. The amount that had been taken away by the VA waiver, is now included back in, thus increasing the amount you receive to your full retired pay.

Next, we have CRSC. CRSC is for veterans whose disabilities are combat-related. Under CRSC, the VA waiver is not eliminated and will continue to be subtracted from your service retired pay, but to counter that, CRSC reimburses all or some of your VA waiver in a separate check from your specific branch of service.

Those who qualify for CRSC will get three checks each month, your service retired pay (with the VA waiver taken out), your VA disability compensation, and your reimbursement check. It is important to note that CRSC may not reimburse the full amount of the VA waiver if only some of your service-connected disabilities are combat-related. If this is the case a percentage of your reimbursement check will be taken.