CRDP vs CRSC: Concurrent Receipt Explained

If you served long enough to earn a military retirement and you also have a VA disability rating, there is a decades-old rule you need to understand — because it may be quietly costing you money every month.

The problem: the VA waiver

Historically, the law did not let you receive your full military retired pay and your VA disability compensation at the same time. To get the (tax-free) VA compensation, you had to waive an equal amount of your (taxable) retired pay. For many retirees that waiver erased a big chunk of the retirement they earned. Two programs were created to fix this, and they are not interchangeable.

CRDP — Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay

CRDP restores the retired pay you had to waive. The key facts:

• Generally for retirees with a VA rating of 50% or higher.
• It is automatic — if you qualify, DFAS pays it; you do not apply.
• It is taxable, because it is restored retired pay.
• It covers all your service-connected conditions, combat-related or not.

CRSC — Combat-Related Special Compensation

CRSC is a separate, tax-free payment for the portion of your disability that is combat-related. The key facts:

• Only for disabilities that are combat-related — combat, hazardous duty, training that simulates war, or an instrumentality of war.
• You must apply — to your branch of service, not the VA — and prove the combat connection.
• It is tax-free.
• "Combat" is broader than it sounds — it can include injuries from hazardous training and certain in-service events, not only firefights.

You cannot get both — you get the better one

The law does not let you draw CRDP and CRSC at the same time. Each year DFAS runs an open season where you can switch, and generally DFAS pays you the one worth more automatically. But "automatically" only works for CRDP — CRSC you have to apply for, so if you never applied, you may be defaulting into the lower benefit without knowing it.

The tax difference alone can make CRSC worth more than a larger CRDP payment — tax-free money goes further than taxable money. Running the comparison is the whole point.

Why women retirees especially should check

Many women retirees assume concurrent receipt does not apply to them, or never hear about CRSC because they do not picture their injuries as "combat-related" — even when a hazardous-duty or training injury clearly qualifies. If you retired with 20 years (or a medical retirement) and carry a VA rating, it is worth confirming you are getting the maximum you are owed.

How to act on it

Check your DFAS retirement account statement to see whether CRDP is already being applied. If any of your conditions could be combat- or hazardous-duty-related, look hard at a CRSC application to your branch. Because this sits at the intersection of your VA rating and your retired pay, getting the VA rating right feeds directly into how much concurrent receipt you can draw — and a free review can tell you whether your rating and your retirement are working together the way they should.