Concurrent Receipt: CRDP vs CRSC
If your VA disability check is quietly cancelling out part of your military retired pay, one of these two programs can get that money back, and one of them is even tax-free.
The simple version (what it is)
When you retire from the military AND draw VA disability, the old rule made you give up one dollar of retired pay for every dollar of VA disability. That is the "VA waiver," and it costs a lot of retirees thousands of dollars a year. Concurrent receipt undoes it. There are two flavors:
- CRDP (Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay). Restores your full retired pay. You qualify if you have a 20-year (or more) military retirement AND a combined VA rating of 50% or higher. It is automatic (DFAS turns it on, no application) and it is taxable.
- CRSC (Combat-Related Special Compensation). A separate tax-free payment for the part of your disability that is combat-related. No 50% threshold and no 20-year rule in the same way, but you must apply to your branch and prove the disability came from combat, hazardous duty, an instrument of war, or war-simulating training.
You cannot collect both at the same time. If you qualify for both, DFAS pays whichever is greater, and every December you get an open-season letter letting you switch.
Do this today, step by step
1. Find out if the waiver is even hitting you (5 minutes).
Pull your Retiree Account Statement (RAS). Log in to myPay at myPay.dfas.mil with your military retiree login, open your latest RAS, and look for a "VA Waiver" line reducing your gross retired pay. If you see it, money is being offset and concurrent receipt is worth chasing. If you cannot log in, call DFAS Retired & Annuitant Pay at 1-800-321-1080.
2. Check the automatic one first (CRDP).
If you have 20+ years of service AND a combined VA rating of 50% or higher, CRDP should already be running with no application. Confirm it on the RAS from Step 1 (a "CRDP" line restoring pay). If you meet both bars and do not see it, call DFAS at 1-800-321-1080 and ask why CRDP is not posted. Note: Chapter 61 medical retirees with under 20 years are not CRDP-eligible, so CRSC is your route.
3. Decide if CRSC (the tax-free one) fits you.
CRSC is for disabilities that are combat-related: injured in armed conflict, in hazardous duty (flying, diving, parachuting, demolition), by an instrument of war, in training that simulates war, or anything that earned a Purple Heart. You must be a military retiree, have a VA rating of at least 10%, and currently have retired pay reduced by the VA waiver. If any of your rated conditions trace to combat, apply.
4. Get your evidence together before you file.
You will need: your VA rating decision letter listing the conditions and percentages, your DD-214, and any records tying the condition to combat (deployment orders, Purple Heart citation, LOD/injury records, buddy statements). Download the VA rating decision from VA.gov → Records → your decision letters.
5. File the CRSC application (DD Form 2860) with YOUR branch.
CRSC is applied for through your branch of service, not the VA and not DFAS. Search "DD Form 2860" for the current form, fill it out, attach the Step 4 evidence, and mail it to your branch's CRSC office:
- Army: U.S. Army HRC, AHRC-PDP-C (CRSC), 1600 Spearhead Division Ave, Fort Knox, KY 40122-5408 (1-888-276-9472).
- Navy / Marine Corps: Secretary of the Navy Council of Review Boards, 720 Kennon St SE, Suite 309, Washington Navy Yard, DC 20374-5023.
- Air Force / Space Force: HQ AFPC/DPPDC, 550 C Street West, Randolph AFB, TX 78150-4708.
- Coast Guard: Commander (PSC-PSD-MED), 2703 MLK Jr. Ave SE, Washington, DC 20593-7200.
Your branch's process can change, so confirm the current form and mailing/fax/email details on your branch's CRSC page before you send.
6. Don't sit on it, and the old 6-year cap is now fully dead.
For years, CRSC back pay was capped at 6 years before the filing date. The Supreme Court eliminated that cap in Soto v. United States (June 2025), and the policy fight that followed is over: after two rounds of interim guidance that tried to keep a narrower limit for newer applicants, DoD rescinded those limits on May 14, 2026. The rule now: your CRSC effective date is the latest of (1) the program's statutory start (June 1, 2003 for 20-year retirees; January 2008 for Chapter 61 medical retirees), (2) the first full month after your retirement date, or (3) the first full month after the VA effective date for your combat-related condition, no matter when you applied. If a past CRSC award of yours was capped at 6 years of back pay, you do not need to file anything new: the branches are reviewing affected accounts automatically (the Army alone identified roughly 7,000), issuing corrected decisions, and sending them to DFAS, which audits each account before paying, so expect months, not weeks. Watch your monthly Retiree Account Statement in myPay for the correction, and if nothing shows up, contact your branch's CRSC board. The National Veterans Legal Services Program (the nonprofit that won Soto) offers free help. This correction is automatic and free; never pay anyone to "unlock" Soto back pay.
7. Compare and choose in the January open season.
Once you qualify for both, DFAS automatically pays the larger benefit. Around the turn of the year they mail an open-season election letter, and the election window itself runs through January (the 2026 window was January 1-31). Read it: CRSC is tax-free, CRDP is taxable, so the bigger gross number is not always the bigger take-home. Run both against your tax situation before you check the box.
The catch (one honest watch-out)
The tempting-looking gross number can lie. CRDP restores more dollars on paper for a lot of people, but it is taxable, while CRSC is tax-free. The right pick depends on your bracket, and the two are not interchangeable in reach: CRDP needs 50%+ and 20 years, CRSC needs a proven combat link. Do not assume; do the after-tax math on your own numbers before the January election.
Whether a condition should be rated, or rated higher, or counted as combat-related is a claims/rating question, and a free accredited VSO (DAV, VFW, American Legion, or your county VSO, found via VA.gov) handles those at no cost. You never pay for claims help. Which benefit is better for your taxes is a personal call, so run general principles past a fee-only fiduciary before you decide.