High-3 average
$0
| Annual picture | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gross pension + VA compensation | $0 |
| Federal income tax on the pension (2026 rules) | -$0 |
| State income tax on the pension | -$0 |
| Estimated annual take-home | $0 |
Your check is set by two numbers: the average of your highest 36 months of basic pay, and a multiplier earned by time in service. Here is exactly how yours is built.
Same 2026 pay tables for both, so the real gap will be larger once future raises land. Each extra month adds 1/12 of a year to the multiplier.
| Scenario | Monthly pension |
|---|---|
| Retire now | $0 |
| Serve 24 more months | $0 |
| The raise, every month, for life | +$0 |
Over a 30-year retirement with 2% COLA, that decision is worth about $0.
SBP is the one election you make once, at retirement, that your family lives with forever. At full coverage:
You can elect a lower base amount or decline with your spouse's notarized concurrence (10 U.S.C. § 1448). Compare against term life quotes before your date; once you are retired the window is closed except for rare open seasons.
VA compensation is tax-free at every level, which makes each dollar worth roughly $1.20-$1.35 of pension income. Here is your exact 2026 breakdown (rates effective December 1, 2025).
| Component | Monthly |
|---|
Same dependents, higher rating. If pending claims or secondary conditions could move your rating, this is the dollar value of pursuing them.
| Rating | Monthly total | vs. today | Per year |
|---|
At 50%+ with 20 years, CRDP restores concurrent receipt automatically: you draw the full pension and full VA pay. Below 50%, the VA waiver still offsets your pension dollar-for-dollar, but the waived slice becomes tax-free, so it usually still pays to file.
Military retired pay is ordinary income on a 1099-R. Here is your pension walked through the actual 2026 brackets (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32), filing single, assuming the pension is your only taxable income. VA pay never appears on a tax return.
| Step | |
|---|---|
| Gross annual pension | $0 |
| Standard deduction (2026) | -$0 |
| Federally taxable | $0 |
| Bracket | Income in bracket | Tax |
|---|
A salary stacks on top of the pension, pushing pension dollars into higher brackets. Set your DFAS withholding (W-4P in myPay) assuming your combined income, not the pension alone, or April will sting. The free calculator's required-salary figure already accounts for this.
State law is where identical pensions diverge by thousands of dollars a year. Computed for your pension using 2026 law: 38 states would charge you nothing.
| State | Per year | Per month | Over 20 years |
|---|
Every state not listed charges $0 on this pension in 2026. Rules verified July 2026; exclusions and AGI limits are applied to your amount, assuming pension-only income and current-law exclusions (California's runs 2025-2029).
…
| Yr | Annual | Cumulative |
|---|
| Yr | Annual | Cumulative |
|---|
The moves that protect the numbers in this worksheet, roughly in the order they come due.
Promotion, a new VA rating, or a move changes these numbers. Rerun the free calculator any time and regenerate this worksheet with your updated figures at no extra charge.