Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay
Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP) is a phased-in reinstatement of the retired pay deducted from military retiree’s accounts due to their receiving of department of veterans Affairs (DVA) compensation, showing on their Retiree Account Statements as the “VA waiver”. The phased-in restoration started January 1, 2004 with the initial payments dated February 2, 1004.
A person is qualified for the Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay if they have a DVA-rated, service-connected disability of fifty percent or higher, except if they are a disability retiree with less than twenty years of service or a retiree who combined the military time and civil service time to meet the criteria for a civil service retirement. If they have combined the military time and civil service time in order to improve their civil service retirement from OPM, then they are eligible for the Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay payments, but they will have to replace their retired pay by coordinating with OPM. If one becomes eligible for CRDP, their payments will start automatically.
Payments from the Concurrent Retirement and Disability pay are delivered through direct deposits or mailed-based on their current retired pay information. The payments will reflect as a decrease in the VA waiver deduction on their retiree Account Statement, but they will maintain to be given the same amount from the DVA.
The Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay payments are taxable according to their current retired pay federal Income tax Withholding (FITW) tax rate and may have an effect on the amount they wish to have deducted for State Income tax Withholding (SITW).
The payments are also subject to collection actions for child support, community property, government debt, alimony, and garnishment. The Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay payment rates are as follows: (computation begins with the “table rates”)
* If rated unemployable 0.00
* If rated at 100% 0.00
* If rated at 90% 0.00
* If rated at 80% 0.00
* If rated at 70% 0.00
* If rated at 60% 5.00
* If rated at 50% 0.00
The total computed CRDP amounts based on the rates will increase each year until January 2014 when they will be receiving their full retired pay entitlement and their DVA disability compensation with no reduction. Unlike Retired Pay Cost-of-Living Allowances (COLAs), The Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay increases will be effective on the 1st of January every year, to be paid on the first business day of February. In addition, since retired gross pay, DVA compensation, and consequently VA waiver amounts, increase very year with COLAs, they will not be able to precisely extrapolate CRDP amounts for upcoming years.
CRDP amounts will automatically decrease or increase based on the percentage of disability accounted to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) by the DVA. Just remember that the monthly CRDP amounts cannot go beyond the lesser of your monthly gross related pay or VA waiver amount.