Understanding Your Pay

Your pay and allowances are important to us. Keeping them straight is a team effort between you, your finance office and our military pay experts.

Whether your questions involve basic pay, one of the many special pays, benefits, tax planning or retirement preparation, the Military Compensation website offers a treasure trove of information. It's a great place to start your search to understand what you are entitled to, what is in your future and how you can become a full partner in making sure each paycheck is accurate.
While this site provides the descriptions of pay types and general eligibility requirements, your military finance office can provide more detail as well as current rates. They can also help you find out what you are entitled to based on your own individual circumstances.

The more you understand some of the basics of the various pay, special pays and allowances, the better you are able to make sure the information we need to compute your pay each month is up-to-date.

The tool available to all military members each month is the Leave and Earning Statement. This single page report lets you know the information our systems use to process your pay, details about the pay and allowances you are eligible for, payroll deductions, as well as your leave balance.

The following guides will help you understand your LES. (The following publications are produced in .pdf format. The free PDF reader is available online)
  Links to other pay-related information:
Savings Deposit Program
Garnishments
Out of Service Debt
Bankruptcy

Want to apply your military time to federal civilian retirement? You'll need an Estimated Earning statement...and we can help!
Updated October 17, 2023