Methodology & Editorial Standards

How VA Pay IQ earns the right to show you a number: what sources it uses, how every figure is checked, what it refuses to calculate, and how it fixes mistakes.

Last factually verified: November 1, 2026. This page is reviewed whenever rates change or a calculation rule is corrected. If you find an error, please email it to the operator through the contact page — the operator checks it against the cited official source, and verified corrections are published with a note describing what changed.

1. What VA Pay IQ is and is not

VA Pay IQ is an independent, free educational calculator platform for veterans, military retirees, and their families. It shows its working: the rate table, the formula, and the arithmetic behind every result.

It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense. It does not approve claims, change ratings, determine medical eligibility, guarantee back pay, approve CRSC, or replace an official VA or DFAS determination. It does not offer paid claims representation. Results are estimates based on published tables and stated rules — never VA or DFAS determinations, and never a promise of what you will be paid.

2. Official sources used

VA.gov — current veterans disability compensation rates (the published rate tables, including effective dates).
38 CFR 4.25 (combined ratings) and 38 CFR 4.26 (bilateral factor), via eCFR.
10 U.S.C. 1407, 1409, 1414 (CRDP), 1413a (CRSC), and 12731–12733 (non-regular retirement).
DoD Financial Management Regulation, Volume 7B, including Ch. 3 (rounding) and Ch. 63 (CRSC).
DFAS military pay tables, for the retirement calculator's rank estimator only — the calculator always prefers a base you enter yourself over any estimate.

Where a rule has no published worked example, the site says so instead of inventing one.

3. How compensation rates are verified

Each rate year is entered only from the VA.gov published table for that year, with its effective date recorded (for example, the 2026 table is effective December 1, 2025). Every figure in a new table is checked against the publication before it goes live. A rate-check script validates candidate tables and holds any table that fails validation; activation is a separate, explicit step. A future year is never published until VA.gov publishes it: the 2027 figures shown on this site are a clearly labeled projection (the 2026 table increased by the announced 3.6% cost-of-living adjustment), not official rates, and the site says so wherever they appear.

4. How calculation engines are tested

Calculations are deterministic functions, not estimates produced on the fly: the same inputs always produce the same outputs, and no result is generated by an AI model at runtime. Rate data is versioned separately from calculation logic, so a rate change cannot silently alter a formula. An automated regression suite re-checks worked values on every change — including the E-7 High-36 examples, combined-rating cases (50 + 30 → 70%; 90 + 50 → 100%), bilateral cases, and household rate figures. Calculation engines and compensation tables are never altered to fit a desired result; if a verified defect is found, it is fixed, re-tested, and disclosed.

5. How published examples are independently checked

Every worked example on this site is checked twice: once by hand arithmetic from the cited rule and table, and once by running the same inputs through the site's own engine. If the two do not agree, the example does not publish. Worked examples use hypothetical veterans, labeled as such, and a hypothetical result is never presented as an actual VA determination for any real person.

6. Official rates, estimates, projections, and hypothetical scenarios

Official rates are figures from a VA.gov published table, with an effective date.
Estimates are computed from official rates and stated rules — for example, the rank estimator's High-36 average, which blends earlier months at lower rates and is labeled an estimate, not a DFAS figure.
Projections are labeled extrapolations of published data, such as the 2027 projection described above. A projection is never presented as a published rate.
Hypothetical scenarios are "what if" cases (a different rating, a later retirement year, a different household). They illustrate how the math moves; they are not predictions about any individual's outcome.

7. How unsupported scenarios are disclosed

Some things this site deliberately does not calculate, and it says so wherever they arise rather than producing a plausible-looking number:

Special Monthly Compensation (SMC) and TDIU modeling.
Chapter 61 medical-retirement computation (including the CRDP longevity cap).
TERA reduction factors.
Back-pay estimation (planned, not yet built — never presented as live).
Multiple promotions inside a High-36 window, demotions, and month-exact pre-2026 DFAS pay tables.

Where a requested calculation depends on an unmodeled factor, the calculator shows the VA pay it can compute and suppresses the retirement total, with an explanation — instead of showing a total it cannot stand behind.

8. How corrections and rate updates are handled

When an error is reported by email or found in review, the operator checks it against the cited official source before changing anything. Verified corrections are published with a note describing what changed, and the last-verified date on this page is updated. Rate updates follow the verification process in section 3: publication by VA.gov first, full recheck second, activation third. Historical rate pages are kept as published, so a figure from a past year can still be checked against the table that produced it.

9. The role of AI-assisted research and drafting

AI assistance is used for research, drafting, and checking — the way a researcher uses a reference librarian and a proofreader. It is not used to determine any number you see: no compensation figure, rating, or retirement total on this site is generated by an AI model at runtime. Every published figure traces either to a cited official table or to a deterministic engine calculation, and every page is checked against its sources before publication. Where AI assistance contributed to drafting, this section is the disclosure of that fact; it does not change the verification standard, which is the same for every figure regardless of how a draft was produced.

10. Editorial responsibility

Editorial responsibility rests with VA Pay IQ's operator, who reviews every page before publication and is accountable for corrections. The operator claims no government relationship, no endorsement, no professional credential, and no VA or DFAS certification of any calculation on this site. Nothing on this site has been independently certified by VA or DFAS, and no page implies otherwise. Questions, corrections, and source challenges are welcome by email through the contact page.