Can retirees now receive full concurrent retirement and VA disability pay after 2025 without waivers or offsets?
Executive summary
Full concurrent receipt for some retired service members has been law for years, but there is not a blanket, across-the-board end to offsets for all retirees after 2025; eligibility remains governed by existing CRDP and CRSC rules and pending bills would only expand — not immediately eliminate — offsets for certain groups [1] [2] [3].
1. What "concurrent receipt" already means in practice
Congress created two separate mechanisms that let many retirees receive both military retired pay and VA disability compensation: Concurrent Retirement and Disability Payments (CRDP) and Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC), and those programs have been phased in through laws in the early 2000s so that, for qualifying retirees, retired pay and VA disability can be paid at the same time rather than being dollar-for-dollar offset [2] [1].
2. Who already gets full concurrent pay without offsets
Under current law, retirees who meet CRDP eligibility—historically those with at least a 50% VA disability rating and other qualifying conditions—have been phased in to receive full concurrent payments; the phase-in for full CRDP was completed in 2013 and DFAS and service guidance describe CRDP as restoring retired pay so veterans receive both payments where eligible [1] [4] [5].
3. Important limits and remaining offsets (the “not universal” part)
The system is not universal: some groups still face the dollar-for-dollar VA offset or other restrictions—examples include retirees with less than statutory service requirements or with disability ratings below program thresholds, and retirees cannot simultaneously collect both CRDP and CRSC (they must elect the more advantageous option) [6] [7] [1]. The Congressional Budget Office has noted that the offset historically applied broadly and that subsequent laws created narrower concurrent-receipt classes rather than eliminating offsets for all retirees [6].
4. Recent proposals and what they would change — not a done deal
Legislation proposed in recent years (for example the Major Richard Star Act and related bipartisan bills) aims to drop offsets for new categories of veterans—potentially extending full concurrent pay to some who currently lose retirement pay because of VA compensation—but those proposals are legislative changes, not automatic policy flips that took effect in 2025, and would expand eligibility only if enacted [3] [8].
5. Practical implications: waivers, elections, and administrative mechanics
Even where additional pay is authorized, retirees must meet program rules, file appropriately, and sometimes make elections; DFAS and service benefit pages explain that CRDP is a restoration of retired pay subject to tax and collection actions and that retirees who believe they're owed concurrent payments can petition DFAS [4] [5]. Combat-related special compensation has its own eligibility and computation rules and cannot be stacked with CRDP [7] [1].
6. Bottom line answer to the central question
No — there is not a blanket change after 2025 that allows all retirees to receive full concurrent retirement and VA disability pay without waivers or offsets; many retirees already receive full concurrent pay under CRDP or CRSC if they qualify, but other retirees remain subject to offsets unless and until Congress passes specific new laws to broaden concurrent receipt [1] [2] [3].
7. Where reporting is limited and what to watch next
Public documents from Congress, DoD/DFAS, and policy shops show the legal framework and legislative proposals, but whether any 2025-era bills have become law or altered administrative practice requires checking the final text of legislation and DFAS guidance after enactment; the sources reviewed describe proposals and existing law but do not show a universal administrative change that removed all offsets for all retirees effective in 2025 [3] [8] [4].