What is the purpose of DFAS?
Sophia Koch
Updated on December 30, 2025
The DFAS mission is to direct, approve, and perform finance and accounting activities for DoD. DFAS pays all DoD military and civilian personnel, retirees and annuitants, civilian employees of various federal agencies, major DoD contractors and vendors, and delivers accounting reports and financial information.
What does DFAS mean in the military?
Defense Finance and Accounting Service
Retired and Annuitant (R&A) Pay is part of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), an agency under the Department of Defense (DoD).
Is DFAS a payment?
DFAS military pay dates (active duty and reserve) are scheduled for the 1st and 15th of every month unless those dates fall on a weekend or holiday. Active duty and reserve members are paid twice a month. The fifteenth is the mid-month pay and includes pay due from the 1st through the 15th of the month.
What are DFAS payments?
DFAS Retired and Annuitant (R&A) Pay We establish and maintain military retired pay, annuity accounts, and issue monthly payments to both military retirees and their eligible survivors, including the following: Regular and Reserve Retirement payments. Temporary and Permanent Disability Retirement payments.
Is DFAS pension for life?
You’ll need to serve 20 years or more to qualify for the lifetime monthly annuity. Your retirement benefit is determined by your years of service. It’s calculated at 2.5% times your highest 36 months of basic pay. Thrift Savings Plan contributions are not matched by the government.
How does DFAS work?
DFAS is a working capital fund agency financed by reimbursement of operating costs from its governmental customers (mostly the military service departments) rather than through direct appropriations. DFAS remains the world’s largest finance and accounting operation.
How long does it take DFAS to process retirement pay?
30 to 45 days
Your first retired pay should be processed in 30 to 45 days after your retirement date. However, this can only happen if we receive a complete retirement package, including a correct DD Form 2656.
Does DFAS pay VA disability?
DFAS and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) manage the CRDP/CRSC Processing program (formerly known as VA Retro) to pay eligible military retirees any retroactive CRSC, CRDP and/or VA disability compensation they are owed. A retiree may be due funds from DFAS, the VA or from both agencies.
Do you get paid for basic training?
Do You Get Paid for Basic Training? Yes. You’ll be glad to hear you’re at least getting paid to struggle through challenges that will shape you into a soldier. During the in-processing of Week Zero, the Army will establish your military pay records and scale.
Can you retire from the military after 10 years?
If you are a commissioned officer or an enlisted with prior commissioned service, you must have at least 10 years of commissioned service to retire at your commissioned rank.
How much does a full colonel make in retirement?
O-6: $130,092. “Full bird” colonels and Navy captains, with an average 22 years of service, are compensated $10,841 per month. Officers who do not promote to become a general or admiral must retire after 30 years of service. At this point, they will be making $11,668 a month, or roughly $140,000 per year.
Is DFAS retirement a lifetime benefit?
You’ll need to serve 20 years or more to qualify for the lifetime monthly annuity. Your retirement benefit is determined by your years of service. It’s calculated at 2.5% times your highest 36 months of basic pay.
Can you lose your military retirement pay?
Military Department Administrative Requirements Procedures of the Military Departments may suspend retired pays under authority of the head of the retired pay activity, if the retiree fails to take necessary administrative actions on time, or if the retiree declines further payments.
How much is 100 disability from the VA?
VA Compensation Rates: 70% – 100% Without Children
| Dependent Status | 70% Disability | 100% Disability |
|---|---|---|
| Veteran with Spouse and Two Parents | $1,762.71 | $3,603.43 |
| Veteran with One Parent | $1,542.71 | $3,287.21 |
| Veteran with Two Parents | $1,640.71 | $3,428.00 |
| Add for A&A spouse (see footnote B) | $113.00 | $160.89 |
Can I get military retirement and VA disability at the same time?
United States military retirees can receive both military retiree pay and VA disability compensation at the same time in any branch of service. Two types of veterans benefits provide this concurrent receipt of pay: Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP) and Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC).
What is the 10 10 Rule military?
The 10/10 Rule Following a dissolution of marriage, a former spouse who has at least 10 years of marriage overlapping 10 years of creditable military service may apply for direct payment of the retirement from the Defense Finance & Accounting Service (DFAS).
Can you retire after 15 years of military service?
The Army has ended the Temporary Early Retirement Authority (TERA) program. The FY 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Public Law 112-81, enacted 31 December 2011, authorized the military services to offer early retirement to Service members who have completed at least 15 years of active service.
How much does a 5 star general make per year?
He is also the only person to have ever held a five-star rank in two branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. These officers who held the rank of General of the Army remained officers of the United States Army for life, with an annual $20,000 in pay and allowances, equivalent to $294,000 in 2020.
Retired and Annuitant (R&A) Pay is part of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), an agency under the Department of Defense (DoD). We are a payment agency. R&A Pay establishes, maintains and pays military retirees and their eligible surviving spouses and other family members.
What is Defense Finance and Accounting Service military leave and earnings statement?
The LES is a comprehensive statement of a member’s leave and earnings showing your entitlements, deductions, allotments (fields not used for Reserve and National Guard members), leave information, tax withholding information, and Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) information.
Who falls under DFAS?
DFAS pays all DoD military and civilian personnel, retirees and annuitants, as well as major DoD contractors and vendors. DFAS also supports customers outside the DoD in support of electronic government initiatives.
What is a military paycheck called?
Basic pay. Also known as “base pay”, this is given to members of the active duty military on a monthly basis and is determined by their rank (or more appropriately their pay grade) and their length of time in military service. Basic pay is the same for all the services. The 2007 pay raise was equal to the ECI.
Where is the Defense Finance and Accounting Service?
The Defense Finance and Accounting Service ( DFAS) is an agency of the United States Department of Defense (DOD), headquartered in Indianapolis, IN.
Who is the parent agency of Defense Finance and Accounting Service?
The United States Department of Defense is the parent agency of DFAS. Defense Finance and Accounting Service Garnishment Operations Center and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service Out-of-Service Debt Management Center are subordinate agencies of DFAS. Major events in the history of the agency.
What does DFAs stand for in military category?
DFAS means Defense Finance and Accounting Service DFAS is an acronym for Defense Finance and Accounting Service Questions What most visitors search for before coming to this page What does DFAS stand for? DFAS stands for “Defense Finance and Accounting Service” How to abbreviate Defense Finance and Accounting Service?
Who are the accounting firms for the DFAS?
Corporate accounting firms conducted the audit on behalf of DFAS, with Ernst & Young, Kearney & Co., KPMG, and PwC prominent among them. Other firms, such as Cotton & Co., Deloitte, and Grant Thornton, provided audit readiness and financial improvement.
