How to Read Your LES: Every Line on Your Military Pay Stub Explained

A civilian pay stub might have five or six lines. Your LES can have thirty. Most service members look at the net pay at the bottom and ignore the rest — which means common errors go unnoticed for months, sometimes costing real money.

This is the complete guide to what every section means and what to look for every month.

What the LES is

The Leave and Earnings Statement is your official military pay record. DFAS issues it monthly through myPay (myPay.dfas.mil), and it documents:

• Everything you earned that month (entitlements)
• Everything that came out (deductions and allotments)
• Your running leave balance
• Year-to-date tax data

Unlike a W-2 or civilian pay stub, the LES also tracks your leave accrual, SDP balance during deployment, and tax-exempt status during combat zone months. Think of it less as a receipt and more as a full financial snapshot of your service.

Section 1: Entitlements — what you earn

Entitlements are the left side of your LES. They're everything the military owes you. Common entitlement line items:

BASE PAY (or BASEPAY) Your monthly basic pay based on your pay grade and years of service (more precisely, your Pay Entry Base Date or PEBD). This is taxable income. It's the number that federal and state income taxes, FICA, and most retirement calculations use. See the 2026 Military Pay Charts for your exact rate.

BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) Tax-free. Based on your permanent duty station ZIP code, pay grade, and dependency status (with or without dependents). The rate you see should match your actual duty station and dependency situation — if it doesn't, that's an error to fix immediately. Use the BAH Calculator to verify.

BAS (Basic Allowance for Subsistence) Tax-free. A flat rate intended to offset meal costs. In 2026, enlisted members receive approximately $477/month; officer BAS is approximately $320/month. (Check current DFAS tables for the exact rate — BAS adjusts annually.) Single members and those living in the barracks still receive BAS, though it may be offset by a meal deduction.

HFP / IDP (Hostile Fire Pay / Imminent Danger Pay) Up to $225/month when you're in a qualifying area. Tax-exempt during combat zone months under CZTE. See Deployment Pay Explained for how HFP and IDP differ.

FSA (Family Separation Allowance) $300/month when you're separated from qualifying dependents for more than 30 continuous days. Tax-exempt during CZTE months.

HDP (Hardship Duty Pay) Varies by location designation and category ($50–$150+/month). Not every duty location qualifies — check your orders and finance office.

SPECIAL PAYS Flight pay, dive pay, foreign language proficiency pay (FLPP), special duty assignment pay (SDAP), assignment incentive pay (AIP), and others. These vary by MOS/AFSC, duty assignment, and qualification status.

COLA (Cost of Living Allowance) Paid at certain duty stations in high-cost CONUS areas and all OCONUS locations where OHA doesn't apply. For OCONUS, you may see OHA (Overseas Housing Allowance) instead of BAH.

DLA (Dislocation Allowance) Paid once at PCS orders, covering moving costs not otherwise reimbursed. You'll only see this on your LES the month it's paid.

Entitlements are what you earn, not what you take home. The difference is deductions.

Section 2: Deductions — what comes out

Deductions are on the right side of your LES. These are amounts withheld from your entitlements before your pay is deposited.

FITW (Federal Income Tax Withholding) Federal income tax withheld based on your W-4 elections in myPay. Applies to taxable income — base pay and taxable special pays. Does NOT apply to BAH, BAS, or other allowances (those are already excluded from taxable income). During combat zone months with CZTE, FITW on base pay drops to $0 for enlisted members.

SITW (State Income Tax Withholding) State income tax withheld based on your state of legal residence — not where you're stationed. (Under SCRA, your duty station state cannot tax you if it's not your state of legal residence.) Some states have $0 military pay tax. If you live in Texas, Florida, or another no-income-tax state, this line should be $0.

FICA Social Security (6.2%) and Medicare (1.45%) taxes. Applied to base pay and taxable special pays. NOT applied to BAH, BAS, or other allowances. On a typical E-5 paycheck, FICA runs roughly $290–$320/month. During combat zone deployments, Social Security and Medicare taxes may still apply to some pay even when FITW is $0 — check with your finance office.

SGLI (Servicemembers Group Life Insurance) $30/month for $500,000 in coverage. $15/month if you elected $250,000. The premium scales with your coverage level. This should match the coverage amount you elected. See SGLI vs. VGLI vs. Private Life Insurance for context on why coverage amount matters.

TSP Shows both your contribution (the percentage you elected) and any government matching contributions under BRS (1% automatic + up to 4% matching). If you're a BRS member and contributing less than 5%, your government match line will reflect the reduced match. See TSP Growth Projector to understand what your contribution rate builds over time.

AFRH (Armed Forces Retirement Home) $0.50/month — a flat deduction for all active duty members. It funds the Armed Forces Retirement Home. Yes, it's only 50 cents. Yes, everyone asks about it.

TRICARE For most active duty members, this is $0. If you see a TRICARE deduction, you may be a Reserve member on TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS) or enrolled in a premium-cost plan option.

MID-MONTH PAY Military pay is disbursed twice a month — around the 1st and 15th. The mid-month payment is technically an advance. On the end-of-month LES, that advance appears as a deduction (labeled something like "MID-MONTH PAY" or "MIDMONTH") to reconcile against your full monthly entitlement. This is normal.

MGIB (Montgomery GI Bill) If you opted into the Montgomery GI Bill (Chapter 30), you paid $100/month for 12 months when you entered service. That deduction appears on your first 12 LES statements. After 12 months, it stops. If you're past the one-year mark and still see this deduction, contact finance.

Section 3: Allotments

Allotments are voluntary payments you've set up — they come out after deductions. Common allotments include:

• Savings account contributions (automatic savings from your paycheck)
• Investment account contributions
• Car or personal loan payments
• Charitable contributions (Combined Federal Campaign, etc.)
• Payments to AAFES or other military vendor accounts

Allotments are separate from deductions and appear in their own section. If you set up an allotment and then forget about it, it keeps running until you cancel it through myPay.

Section 4: Summary

The summary block shows:

• Total entitlements — everything you earned
• Total deductions — everything withheld
• Total allotments — voluntary redirects
• Net pay — what hits your bank account (entitlements − deductions − allotments)

Net pay is the number most people look at first. The value in reading your LES is understanding how you got there — because if the inputs are wrong, the output is wrong.

Section 5: Leave balance

Your leave balance section shows:

• BF BAL (Brought-Forward Balance) — leave carried over from the previous month
• ERND (Earned) — leave accrued this month (2.5 days for most active duty members)
• USED — leave taken this month
• CR BAL (Current Balance) — your current leave balance in days

Use-or-lose: Leave balance caps at 60 days at the end of each fiscal year (September 30). Any leave above 60 days is forfeited. If you're approaching 60 days and can't take leave, you can request excess leave be carried over in certain circumstances — talk to your chain of command.

Leave sell-back: At separation or retirement, you can sell back up to 60 days of accrued leave. The payout is calculated at your base pay rate. This is one reason to accrue leave intentionally before separation.

Section 6: Federal tax data (YTD)

The tax data section shows year-to-date totals for:

• Wages — your cumulative taxable income
• FICA wages — income subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes
• Federal tax withheld (YTD) — total FITW paid so far this year

These numbers are useful for estimating whether your withholding is tracking correctly toward your tax liability. If your YTD federal tax withheld is much lower than your expected annual liability, you may owe at filing time. If it's higher, you'll get a refund.

During combat zone months, you'll see FITW drop to $0 for qualifying pay — and the tax-exempt wages appear separately.

Common LES abbreviations: quick reference

How to spot LES errors

Errors on the LES happen — and they can persist for months if you don't catch them. Here's what to verify each month:

BAH rate Compare your BAH line to what the BAH Calculator shows for your duty station ZIP, rank, and dependency status. The most common errors: wrong dependency status (single vs. with dependents), rate not updated after a PCS, or rate reflecting the wrong duty station after temporary duty.

TSP contribution Verify that your TSP deduction matches the percentage you elected. If you set 5% and your base pay is $4,000, you should see approximately $200 in TSP deductions. The most common issue: a myPay election that didn't process before the pay period cutoff. Changes made too close to the cutoff take effect the following month.

State income tax If you changed your state of legal residence, verify that SITW reflects the new state. If you moved to a no-income-tax state, SITW should be $0. States don't always update automatically — you may need to update your state withholding election in myPay.

Special pays after a qualifying event HFP/IDP, FSA, HDP, and other special pays should start promptly after your arrival in a qualifying area or a qualifying life event. If you deployed 45 days ago and don't see HFP/IDP on your LES, contact your finance office. These pays sometimes require manual entry and can be missed.

SGLI coverage amount Your SGLI deduction should match the coverage level you elected. $30/month = $500,000. $15/month = $250,000. If you want to change your coverage, do it through myPay.

Dependency status An incorrect dependency status affects both your BAH rate and your FITW withholding. If you got married, had a child, or had a qualifying dependent change and your LES doesn't reflect it, update your information in DEERS and then verify your BAH and withholding update.

Mid-month pay reconciliation If you see a mid-month pay deduction significantly different from approximately half your monthly base pay, something may have changed mid-period (a pay raise, a special pay starting, etc.). Verify the arithmetic.

How to fix errors: Contact your unit finance office first. For DFAS-level issues, call 888-332-7411 or use the DFAS online form at dfas.mil. Document every contact — write down who you spoke to, when, and what they said they'd do.

Guard and Reserve LES differences

If you're in the Guard or Reserve, your LES will look somewhat different:

• Pay appears for drill periods, not monthly continuous pay
• BAH appears only during qualifying periods of active duty orders
• TRICARE Reserve Select premiums show as deductions if you're enrolled
• There may be multiple pay types reflecting weekend drills vs. annual training

The Guard & Reserve Pay Calculator shows how your drill pay, annual training, and TRS premiums interact.

How to access your LES

myPay.dfas.mil — Create an account if you haven't already. You'll need your Social Security number and a DoD CAC card or your myPay login PIN.

From myPay, you can:

• View current and past LES statements (many years of history)
• Download PDF versions for your records
• Update your TSP contribution percentage and Roth/Traditional election
• Update state tax withholding elections
• Set up or cancel allotments

Your LES is typically available a few days before your pay date. Reviewing it before the money hits your account — rather than after — gives you time to identify issues before they compound into the next pay period.

For a focused monthly review routine, see the How to Read Your Military LES quick reference guide, or the detailed section-by-section breakdown with common error examples.

Pay figures in this post reflect 2026 DFAS rates. Allowance rates and special pay amounts adjust annually. Verify current rates at dfas.mil.