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

Your Leave and Earnings Statement is the authoritative record of military pay — 30+ line items covering base pay, allowances, federal and state taxes, SGLI, TSP contributions, and leave balance across six sections. BASE PAY is taxable; BAH and BAS are generally excluded from federal taxable income and FICA; CONUS COLA is taxable even though it is a military allowance. The most consequential errors — wrong BAH dependency status, TSP contribution below the matching threshold, state taxes withheld for the wrong state — are easy to miss without a monthly review and can cost hundreds of dollars per month if they go undetected.

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. The LES layout varies slightly by branch and pay system, but the core sections — entitlements, deductions, allotments, leave, and tax data — are consistent across the services.

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. Because that rate is keyed to your PEBD, an incorrect PEBD can drop you into the wrong years-of-service bracket: in 2026 an E-5 under 6 years earns $3,946.80/month but $4,110.00/month at 6+ years — so a wrong PEBD can cost $150+ per month. Confirm the PEBD on your LES reflects your actual service (including any prior-service credit).

BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) Excluded from federal taxable income. Based on your assigned permanent duty station location, 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) Excluded from federal taxable income. A flat rate intended to offset meal costs. In 2026, enlisted members receive $476.95/month and officers receive $328.48/month. (BAS adjusts annually — verify current rates at DFAS.) 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 separated from qualifying dependents for more than 30 continuous days under qualifying orders. May appear during deployments, TDY, or shipboard separation depending on the situation.

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) There are two types. CONUS COLA is paid at select high-cost CONUS duty stations and — unlike BAH and BAS — is taxable income. OCONUS COLA is paid at overseas duty stations and is generally excluded from federal taxable income. For OCONUS members, you'll typically see OHA (Overseas Housing Allowance) instead of BAH, and OCONUS COLA as a separate line.

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 and warrant officers on qualifying pay. Commissioned officers have a monthly exclusion cap (base pay up to the rate of the highest enlisted grade, plus HFP/IDP), so their withholding may not disappear completely.

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 and Medicare taxes. Generally applied to basic pay and taxable pays, not to BAH or BAS. Note: during combat-zone deployments, FICA may still apply even when federal income tax withholding drops to $0.

SGLI (Servicemembers Group Life Insurance) In 2026, full $500,000 SGLI coverage is generally $26/month. Your deduction should match the coverage level you elected. TSGLI may appear as a separate line. Check VA/DFAS for current premium tables because SGLI rates can change. See SGLI vs. VGLI vs. Private Life Insurance for context on why coverage amount matters.

TSP — Your own TSP contribution appears as a deduction from your pay based on the percentage you elected (shown as Roth, Traditional, or both). Under BRS, government automatic and matching contributions are separate — they do not reduce your paycheck. If you are match-eligible and contributing less than 5% of basic pay, you may be missing part of the available government 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 generally forfeited. Under certain conditions — such as deployment or operational requirements that prevented you from taking leave — a Special Leave Accrual (SLA) exception may allow higher balances to carry over. Coordinate with your chain of command well before the fiscal year end.

Leave sell-back: At separation or retirement, you can sell back a limited amount of accrued leave — subject to a career cap of 60 days total across your service. The payout is calculated at your base pay rate only (allowances are not included). 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. Check VA/DFAS for current premium tables — SGLI rates can change. 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.

Monthly LES review checklist

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; for shorter duty periods, you may see BAH RC/T (Reserve Component/Transient) instead of standard BAH
• 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

Access your myPay account at mypay.dfas.mil using the current DFAS login and identity-verification process. You may need your SSN, login credentials, multifactor authentication, or CAC depending on your account setup.

From myPay, you can:

• View current and past LES statements (history availability varies — not all years may be accessible)
• 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 faster monthly routine, use the checklist above: verify BAH, BAS, TSP, SGLI, SITW, special pays, dependency status, leave balance, and YTD tax data each month. For a quick-reference guide to the most common abbreviations, see How Do You Read a Military LES? Key Abbreviations Explained.

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