How the VA Does the Math on Your Combined Rating

Step 2 of the method is finding the ratings that apply to you in 38 CFR Part 4. Once you have two of them, the next question is what they come to together.

They do not add up. The VA combines them. A 50 percent rating and a 30 percent rating do not make 80. They make 65, and 65 rounds to 70.

That is the answer. The combined rating calculator on this site runs the same math on your ratings and prints every step. The rest of this page teaches you to do it by hand.

Why the VA combines instead of adding

A rating is a share of one whole person, and a person cannot be more than whole. So each rating after the first comes out of what is left.

38 CFR 4.25 says it this way:

Table I, Combined Ratings Table, results from the consideration of the efficiency of the individual as affected first by the most disabling condition, then by the less disabling condition, then by other less disabling conditions, if any, in the order of severity. Thus, a person having a 60 percent disability is considered 40 percent efficient.

Efficiency is the part of you the regulation counts as still working. A 50 percent rating leaves 50. The next rating comes out of that 50, not out of 100.

Here is 50 and 30, one line at a time.

• 50 percent leaves 50.
• 30 percent of 50 is 15.
• 50 plus 15 is 65.
• 65 rounds to 70.

Largest first, then the next one

38 CFR 4.25(a) sets the order:

To use table I, the disabilities will first be arranged in the exact order of their severity, beginning with the greatest disability and then combined with use of table I as hereinafter indicated.

Start with your largest rating, combine the next largest into it, then the next, until you run out. The VA's table does the same thing.

Say you hold 50 percent, 30 percent and 20 percent. The first two give the 65 above, and the 20 goes into that.

• 65 percent leaves 35.
• 20 percent of 35 is 7.
• 65 plus 7 is 72.
• 72 rounds to 70.

Look at what the 20 percent rating did to the final number. Nothing. It moved the combined value from 65 to 72, and both round to 70.

Rounding, once, at the very end

The number carried through the arithmetic is not the number on your decision letter. 38 CFR 4.25(a) converts the combined value to the nearest number divisible by 10, and a value ending in 5 goes up. 38 CFR 4.25(b) says when.

The conversion to the nearest degree divisible by 10 will be done only once per rating decision, will follow the combining of all disabilities, and will be the last procedure in determining the combined degree of disability.

So 65 becomes 70, 72 becomes 70, 94 becomes 90, and 95 becomes 100.

Only once, at the end, matters more than it sounds. Round that 65 up to 70 first and then combine the 20, and you get 76, which rounds to 80. The right answer is 70.

The bilateral factor

If both of your arms carry a rating, or both of your legs, 38 CFR 4.26 adds something on top.

Except as provided in paragraph (d) of this section, when a partial disability results from disease or injury of both arms, or of both legs, or of paired skeletal muscles, the ratings for the disabilities of the right and left sides will be combined as usual, and 10 percent of this value will be added (i.e., not combined) before proceeding with further combinations, or converting to degree of disability.

Both arms, both legs, or paired skeletal muscles. Nothing else. 38 CFR 4.26(a) treats an arm as the whole upper limb and a leg as the whole lower limb, so a rating on your right hand and one on your left shoulder are still both arms. 38 CFR 4.26(c) needs a compensable rating on each of the two paired parts, so one leg on its own is not bilateral.

38 CFR 4.26 works its own example: 60 percent, 20 percent, and two 10 percent bilateral ratings, one on each leg.

• 10 percent leaves 90.
• 10 percent of 90 is 9.
• 10 plus 9 is 19.
• 10 percent of 19 is 1.9, added and not combined.
• 19 plus 1.9 is 20.9, and the table shows 21.
• Those two ratings now count as one rating of 21.
• The order of severity is now 60, 21 and 20.
• 60 percent leaves 40. 21 percent of 40 is 8.4. 60 plus 8.4 is 68.4, and the table shows 68.
• 68 percent leaves 32. 20 percent of 32 is 6.4. 68 plus 6.4 is 74.4, and the table shows 74.
• 74 rounds to 70.

The case where the factor is left out

The factor does not always leave a veteran higher. When it would not, 38 CFR 4.26(d) takes the pair back out.

In cases where the combined evaluation is lower than what could be achieved by not including one or more bilateral disabilities in the bilateral factor calculation, those bilateral disabilities will be removed from the bilateral factor calculation and combined separately, to achieve the combined evaluation most favorable to the veteran.

Take 90 percent, 30 percent, 10 percent on the left leg and 10 percent on the right leg. With the factor, the two legs count as one rating of 21, then 90 and 30 combine to 93, then 93 and 21 combine to 94, and 94 rounds to 90.

Without the factor, 90 and 30 combine to 93, the first 10 brings it to 94, the second 10 brings it to 95, and 95 is adjusted upward to 100.

So the factor comes out, and the answer is 100. The calculator tries the groupings the regulation allows and keeps the most favorable one.

What this means for a claim

Every new rating comes out of what is left, so the higher you already are, the less a new one moves the number. A 10 percent rating added to 20 percent gives 28. The same 10 percent added to 80 percent gives 82.

That is why a new 10 percent rating can leave the final number where it was. At 70 percent it gives 73, and 73 still rounds to 70. Nothing went wrong.

It is still a rating. It is service connected in your file, and it goes back into the combination every time anything else changes. A rating for a secondary condition counts the same way.

Put your ratings into the calculator and read the steps. The button under the answer carries them into the Claim Map, where each condition goes to its diagnostic code and criteria.

This is a rating, not an amount of money. VA publishes what each combined rating pays at va.gov/disability/compensation-rates/veteran-rates. Your rating is whatever VA decides.

The regulation

Two more sentences, word for word. Both sections say more, so read them in full.

38 CFR 4.25(a), Combined ratings table:

Thus, with a 50 percent disability and a 30 percent disability, the combined value will be found to be 65 percent, but the 65 percent must be converted to 70 percent to represent the final degree of disability.

Read 38 CFR 4.25 on the eCFR.

38 CFR 4.26(c), Bilateral factor:

The bilateral factor is not applicable unless there is partial disability of compensable degree in each of 2 paired extremities, or paired skeletal muscles.

Read 38 CFR 4.26 on the eCFR.

We teach this math. We do not file for you, and nothing here is a promise about what the VA decides.