Your Leave and Earnings Statement is the receipt for everything the military pays you, and the place pay errors show up first. Click a section of the sample below to see what it means and what to check. Section numbers follow the DoD LES guide.
Every section, explained
1. Identification
Name, SSN, grade, pay date (PEBD), years of service, ETS, branch, ADSN/DSSN, period covered. Who you are to the pay system. Pay date (your Pay Entry Base Date) drives your years of service, and years of service drive your basic pay step.
Check: If your years of service look wrong, your base pay is wrong too. A wrong PEBD is fixed through your personnel office, not finance. Find your basic pay by grade and years →
2. Entitlements
Base pay or drill pay, BAH, BAS, COLA, special and incentive pays. Everything you earned this month. Base pay is taxable; BAH and BAS are not. Retroactive pay shows up here too.
Check: Every pay you should get is listed, and the amounts match your grade, years and duty station. A missing BAH after a PCS or marriage is the most common error. Check every entitlement for your rank →
3. Deductions
Federal and state tax, Social Security, Medicare, TSP, mid-month pay, SGLI, dental, AFRH. What came out before the money reached you. Mid-month pay shows here because it was already paid on the 15th.
Check: SGLI matches your coverage, dental matches your enrollment, and TSP matches your election. See what your TSP contribution builds →
4. Allotments
Payments you or the government direct from your pay. Money sent automatically to someone else: savings, a loan, Army Emergency Relief, privatized housing, child support, government debt. Guard and Reserve members do not have allotments.
Check: You recognize every allotment, who gets it, and when it ends.
5. Summary
Amount forward, totals, net amount, end-of-month pay. Entitlements minus deductions and allotments. EOM pay is what will land in your account on the 1st.
Check: The totals add up. A negative or zero EOM means a debt is being collected; the Remarks section should say why. When the money arrives →
6. DIEMS
Date of Initial Entry to Military Service. The date you first joined. It decides which retirement system you are under.
Check: It matches the date you first enlisted or commissioned, including Delayed Entry. Errors go to your personnel office.
7. Retirement plan
Final Pay, High-3, REDUX or BRS. Your retirement system: Final Pay (DIEMS before Sep 8, 1980), High-3 (Sep 8, 1980 to Dec 31, 2017), REDUX (an old opt-in), or the Blended Retirement System (joined Jan 1, 2018 or later, or opted in).
Check: BRS members should see government automatic and matching TSP contributions in the TSP section. Project your pension →
8. Leave
Brought forward, earned, used, current balance, ETS balance, lost, paid, use-or-lose. Your leave account. You earn 2.5 days a month. Use/Lose is how many days you will lose at the end of the fiscal year (Sept 30) if you do not take them.
Check: Current balance = brought forward + earned − used. Plan to burn any use-or-lose days. Sell leave back or take terminal leave →
9. Federal taxes
Wage period, wage YTD, marital status, exemptions, additional tax, tax YTD. Your federal withholding. Only taxable pay counts as wages, so BAH and BAS are not in it.
Check: Marital status and withholding match your W-4. Combat zone months show little or no taxable wage. See how a bonus is taxed →
10. FICA taxes
Social Security and Medicare wages and tax, YTD. Social Security (6.2%) and Medicare (1.45%) on your taxable pay. Unlike income tax, these still apply in a combat zone.
Check: Social Security stops once your wages pass the annual limit, which few members reach.
11. State taxes
State, wage period, wage YTD, marital status, exemptions, tax YTD. Withholding for your legal state of residence, which is not necessarily where you are stationed.
Check: The state is your state of legal residence (DD Form 2058). Several states do not tax military pay at all. Compare how states tax military pay →
12. Pay data
BAQ/BAH type, dependents, VHA ZIP, rent, share, JTR, 2D JTR, BAS type, charity YTD, TPC, PACIDN. The codes behind your allowances. VHA ZIP is the ZIP your BAH is paid for. BAQ type and dependents decide with- or without-dependents rates. JTR is the location code for COLA; 2D JTR is your dependents' location.
Check: The VHA ZIP is your duty station (or where your family lives on authorized orders). The wrong ZIP is the most common BAH error. Look up BAH for your VHA ZIP →
13. Thrift Savings Plan
Traditional and Roth contributions by pay type, YTD totals. Your TSP elections by pay type (base, special, incentive, bonus), split into traditional and Roth.
Check: Percentages match what you elected in myPay. Your YTD total stays under the annual limit. Project your TSP →
14. TSP year to date
YTD deferred, exempt and Roth amounts; agency automatic and matching. What has gone into your TSP this year. Exempt amounts are combat-zone contributions. BRS members see the government's 1% automatic and matching contributions.
Check: These figures match your account on tsp.gov.
15. Remarks
Command notices and explanations of starts, stops and changes. Plain-language explanations of anything that changed this month: a new entitlement, a stop, a debt.
Check: Read this first whenever your pay changes. If it does not explain the change, take your LES to your finance office.
Five-minute monthly LES check
- Read Remarks for anything that started, stopped or changed.
- Confirm base pay matches your grade and years of service on the pay chart.
- Confirm BAH matches the rate for the VHA ZIP in Pay Data, with the right dependency status (BAH lookup).
- Check leave: balance, and any use-or-lose days before Sept 30.
- Check TSP percentages and, under BRS, that matching is showing.
Overpayments are collected later, sometimes all at once, so report errors in either direction to your finance office as soon as you see them.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I find my LES?
In myPay (mypay.dfas.mil). Active duty LESs post before the end-of-month payday. Guard and Reserve members get one for each pay period with drill or active-duty pay.
What is EOM pay on the LES?
End-of-month pay: the net amount that will be deposited on the 1st, after deductions, allotments and the mid-month payment already made on the 15th.
What does VHA ZIP mean on my LES?
The ZIP code your Basic Allowance for Housing is paid for, usually your duty station. If it is wrong, your BAH is wrong.
What is use-or-lose leave?
Leave above the 60-day carryover limit that you will lose at the end of the fiscal year (Sept 30) if you do not use it. Special leave accrual can raise the limit after certain deployments.
Check it against the official source
This is an estimate for planning. For a binding answer, talk to your finance office or a free Personal Financial Counselor at your installation (find yours).