Military Leave Accrual & Separation Pay Calculator

Overview: How This Military Leave & Separation Pay Calculator Helps

This calculator is designed to estimate how your unused military leave may translate into time off or cash when you separate, retire, or otherwise leave active duty. It focuses on standard Department of Defense (DoD) rules for active duty members across the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, and Coast Guard.

With it, you can explore questions such as:

• How much leave you are likely to accrue based on your service time.
• What your unused leave might be worth as a lump-sum payout.
• How terminal leave compares to selling back leave.
• How retirement, early separation, or staying on active duty may affect your leave value.

The tool provides estimates only. Actual pay outcomes depend on official pay tables, career caps on sold leave, taxes, and policies that may change.

How Military Leave Accrues

Under standard DoD policy, service members earn leave at a fixed rate of 2.5 days per month of active service. This rate generally applies regardless of branch, rank, or occupation.

• Monthly accrual: 2.5 days of leave per month.
• Annual accrual: 30 days of leave per 12-month year.
• Status: Primarily focused on full-time active duty. Reserve and National Guard members may have different rules depending on their orders.

In a typical year with no special programs, a full-time active duty member earns the equivalent of one month of leave (30 days). Leave can be used as time off, carried over up to certain limits, or converted to pay when you separate.

Maximum Leave Balances and Carryover Rules

Military leave does not accumulate without limit. There is a cap on how much you can carry from one fiscal year into the next under normal circumstances.

• Standard maximum balance: commonly 60 days of leave for active duty members.
• Above the cap: any leave over the authorized cap can be lost if not used in time.
• Special Leave Accrual (SLA): in certain operations or deployments, members may be authorized to carry more than the usual cap temporarily.

This calculator focuses on the typical cap and assumes your displayed leave balance is already accurate and within authorized limits. If you participate in SLA or special programs, your situation may differ from the estimates shown here.

Key Formulas Used by the Calculator

To keep results understandable, the calculator uses a few core formulas that mirror standard DoD pay practices.

Daily Base Pay

DoD pay calculations commonly treat each month as 30 days for daily rate purposes. Daily base pay is approximated as:

Daily Base Pay = Monthly Base Pay ÷ 30

Estimated Leave Value (Sell-Back)

When you sell back unused leave at separation (rather than taking terminal leave), the approximate lump-sum value of your leave balance is:

Leave Sell-Back Value ≈ Daily Base Pay × Unused Leave Days

This is based on base pay only. It does not include Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH), Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS), or other special or incentive pays. In reality, leave sell-back is subject to federal income tax and may be subject to career caps on how many days you can sell over your entire time in service.

Terminal Leave vs. Lump-Sum Sell-Back

Terminal leave and leave sell-back use the same underlying leave balance, but they work very differently in practice:

• Terminal leave: You remain on active duty and take the time off while drawing your regular pay and allowances.
• Sell-back: You do not take time off. Instead, unused leave days are converted into a lump-sum payment of base pay only.

For terminal leave, your cash compensation during the leave period includes base pay and typically BAH and BAS (if you are otherwise eligible). For sell-back, the calculator estimates:

Lump-Sum Sell-Back ≈ (Monthly Base Pay ÷ 30) × Leave Days Sold

Interpreting Your Calculator Results

When you enter your branch, monthly base pay, years of service, leave balance, and separation type, the calculator may show several outputs (exact labels depend on implementation):

• Estimated leave value (sell-back): An approximate dollar amount you might receive if you sell your unused leave instead of using it.
• Estimated terminal leave duration: The number of days your leave balance could cover if you choose to take terminal leave before your separation date.
• Estimated total cash during terminal leave: Approximate base pay (and, optionally, BAH if you enter it) you might receive while on terminal leave.
• Notes by separation type: Basic guidance about how retirement, early separation, or staying on active duty may affect your planning.

Use these results as a planning reference, not as an official pay determination. They are based on simplified formulas and assumptions.

Worked Example: Estimating Terminal Leave and Sell-Back

Consider a hypothetical active duty member approaching retirement with the following profile:

• Monthly base pay: $3,600
• BAH (optional input): $1,200
• Years of service: 20
• Current leave balance: 60 days
• Separation type: Retirement

Step 1: Compute Daily Base Pay

Using the standard 30-day month convention:

Daily Base Pay = $3,600 ÷ 30 = $120 per day

Step 2: Estimate Leave Sell-Back Value

If this member sells all 60 days of leave at retirement (ignoring caps and taxes for simplicity):

Sell-Back Value ≈ $120 × 60 = $7,200 (before tax)

This figure represents base pay only and will typically be taxed as income.

Step 3: Compare With Terminal Leave

Alternatively, the member could take 60 days of terminal leave before the retirement date. During those 60 days, they generally continue to receive:

• Base pay: approximately $3,600 per month.
• BAH: approximately $1,200 per month, if otherwise eligible.
• BAS and any other applicable allowances or special pays.

Over two months of terminal leave, approximate compensation might look like:

• Base pay over 2 months: $3,600 × 2 = $7,200.
• BAH over 2 months: $1,200 × 2 = $2,400.

Ignoring taxes and other allowances, this yields about $9,600 over the same 60-day period, plus the benefit of remaining on active duty (for medical coverage, retirement date timing, and other reasons). This is why many members prefer taking terminal leave when feasible, rather than selling back all of their leave.

Comparison: Terminal Leave vs. Leave Sell-Back vs. Using Leave Earlier

Retirement, Early Separation, and Staying on Active Duty

The calculator allows you to select different separation scenarios so you can see how your leave picture may change:

• Retirement (20+ years): Many members plan significant terminal leave to ease their transition. Leave balances at or near the maximum are common.
• Early separation / voluntary or involuntary separation: Leave policies are generally similar, but your total time in service may be less, and career sell-back caps may be more of a factor if you have sold leave previously.
• Still on active duty / planning ahead: You can use the calculator to test what your leave might be worth at future dates, given assumptions about your base pay and leave balance.

For Reserve and National Guard members on active orders, the logic can still be useful, but exact accrual and pay rules may vary depending on the type and duration of orders. Always check with your chain of command or finance office if you are not sure which rules apply.

Assumptions & Limitations of This Calculator

This tool is built to be simple and educational. To keep it understandable, it relies on several important assumptions and simplifications:

• Standard accrual rate: It assumes 2.5 days of leave accrued per month for active duty. It does not independently compute your balance; it relies on the leave balance you enter.
• Typical leave cap: It assumes a standard 60-day maximum leave balance for most active duty members. Special Leave Accrual and other temporary policies are not fully modeled.
• Base pay only for sell-back: Leave sell-back estimates use only the monthly base pay you provide and do not include BAH, BAS, special pays, or bonuses.
• BAH is optional: Any BAH amount you enter is used only to help you visualize the value of terminal leave; it is not used in sell-back calculations.
• No taxes or deductions: The calculator reports gross estimates only. It does not account for federal or state income tax, Social Security/Medicare where applicable, or other deductions.
• Career caps on sold leave: DoD policy limits how many days of leave you can sell over an entire career. This tool does not track your past sell-backs or enforce these caps.
• Policy stability: Leave and pay rules can change due to new laws, DoD instructions, or temporary programs. The calculator does not automatically update to reflect every policy change.
• Reserve/Guard nuances: It is primarily optimized for full-time active duty scenarios. Reserve and National Guard members on various types of orders may see different accrual patterns and entitlements.

Because of these limitations, your actual leave, terminal leave, and separation pay outcomes may differ from the estimates shown here.

Planning Tips for Using Your Results

To get more value from the calculator results, consider the following ideas:

• Run multiple scenarios with different separation types and leave balances to see how your choices affect your estimated payout.
• Check your official Leave and Earnings Statement (LES) to confirm your current leave balance and base pay.
• Talk with your supervisor and finance office well in advance if you plan to take a large block of terminal leave.
• Think about your cash-flow needs at separation: a lump-sum sell-back may be helpful if you need immediate funds, while terminal leave can give you time to relocate or start a civilian job.
• Be mindful of tax impacts and consider speaking with a qualified tax professional if you expect significant separation-related income.

Disclaimer and Recommended Next Steps

Disclaimer: This calculator provides unofficial estimates for educational and planning purposes only. It does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice, and it is not an official determination of your military pay, leave balance, or separation benefits. Actual entitlements depend on your orders, duty status, service branch policies, current DoD regulations, and applicable laws.

Before making any binding decisions about retirement, separation, or selling back leave, confirm your situation with your chain of command, your servicing finance office, and official resources such as the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) or your branch's personnel regulations.

Use this tool as a starting point for conversations about your transition and long-term financial planning, and always defer to official documents and counselors for final decisions.