Why plan leave carryover?
Uniformed service members accrue 2.5 days of leave per month. At the end of each fiscal year, unused leave above a set cap usually disappears. Historically the ceiling is 60 days, but special leave accrual (SLA) during deployments or emergencies can temporarily increase the cap to 90 or 120 days. With frequent operational tempo shifts and unexpected TDYs, it is easy to approach the cap without realizing that days will be lost on September 30. The decision to take leave, donate through a leave bank, or sell back days upon separation requires a clear projection of your balance. This calculator projects your balance, highlights at-risk days, and estimates the cash value of selling leave versus keeping time for rest.
Leave sell-back converts unused days into taxable income at the member’s basic pay rate. Enlisted members can sell back up to 60 days across a career outside of retirement. Officers have stricter rules. Taking leave preserves mental health and family time but may be hard to schedule. This tool does not tell you what choice is right; instead, it frames the tradeoffs so you can make an informed plan with your chain of command.
Accrual and cap formula
Your projected end-of-year balance equals your current balance plus accrued leave minus planned usage. Accrual equals 2.5 days per remaining month, plus any additional credit (such as imminent danger pay zones that sometimes permit extra days). The cap is 60 days unless you have an active SLA order. Anything above the cap is "use or lose." The formulas are simple:
Accrual is 2.5 × months left + deployment offsets. The cap is either 60, 90, or 120 depending on SLA status. If the projected balance exceeds the cap, the excess becomes use-or-lose. You can prevent forfeiture by scheduling leave or, if eligible and separating, selling back days up to the career limit. The calculator also estimates how many days you would need to use to drop to the cap and the cash value if you sold the excess instead.
Worked example
Consider a service member with 35 days on the LES and six months left in the fiscal year. They expect to take 10 days of leave and have no SLA. Accrual adds 15 days (2.5 × 6) for a projected 40 days after usage: 35 + 15 − 10 = 40. With a 60-day cap, nothing is at risk. Now imagine the same member deploys and receives SLA to 90 days plus a 6-day offset from imminent danger pay periods. Accrual becomes 21 days, projected balance becomes 46, and the cap rises to 90, still safe. Contrast that with someone carrying 80 days into the last quarter without SLA; their projection could reach 95, meaning 35 use-or-lose days. The table illustrates:
| Current balance | Months left | Planned usage | Cap | Projected balance | Use-or-lose |
|---|
| 35 | 6 | 10 | 60 | 40 | 0 |
| 80 | 3 | 5 | 60 | 82.5 | 22.5 |
| 80 | 3 | 5 | 90 (SLA) | 82.5 | 0 |
Comparison of use vs sell-back
The economic value of leave depends on your pay and what rest is worth to you. Selling back one day yields your daily basic pay (base pay divided by 30), taxed as ordinary income. Taking leave yields zero cash but provides recovery time. The calculator multiplies potential sell-back days by the daily pay you enter to show gross proceeds. Here is a simple comparison:
| Use-or-lose days | Sell-back value (@ $250/day) | Notes |
|---|
| 5 | $1,250 | Counts toward 60-day career sell-back cap. |
| 15 | $3,750 | Potentially large tax hit; consider spacing over years. |
| 0 | $0 | No forfeiture risk; focus on rest or mission needs. |
Another factor is non-monetary opportunity cost. Taking leave can align with school breaks, PCS timelines, or training cycles that will not repeat. Selling back days might help fund a move or debt repayment, but it does not provide recovery from deployment stress. Many commands encourage a balanced approach: protect operational readiness by staggering leave, preserve morale by using at least some days for rest, and only sell back what you truly cannot schedule. This calculator shows the numbers, but you can weigh qualitative benefits like family milestones or professional development courses that fit into a leave period.
Limitations and assumptions
This page is informational and simplified. It assumes standard 2.5-day accrual and does not address advanced leave, donations, or service-specific nuances in the Defense Travel System. It ignores retirement-specific sell-back restrictions, taxes, and potential state income tax differences. SLA rules vary by component and require official orders; always verify with finance and your personnel office. Finally, this calculator cannot schedule leave for you—start the conversation with your supervisor early to prevent end-of-year congestion.