MILLINGTON, Tennessee – By mastering basic personnel and pay life skills, Sailors play a key role staying battle-ready and mission-focused. One of these is reading your Leave and Earnings Statement, or LES – your military pay stub.
Available via myPay from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), your LES is a comprehensive monthly statement of pay and entitlements.
Sailors can view, download and print their LES in myPay. While the mid-month LES only shows mid-month pay, the end-of-month (EOM) LES reflects all basic, special and incentive pay, deductions like taxes and government-related debt, allotments like the Thrift Savings Plan, and the current, projected, and use-or-lose leave balances.
Rear Adm. Kertreck V. Brooks, Commander, MyNavy Career Center (MNCC), said every Sailor should check their LES each month.
“We all serve because we want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves, but we also serve for our livelihood,” said Brooks. “Understanding and regularly monitoring your pay and entitlements is your responsibility and a good habit in general, but it’s also vital to taking charge of your livelihood as a service member. The LES is the tool to do that.”
Let’s look at a classic (printer-friendly) LES to understand what each field means. You can also see all this information organized by category on digital tabs in myPay.
Fields 1-9: All About You
The top line of the LES is personal and professional information about you that drives your pay.
Pay Grade must be accurate to avoid overpayment or underpayment. For example, if you are a junior officer O-1 to O-3 with prior enlisted service, your pay grade should include the letter E. Field 4, Pay Date, is when you entered active duty for pay purposes, also known as your Pay Entry Base Date (PEBD). These fields, along with Field 5, Years of Service, help calculate your monthly base pay.
Note that Years of Service for pay purposes may be a different amount than for retirement purposes. For example, Years of Service for an active-duty member with nonconsecutive periods of service includes any Inactive Ready Reserve (IRR) time for pay purposes but not for retirement purposes.
“Those top fields establish the baseline for your paycheck,” said Brooks. “Routinely review this section and make sure it is accurate to ensure you’re receiving the right basic bay. This is especially important after the New Year, when members may receive a pay increase.”
Members can verify their basic pay using military pay tables available at https://www.dfas.mil/MilitaryMembers/payentitlements/Pay-Tables/.
Fields 10-22: The Big Three
This section summarizes and totals your entitlements, deductions, and allotments. On your EOM LES, mid-month pay is shown as a deduction, as are taxes, life insurance, and dependent dental plan. You can also see government-related debts such as overpaid travel allowances.
If you have forwarded pay pending from the previous month or for the following month, it will be reflected in the right-hand column (Fields 13 and 18) and added to the total entitlements, deductions and allotments to calculate your net and EOM pays. You will not typically have forwarded pay, but if so, contact your CPPA, DFAS or MNCC to understand why.
Your annual bottom line, total entitlements and deductions, shows in bold text in the Remarks box on the bottom of the page.
Fields: 23-49: Retirement, Leave, and Taxes
Let’s talk retirement. Your Date Initially Entered Military Service, or DIEMS, determines your retirement plan. Navy Personnel Command provides this information, not DFAS, so if this is incorrect, contact your CPPA or call MNCC. Remember: Your DIEMS may be different from your PEBD.
You earn 2.5 days of leave every month. On your LES you can see the balance brought forward from the last fiscal year, leave you’ve earned and used during the current fiscal year, your current leave balance and projected balance at your expiration term of service, leave lost and paid, and how much use/lose leave you have. Use/lose leave is lost if not taken in the current fiscal year.
The government withholds taxes from your paycheck each month. Your LES shows federal taxable income for the pay period and the year to date, any exemptions you have, any additional withholdings you specify in myPay, and total taxes for the year to date. It also shows FICA deductions, or what you contribute from your pay to Social Security and Medicare, and state income tax if applicable. The state section also shows your marital status for tax purposes. If you recently got married or divorced, ensure this field is accurate.
Fields 50-62: Family and Housing Pay Data
Family comes first, and this section is for them. Ensure you are receiving the correct Basic Allowance for Quarters (BAQ, synonymous with BAH) or Variable Housing Allowance (VHA) accurately reflecting your dependents. This includes your VHA status (accompanied or unaccompanied), the zip code where your dependents live (if different from yours), and Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) codes for yourself and your family, if any of these circumstances apply to you.
Non-taxable Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS) helps with individual food costs and could include rations for enlisted Sailors during temporary duty (TDY) or permanent change-of-station (PCS). Members must verify the BAS type they receive.
This section also captures charitable donations you make during the calendar year, such as the Combined Federal Campaign.
Fields 63-75: Thrift Savings Plan – Your Nest Egg
Your Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) contribution – another valuable Sailor Life Skill in itself – is reflected in this section.
You can easily adjust your contribution in myPay by assigning the percentage of base, special, incentive, or bonus pay allotted to TSP each month. Your LES shows traditional, Roth, and total combined contributions based on which type of TSP you have, as well as the Navy’s matching contributions, if any.
Monthly contributions also show up in the Deductions field discussed earlier. This section tells you the total amount you’ve contributed for the year so far.
Field 76: Remarks
Like a set of orders or a naval message, the Remarks section gives you general guidance from the Navy, DFAS, or other organizations with a role in your pay. Here you’ll get an explanation of pay starts, stops, and changes, which should match items shown in Entitlements, Deductions, and Allotments.
“Make sure you read the Remarks very carefully,” said Brooks. “This section might tell you that you owe a debt to the government, which could affect your paycheck and personal budget, so it’s important to get ahead of it. Our number is always in the Remarks – (833) 330-6622 – so you can call us anytime you don’t understand something.”
Remarks also show pay policy updates, advisories and announcements, your career sea duty time, life insurance coverage for you and your dependents, a BAH confirmation of your dependent status and zip code, and your bank.
Be Financially Aware
“Owning your LES is owning your financial awareness and wellbeing,” said Brooks. “You can get there like anything else: with a good established routine. Review your paycheck every month, know what right looks like, and if something doesn’t look right, get in touch with us.
“The only pay issues my team can’t resolve are the ones we don’t know about yet, so it’s important Sailors do their part by routinely checking their LES to identify and raise any issues so we can help,” said Brooks.
DFAS offers interactive customer support for myPay features through Ask myPay, or by calling (888) 332-7411 (DFAS411). For pay-specific issues, Sailors can contact MNCC at (833) 330-6622 or mailto:AskMNCC@navy.mil. MNCC provides 24/7 human resources customer service and processes, audits, and submits personnel and pay transactions to DFAS for release and payment.
MNCC’s mission is to deliver modern hire-to-retire HR services through 24/7 customer service to Sailors, veterans, and their families. Through Sailor feedback, MNCC strives to provide more resources and accurate resolutions. Contact MNCC at (833) 330-MNCC (6622) or AskMNCC@navy.mil. Find online self-service options on MyNavy Portal at my.navy.mil.