For direct online access to VA benefits and resources, create an account here.

If you’re a military veteran who’s been approved to receive pension benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), you’ll want to know — naturally — the amount of the payment you’ll receive each month.

(To check on the status of your benefits, click here — or, to apply for a VA pension, click here)

The pension amount is determined by some really simple math: it’s the difference between Maximum Annual Pension Rate (MAPR) which is set every year by Congress and your countable income.

Countable income — it’s your earnings plus investments and retirement as well as any income your dependents are getting (Social Security is included as well). Medical expenses that weren’t reimbursed by insurance or other means may reduce this number.

MAPR — The MAPR is based on how many dependents you may or may not have, marriage status (to another vet or not) and any disabilities. To figure it out this number, click here and refer to the tables below the title “Find your Maximum Annual Pension Rate (MAPR) amount”.

 

To learn more about the survivors pension — which is available to qualifying spouses or children or deceased veterans — click here.