How to Read Your First LES: A Section-by-Section Guide

Your Leave and Earnings Statement (LES) is the military's pay stub, and it is denser than any civilian one. It also tells you more: your pay, your leave, your tax withholding and your retirement contributions on a single page. Here is how to read it, block by block.

Where to find your LES

Active duty members view their LES in myPay, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service's online system; Coast Guard members use their own pay center. The end-of-month LES is posted about a week before the end-of-month payday. For mid-month pay you'll see a shorter notice of pay advisory. Layouts differ slightly by service, but the blocks below appear on all of them.

1. The identification block

The top row identifies you and the pay period: name, the last digits of your Social Security number, grade, pay date (the date your service counts from for pay purposes), years of service, ETS (expiration of your current term of service), branch and the period covered. Check grade and years of service first — they drive your basic pay, and a wrong entry here means every paycheck is wrong.

2. Entitlements

This column lists everything you're paid. For a junior enlisted member that's usually basic pay, BAS and, if living off base, BAH. Special pays such as hazardous duty or hostile fire pay also appear here when they apply. Compare each amount with the official tables: basic pay with the 2026 military pay chart, BAH with the rate for your duty station ZIP code, and BAS with the flat $476.95 enlisted or $328.48 officer rate.

3. Deductions

These are amounts the government takes out: federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare (listed as FICA), state tax if your state of legal residence taxes military pay, SGLI life insurance ($26.00 a month for full coverage), AFRH (50 cents for enlisted members and warrant officers), TSP contributions, dental premiums for family members, and any debts being collected. The take-home pay guide explains each one with dollar amounts.

4. Allotments

Allotments are voluntary payments you've set up to go straight from your pay — to a savings account, a family member, or a lender. Military OneSource's advice is simple: know what each allotment is for, who receives it, and when it will be paid in full.

5. Summary: AMT FWD, totals, NET AMT and EOM PAY

The summary does the math. AMT FWD is money carried forward from the previous month. Total entitlements minus total deductions and allotments gives the NET AMT. Because part of that was already paid mid-month, the final figure, EOM PAY, is the amount actually deposited at the end of the month. If EOM pay is unexpectedly low, the answer is almost always in the deductions or allotments column.

6. Leave

Active duty members earn 2.5 days of leave per month, or 30 days a year. The leave block tracks it:

Watch USE/LOSE. By law you can generally carry no more than 60 days into a new fiscal year (10 U.S.C. § 701), with limited exceptions for members on certain deployments. Anything above that is forfeited on October 1.

7. Tax blocks

Three blocks show federal tax, FICA and state tax. Each lists the wages subject to that tax this period and year to date, your withholding status and exemptions, and the tax withheld. A quick check: the taxable wages here should equal basic pay plus taxable special pays — not BAH or BAS, which are tax-free. If your filing status or state looks wrong, fix it through myPay before tax season, not after.

8. Additional pay data and TSP

This area shows the BAH type and the ZIP code BAH is based on, your dependency status, BAS type and charity contributions. The TSP block shows the percentage you contribute from basic pay, special pays, incentive pays and bonuses, split between traditional and Roth, with year-to-date totals — and, for BRS members, the government's automatic and matching contributions. Also note DIEMS (the date you first entered service) and RET PLAN, which confirm whether you're under BRS or High-3.

9. Remarks

The remarks section at the bottom carries messages about changes to your pay, starting or stopping entitlements, debts and command notices. Read it every month; it's often the only explanation you'll get for a change in the numbers above.

Keep your own records

myPay keeps recent statements, but it's worth saving a copy of each LES yourself, especially around promotions, moves, deployments and reenlistments. Those are the months when entitlements start and stop, and a saved copy makes it much easier to show finance exactly when a change should have happened. Your December LES is also a useful cross-check against the W-2 you receive in January.

Five checks for every LES

1. Grade and years of service match your records.
2. BAH matches your duty station ZIP code and dependency status.
3. Special pays start and stop on the right dates.
4. Deductions and allotments are all ones you recognize.
5. Leave balance and USE/LOSE days are what you expect.

Catch errors early. Overpayments are eventually collected, and if a large correction lands in one month, the result can be a paycheck with little or no pay due. Report problems to your command administration or installation finance office.

Sources

• Military OneSource — Leave and Earnings Statement
• DFAS — How to read an active duty Air Force LES
• 10 U.S.C. § 701 — Leave entitlement and accumulation
• DFAS — 2026 active duty paydays

MilPayLab is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the U.S. Department of Defense, DFAS, DTMO or the Department of Veterans Affairs. Figures are taken from published government rate tables and are provided for information only, not as financial, legal or tax advice. Your finance office, your LES and your VA decision letter are the final word on what you are paid.