How to Fill Out VA Form 21-8951-2 to Waive VA Compensation

To fill out VA Form 21-8951-2, enter your identifying information in Section I, report your fiscal-year training days in Section II (counted as four-hour sessions, not calendar days), check the box in Section III choosing whether to waive your VA compensation or your drill pay, sign it, and get your unit commander’s signature before returning it to the VA within 60 days of receipt. The form’s official name is the Notice of Waiver of VA Compensation or Pension to Receive Military Pay and Allowances, and Reserve and National Guard members use it because federal law forbids collecting both VA disability compensation (or pension) and military pay for the same days.¹

Before You Start

Pull the current version of the form from va.gov/forms/21-8951-2/.² Have three things in front of you:

Your Leave and Earnings Statements covering the fiscal year in question. The federal fiscal year runs October 1 through September 30, so fiscal year 2026 covers October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026.
Your VA file number. This is often the same as your Social Security number, but check any prior VA correspondence to confirm.
The form the VA sent you, if one arrived. It may already have a training-day count printed on it that you’ll need to verify or correct.

Federal law prohibits collecting VA compensation or pension and military pay for the same dates, so the form is really asking you to pick one payment for the days that overlap.³ Most veterans keep the drill pay because it typically exceeds the daily equivalent of their VA compensation, and the form itself warns that waiving military pay “will give most veterans LESS money.”¹

Counting Training Days the Right Way

This is where most mistakes happen. A “training day” on this form is not always one calendar day. The National Guard and Reserves credit one full day of training pay for each four-hour session. A standard two-day drill weekend has four sessions (two per day), so it counts as four training days, not two.¹

Go through your LES for the fiscal year and count every session you were paid for: regular drills, annual training, and active duty for training. Get this count wrong and your VA benefits will either be reduced too much or too little, and either outcome creates problems later.

Section I — Identifying Information

Enter your full legal name (first, middle initial, last), Social Security number, VA file number, date of birth, and service number if you have one. A phone number is required. An email address is optional.⁴

Section II — Training Pay Information

Enter the fiscal year and the total number of training days you were paid for during that year. Use the four-hour-session count you worked out above, not calendar days.

Section III — Your Election

Section III has two parts. First, if the VA pre-filled a number of training days on the front of the form, either confirm that count is correct or enter the actual number if it is wrong. Second, check one of three boxes:¹

Waive VA benefits to keep your training pay. You give up VA disability compensation or pension for the indicated training days and keep the military drill pay. Most veterans choose this option.
Waive military pay to keep your VA benefits. You give up the drill pay for those days and keep your VA compensation or pension. The form notes this usually means less money overall.
No military pay received. Check this if you did not actually receive any training pay during the fiscal year shown on the form.

Section IV — Signatures and the 60-Day Deadline

Sign and date the form yourself, then take it to your unit commander or their designee for a second signature. The commander’s signature block is labeled “REQUIRED” on the form, and the VA will not process a submission without it.¹ Try to catch your commander during or right after a drill weekend rather than tracking someone down later.

You have 60 days from the date you receive the form to return it.¹ If you don’t respond, the VA assumes you want to waive your VA compensation for the number of drill days it identified.

Where to Send the Completed Form

Three options:

Mail for disability compensation recipients: Department of Veterans Affairs, Compensation Intake Center, P.O. Box 4444, Janesville, WI 53547-4444. If you receive a VA pension rather than disability compensation, use the Pension Intake Center at P.O. Box 5365, Janesville, WI 53547-5365. Certified mail gives you proof of delivery.
Online: upload a scanned PDF of the signed form through the VA’s QuickSubmit tool on AccessVA, which replaced the older Direct Upload system.⁵
In person at a VA Regional Office. Ask staff to date-stamp your copy as a receipt.⁶

What Happens After You Submit

The VA verifies your training-pay data against Department of Defense records. Once verified, the VA sends a formal notification letter explaining the proposed adjustment to your monthly disability compensation or pension. The letter specifies the exact dollar amount that will be withheld, and the VA will not adjust your payments before that notice goes out.¹

Adjustments are typically spread across several monthly payments rather than taken as a lump sum. Watch your benefit payment statements during this period and contact the VA if the numbers don’t match what the notification letter described.

If You Skip the Form

Not filing doesn’t make the overlap go away. The VA and Department of Defense run a monthly computer matching program through the Defense Manpower Data Center and cross-reference the results annually against VA compensation and pension records to flag anyone who received both payments for the same period without a waiver on file.⁷

When the match catches the overlap, the VA creates an overpayment debt on your account. Once a VA debt becomes delinquent, the agency charges simple interest at the Current Value of Funds Rate, adds administrative costs for each 30-day period the debt remains unpaid, and adds penalty charges once the debt is more than 90 days past due.⁸ The VA then recovers the debt by withholding a portion of your future monthly disability checks until the balance is cleared. If you realize you missed past fiscal years, file for those years now rather than waiting for the automated match to catch up.

1
Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Form 21-8951-2 – Notice of Waiver of VA Compensation or Pension to Receive Military Pay and Allowances
2
Veterans Affairs. About VA Form 21-8951-2
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 38 US Code 5304 – Prohibition Against Duplication of Benefits
4
Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Form 21-8951-2 – Notice of Waiver of VA Compensation or Pension to Receive Military Pay and Allowances
5
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. QuickSubmit Is the New Evidence Intake Tool for VA Claims
6
Veterans Affairs. How To File a VA Disability Claim
7
Department of Veterans Affairs. Computer Matching Agreement Between DMDC DoD and VBA VA for Reserve Pay Reconciliation
8
Department of Veterans Affairs. Chapter 08 – Interest, Administrative Costs, and Penalty Charges