Leave and Earnings Statement

Attaviya A Leave and Earnings Statement, generally referred to as an LES, is a document given on a monthly basis to members of the United States military which documents their pay and leave status on a monthly basis.

Employees in the civil service receive a similar document each pay period, called a Civilian Leave and Earnings Statement, a link to which the Defense Finance and Accounting Service emails two days prior to the scheduled pay day.

While paper LES documents were originally mailed or handed out in person, it is now almost always retrieved by the member from an online system called MyPay from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. For U.S. Coast Guard personnel LES can be retrieved by the member from an online system called Direct Access that is controlled by U.S. Coast Guard Personnel Services Command.

There are multiple sections to an LES.

The first section lists the monetary entitlements that month. For all members it consists of Basic Pay, and for many members it also includes Basic Allowance for Housing and Basic Allowance for Subsistence. Other kinds of pay including Cost of Living Allowance, Overseas Housing Allowance, incentive pay, bonus pay, or hazardous duty pay may be included.

Per diem and TDY money are usually not included in the LES.

The second section describes the money that has been deducted. Common deductions include:

Common allotments include:

After all the pay is added, all deductions & allotments are subtracted, and loose ends from previous months are accounted for, what is left is the end of month pay, which is indicated on the far right.

Military members accumulate 2.5 days of leave per month or 30 days per year. The maximum amount of leave that can accrue is 60 days (this can be more if a member was deployed within the year). The fiscal year ends on September 30, unless Congress decides to make a change.

TSP information is listed near the bottom, along with the YTD (calendar year) total tax withholdings.

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