Info - Coast Guard/noaa Retired Retro Payments

[TiredCoastie]

This article recently appeared in the Coast Guard's retiree newsletter put out by the Coast Guard Pay and Personnel Center which handles retired pay for all Coast Guard and NOAA retirees. Thought folks here might find it of interest:

I’ve Received an Award Letter from the VA.

What happens Now?

by Teresa Deckenbach, Military Pay Technician

This is the number one question we are asked as pay technicians. This article will give you information regarding our timelines here in Retiree and Annuitant Services (RAS).

When RAS is notified that a Coast Guard retiree has been awarded compensation, we are required to deduct dollar for dollar any compensation the retiree receives from the VA.

When a retiree is awarded a disability rating of 50% or higher AND served 20 or more years, a portion of the compensation offset will be restored as Concurrent Retired Disability Payments (CRDP). CRDP started in 2004 and higher concurrent payments have been phased in over a 10 year period.

As of January 1, 2014, anyone rated 50% or higher, with 20+ years of service, will receive their full USCG retired pay and VA compensation. You will receive two deposits each month; one from the VA and one from the USCG.

Exception to this rule: If you retire as a Chapter 61 disability and your longevity percentage is less than your disability percentage, you may or may not be entitled to CRDP.

When the VA notifies us of a retroactive decision on a rat-ing, we complete an Audit Error Worksheet (AEW) that calculates any back monies owed to the retiree. In most cases, money is owed to the retiree only from the VA. The worksheet goes through our auditors and our audit proc-ess takes 90-120 days. This time period is determined by the auditor’s workload and the number of starts or changes received from the VA. RAS technicians complete hundreds of worksheets every month and each one must be audited. You will receive a letter from our Branch Chief, Mrs. Debra Farley, when the audit is complete. Once you receive this letter, you will know that we have transmitted the information to VA HQ. The retiree should wait at least 30 days before contacting the VA for a status update.

Once a month the audited reports are sent to our contact at VA HQ. These reports are then disseminated to VA Regional Offices to process any payment due. Although the information is sent to the regional offices in a timely manner, it is our understanding that the VA may take an additional 90 - 120 days to process the payment. Their highest priorities are starting initial compensation and working with returning Wounded Warriors.

I hope this article answers some of the common questions retirees have when that initial award letter is received.

http://www.uscg.mil/ppc/retnews/2013/July13newsletter.pdf

In general, the retro payment for Coast Guard retirees can be one of the more frustrating parts of the disability rating process. I waited about a year for my initial rating, then another ten months for my retro payment of almost $10K. For Coast Guard and NOAA retirees who are struggling with the wait, keep in touch with your pay tech at PPC, even after you get the letter from the branch chief stating that your audit is complete, as well as the RO or VSO. My pay tech had to submit the audit worksheet three times and then had to go outside the normal channels to a contact in the VA.

Hope this helps someone out there.

[Peter Thiel]

I spoke with CG pay center rep today, Aug 5 2019, about VA didability retro pay. They said the audit folks are still working on Fall 2018 VA Disability pay audits. No updates are available of when they will be caught up.