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Why the ratings do not add up

VA does not add ratings together. It applies each one to what is left after the previous one, then rounds to the nearest ten at the final step. That is why three ratings of 30, 20 and 20 combine to 60 rather than 70, and why the total is always lower than the sum.

The ratings

Enter each rating exactly as the decision letter lists it

One line per service-connected condition. The percentage is the only part that has to be filled in. What it is for, and whether it sits on an arm or a leg, change what the page can show you but never change the math on their own.

  1. Rating 1
  2. Rating 2

The arm and leg question is there for one reason. 38 CFR 4.26 adds ten percent when both arms, or both legs, each carry a compensable evaluation, and it is applied before everything else. A calculator that never asks which side a knee is on cannot apply it. The same rule covers paired skeletal muscles; if a decision letter names those, the ten percent works the same way.

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