2026 Deployment Pay Calculator
Deployment Pay & SDP Calculator
Estimate what a deployment adds to your paycheck — combat zone tax exclusion (CZTE), hostile fire pay, hardship duty pay, family separation allowance, and Savings Deposit Program interest — computed from the current DFAS rate tables. Below is a default combat-zone example; set your own grade, station, and location profile in the interactive calculator.
Combat Zone Example: E-5 with 6 Years of Service
A Sergeant (E-5) with 6 years of service and dependents, home station El Paso, TX (Fort Bliss), deployed to a designated combat zone drawing CZTE, hostile fire pay, $100 hardship duty pay, and family separation allowance. An illustrative example — entitlements depend on your orders and location designations.
| Deployment Entitlement | Monthly |
|---|---|
| Hostile Fire Pay (HFP) | $225.00 |
| Hardship Duty Pay — Location (HDP-L, $100 tier) | $100.00 |
| Family Separation Allowance (FSA) | $300.00 |
| Extra Gross Pay per Month | +$625.00 |
Amounts come from the current DFAS special-pay tables via the shared pay engine. On top of the gross increase, CZTE stops federal income tax on the member's pay for every qualifying month — the interactive calculator estimates that tax delta for your grade and state. Basic pay, BAH, and BAS continue unchanged while deployed.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much extra pay do you get on deployment?
It depends on the location's designations. In a designated combat zone, an E-5 with 6 years of service and dependents would typically draw Hostile Fire Pay of $225.00 per month, Hardship Duty Pay-Location of $100.00 per month at the $100 tier, and Family Separation Allowance of $300.00 per month — $625.00 per month in extra entitlements at the current DFAS rates, on top of the tax savings from the combat zone tax exclusion. The calculator on this page models your grade, station, and location profile.
What is the Combat Zone Tax Exclusion (CZTE)?
CZTE removes military pay from federal income tax while you serve in a designated combat zone — for the example E-5, that means the entire $4,110.00 of monthly 2026 basic pay stops being federally taxed. Any part of a month in the zone exempts the whole month. Enlisted members and warrant officers have no cap; commissioned officers are capped at the highest enlisted basic pay plus maximum hostile fire pay. Social Security and Medicare are still withheld.
How does the Savings Deposit Program (SDP) work?
While deployed to a designated area you can deposit up to $10,000 into the SDP, which pays a 10% annual rate compounded quarterly (about 10.4% APY) — set in statute, not a market rate. Depositing $1,000.00 per month across a 9-month deployment earns about $380.66 in guaranteed interest under the program's quarterly compounding, with interest continuing to accrue for up to 90 days after you return.
Who gets Family Separation Allowance (FSA)?
FSA pays $300.00 per month (prorated at $10 per day) when you are separated from your dependents by military orders for more than 30 continuous days. Having dependents alone is not enough — the separation itself must exceed 30 days. It is non-taxable.