no ratings entered
Before rounding: 0%
VA rounds the combined figure to the nearest 10% to set the rating it pays.
Your ratings
Which limb is this rating for?
Have a rating on each side? Enter them as two rows — left and right — and the bilateral factor is worked out for you. The last two options are only for a single rating that already covers the pair, like bilateral pes planus.
| Condition(s) | Rating | Limb |
|---|
When does the limb setting matter?
Only for the bilateral factor (38 CFR 4.26). If you have a compensable rating in both upper limbs or both lower limbs, those ratings are combined with each other first and then get an extra 10% added before they join the rest. One side on its own earns nothing extra, so leave this on neither unless a pair is involved.
Most of the time you just enter each side as its own row. A 10% left ankle and a 10% right ankle are two ratings — put them in as Left lower and Right lower, and the factor is applied for you. You never add them up yourself.
The “one rating covering both” options exist for the uncommon case where VA issued a single evaluation for the pair. In practice that is almost always bilateral flat feet (pes planus) or bilateral plantar fasciitis. Those still earn the factor, even though there is only one rating to enter.
“Lower” covers the whole lower limb, foot included — which is why bilateral flat feet count, even though nobody would call a foot a leg. “Upper” covers the shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand.
How this was worked out
Why don't the ratings just add up?
VA ratings do not add up. Two 50% ratings are not 100% — they combine to 75%. VA works them out one pair at a time, and every rating after the first is worth less than the one before it.
VA treats you as 100% able to begin with. A 50% rating takes half of that, leaving 50% ability. The next rating is taken out of what is left, not out of the original 100 — so a second 50% rating takes half of the remaining 50, which is 25, for a combined 75%. Each further rating is worth less than the one before it. Every pair is rounded to a whole number before the next one is applied, which is why the running figures below are whole numbers.
What one more rating would do
Your combined figure if one additional rating were granted on top of the list above.